Add editable json_documents: set, push_back, insert, and erase

basic_json_document gets a second template parameter, Editable
(false by default), plus the aliases json_editable_document,
json_editable_view, ordered_json_editable_document and
ordered_json_editable_view.

Editable documents can change values and structure without
rewriting the source text: set()/push_back() on values, keys,
array indices and JSON pointers; insert() before an array
element; erase() of an object key, array index or JSON pointer.

New values and element sequences go into edit storage that the
document owns and never moves, so views keep referring to their
value across edits and a parsed node never moves. Read-only
documents walk the plain node array and are unaffected.

Strings are checked for UTF-8 on entry, so dump() of an editable
document never throws type_error.316. Binary values cannot be
stored (type_error.319).

A seeded differential test applies random edits to an editable
document and to the equivalent ordered_json and compares both
after every step.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
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Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-07 16:42:38 +02:00
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# <small>nlohmann::basic_json_document::</small>insert
```cpp
template<typename I, typename V>
view_type insert(view_type array, I idx, V&& value);
```
Only an **editable** document (`#!cpp Editable == true`, e.g. [`json_editable_document`](../json_editable_document.md))
has `insert`; calling it on a read-only `basic_json_document` fails to compile (`#!cpp static_assert`).
Inserts `value` into `array` as a new element before position `idx`, which must not be past the end
(`#!cpp idx <= array.size()`; `#!cpp idx == array.size()` appends, like [`push_back`](push_back.md)). Unlike
[`push_back`](push_back.md), a [null](../basic_json_view/is_null.md) `array` does *not* first become an empty array:
`array` must already be an array.
`value` is accepted three ways: a [`basic_json_view`](../basic_json_view/index.md) of *any* document -- read-only or
editable, and it does not have to be `array`'s own document -- which is copied so that nothing is shared with the
source document afterward; a `BasicJsonType` value; or anything `BasicJsonType` can be constructed from (numbers,
strings, `#!cpp bool`, `#!cpp nullptr`, containers, ...).
## Template parameters
`I`
: an integral type other than `#!cpp bool`, deduced (overloads taking a `#!cpp bool` or a non-integral type for
`idx` do not participate in overload resolution).
`V`
: the type of `value`, deduced; see above for what is accepted.
## Parameters
`array` (in)
: the array to insert into
`idx` (in)
: the position to insert `value` before; a negative value throws (see [Exceptions](#exceptions))
`value` (in)
: the value to insert
## Return value
a view of the new element, now holding `value`
## Exception safety
Basic exception safety: `value` is fully encoded -- including the checks below -- into storage owned by the document
before anything already reachable from [`root()`](root.md) is touched, so a failure while encoding `value` (an
invalid argument, or `#!cpp std::bad_alloc`) leaves the document completely unchanged, other than memory allocated
for the encoding that is not reclaimed. A failure of a later allocation -- while `array` switches from its parsed
layout to a growable block, or while that block grows, see [Notes](#notes) -- can still leave `array` already
switched to that layout even though `value` itself was not inserted.
## Exceptions
Throws [`type_error.309`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error309) if `array` is not an array -- the same
message [`BasicJsonType::insert`](../basic_json/insert.md) throws for the same type; a null `array` throws this too
(see above). Throws [`out_of_range.401`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range401) if `idx` is negative,
or if `#!cpp idx > array.size()`. Throws
[`invalid_iterator.202`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptioninvalid_iterator202) ("view does not belong to this
document") if `array` is a [discarded](../basic_json_view/is_discarded.md) view or a view of a *different* document.
Throws [`type_error.302`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error302) if `value` is a
[discarded](../basic_json_view/is_discarded.md) view or a [discarded](../basic_json/is_discarded.md) `BasicJsonType`
value, and [`type_error.319`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error319) if `value` is (or contains) a
binary value -- `BasicJsonType` can hold one, but a `json_document` cannot. Throws
[`type_error.316`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error316) if `value` is (or contains) a string that is
not valid UTF-8, with the same message [`BasicJsonType::dump()`](../basic_json/dump.md) gives for that string.
## Complexity
Linear in the number of elements of `array` at or after `idx` (they move one slot over), plus time linear in the
size of `value` to encode it into the document's storage (constant for a scalar, linear in the number of nested
values for an array or object): like [`push_back`](push_back.md), the elements of `array` move to a growable block
of links the first time it is inserted into (or [`set`](set.md)/[`push_back`](push_back.md) on), and that block
grows in amortized constant time; inserting before the end within that block still shifts every later element.
## Notes
Like [`set`](set.md) on a member or an element, `insert` never moves an existing *element's value* -- only where
`array`'s *links* to its elements live -- so a view of an existing element of `array` stays valid across an
`insert`, and keeps referring to the same element even though its index shifts. Any iterator already taken over
`array` is invalidated, since it was walking the old layout. See [Edits](index.md#edits) for what stays valid across
an edit in general.
## Examples
??? example
The example below inserts a step into the middle of a deployment plan, without touching the steps that come
after it, and shows that a view taken before the insert keeps referring to the same element even though its
index shifts -- something a plain `json`/`ordered_json` array, or its `std::vector`-based storage, has no
equivalent for.
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/basic_json_document__insert.cpp"
```
Output:
```json
--8<-- "examples/basic_json_document__insert.output"
```
## See also
- [push_back](push_back.md) - append to an array
- [erase](erase.md) - remove an object member, an array element, or the value a JSON pointer refers to
- [set](set.md) - replace a value, or set an object member, an array element, or the value a JSON pointer refers to
- [`BasicJsonType::insert`](../basic_json/insert.md) - the corresponding function of `basic_json`
- [Edits](index.md#edits) - what an edit guarantees, for every overload
## Version history
- Added in version 3.13.0.