From 8f7570014107c5040103c5c4f9a55250be9add0c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: KhloodElhossiny <47139708+khloodelhossiny@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2026 22:45:22 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] support types convertible to string_view as JSON keys (#4958)

Signed-off-by: khloodelhossiny <khloood.elhossiny@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: khloodelhossiny <khloood.elhossiny@gmail.com>
---
 include/nlohmann/detail/meta/type_traits.hpp | 13 +++--
 single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp             | 13 +++--
 tests/src/unit-element_access2.cpp           | 52 ++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/nlohmann/detail/meta/type_traits.hpp b/include/nlohmann/detail/meta/type_traits.hpp
index 4a1f346f9..3299549fb 100644
--- a/include/nlohmann/detail/meta/type_traits.hpp
+++ b/include/nlohmann/detail/meta/type_traits.hpp
@@ -636,11 +636,14 @@ using is_usable_as_key_type = typename std::conditional <
 template<typename BasicJsonType, typename KeyTypeCVRef, bool RequireTransparentComparator = true,
          bool ExcludeObjectKeyType = RequireTransparentComparator, typename KeyType = uncvref_t<KeyTypeCVRef>>
 using is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type = typename std::conditional <
-    is_usable_as_key_type<typename BasicJsonType::object_comparator_t,
-    typename BasicJsonType::object_t::key_type, KeyTypeCVRef,
-    RequireTransparentComparator, ExcludeObjectKeyType>::value
-    && !is_json_iterator_of<BasicJsonType, KeyType>::value,
-    std::true_type,
+    (is_usable_as_key_type<typename BasicJsonType::object_comparator_t,
+     typename BasicJsonType::object_t::key_type, KeyTypeCVRef,
+     RequireTransparentComparator, ExcludeObjectKeyType>::value
+     && !is_json_iterator_of<BasicJsonType, KeyType>::value)
+#ifdef JSON_HAS_CPP_17
+    || std::is_convertible<KeyType, std::string_view>::value
+#endif
+    , std::true_type,
     std::false_type >::type;
 
 template<typename ObjectType, typename KeyType>
diff --git a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
index 3f154746c..27314f4b3 100644
--- a/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
+++ b/single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp
@@ -4180,11 +4180,14 @@ using is_usable_as_key_type = typename std::conditional <
 template<typename BasicJsonType, typename KeyTypeCVRef, bool RequireTransparentComparator = true,
          bool ExcludeObjectKeyType = RequireTransparentComparator, typename KeyType = uncvref_t<KeyTypeCVRef>>
 using is_usable_as_basic_json_key_type = typename std::conditional <
-    is_usable_as_key_type<typename BasicJsonType::object_comparator_t,
-    typename BasicJsonType::object_t::key_type, KeyTypeCVRef,
-    RequireTransparentComparator, ExcludeObjectKeyType>::value
-    && !is_json_iterator_of<BasicJsonType, KeyType>::value,
-    std::true_type,
+    (is_usable_as_key_type<typename BasicJsonType::object_comparator_t,
+     typename BasicJsonType::object_t::key_type, KeyTypeCVRef,
+     RequireTransparentComparator, ExcludeObjectKeyType>::value
+     && !is_json_iterator_of<BasicJsonType, KeyType>::value)
+#ifdef JSON_HAS_CPP_17
+    || std::is_convertible<KeyType, std::string_view>::value
+#endif
+    , std::true_type,
     std::false_type >::type;
 
 template<typename ObjectType, typename KeyType>
diff --git a/tests/src/unit-element_access2.cpp b/tests/src/unit-element_access2.cpp
index 9097f4599..c4e25bf70 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit-element_access2.cpp
+++ b/tests/src/unit-element_access2.cpp
@@ -1790,3 +1790,55 @@ TEST_CASE_TEMPLATE("element access 2 (additional value() tests)", Json, nlohmann
 #endif
     }
 }
+
+#ifdef JSON_HAS_CPP_17
+TEST_CASE("operator[] with user-defined std::string_view-convertible types")
+{
+    using json = nlohmann::json;
+
+    class TestClass
+    {
+        std::string key_data_ = "foo";
+
+      public:
+        operator std::string_view() const
+        {
+            return key_data_;
+        }
+    };
+
+    struct TestStruct
+    {
+        operator std::string_view() const
+        {
+            return "bar";
+        }
+    };
+
+    json j = {{"foo", "from_class"}, {"bar", "from_struct"}};
+    TestClass foo_obj;
+    TestStruct bar_obj;
+
+    SECTION("read access")
+    {
+        CHECK(j[foo_obj] == "from_class");
+        CHECK(j[TestClass{}] == "from_class");
+        CHECK(j[bar_obj] == "from_struct");
+        CHECK(j[TestStruct{}] == "from_struct");
+    }
+
+    SECTION("write access")
+    {
+        j[TestClass{}] = "updated_class";
+        j[TestStruct{}] = "updated_struct";
+        CHECK(j["foo"] == "updated_class");
+        CHECK(j["bar"] == "updated_struct");
+
+        SECTION("direct std::string_view access")
+        {
+            CHECK(j[std::string_view{"foo"}] == "updated_class");
+            CHECK(j[std::string_view{"bar"}] == "updated_struct");
+        }
+    }
+}
+#endif