Files
json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json/to_bon8.md
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Niels Lohmann 419e1678ee Fix silent wrong results for custom number types
Squashed onto develop cd6b428ef (CI fixes from #5860). Original commits:

- Fix silent wrong results for custom number types
- Fix CI: build the out_of_range.407 message from string_t and fix a link
- Fix CI: diagnostics message, clang-tidy, and MinGW section limit
- Format the out_of_range.407 number without dump()
- Move the std::deque array test out of unit-regression3.cpp
- Fix clang-tidy and clang 3.4/3.5 failures in the custom number type changes
- Fix CI: cast the 128-bit unsigned value explicitly in the integer fast path

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-10-16 19:26:47 +02:00

2.9 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json::to_bon8

// (1)
static std::vector<std::uint8_t> to_bon8(const basic_json& j);

// (2)
static void to_bon8(const basic_json& j, detail::output_adapter<std::uint8_t> o);
static void to_bon8(const basic_json& j, detail::output_adapter<char> o);

Serializes a given JSON value j to a byte vector using the BON8 (Binary Object Notation 8) serialization format. BON8 is a compact binary serialization format that stores strings as UTF-8 without a length prefix.

  1. Returns a byte vector containing the BON8 serialization.
  2. Writes the BON8 serialization to an output adapter.

The exact mapping and its limitations are described on a dedicated page.

Parameters

j (in)
JSON value to serialize
o (in)
output adapter to write serialization to

Return value

  1. BON8 serialization as a byte vector
  2. (none)

Exception safety

Strong guarantee: if an exception is thrown, there are no changes in the JSON value j, which is never modified. With (2), the bytes written before the exception remain in the output adapter.

Exceptions

  • Throws out_of_range.407 if j contains an integer outside the range of int64 (an unsigned integer above 9223372036854775807, or, with a number type wider than 64 bits, any integer beyond int64), which BON8 cannot represent
  • Throws type_error.316 if j contains a string that is not valid UTF-8
  • Throws type_error.321 if j or a value nested in it is discarded; example: "cannot serialize discarded value to BON8"

Complexity

Linear in the size of the JSON value j.

Examples

??? example "Example: serialize a JSON value to BON8"

The example shows the serialization of a JSON value to a byte vector in BON8 format.
 
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/to_bon8.cpp"
```

Output:

```json
--8<-- "examples/to_bon8.output"
```

??? example "Example: type_error.316 exception"

The example shows how serializing a string that is not valid UTF-8 throws an exception, because BON8 stores strings
as UTF-8.

```cpp
--8<-- "examples/to_bon8__exception.cpp"
```

Output:

```json
--8<-- "examples/to_bon8__exception.output"
```

See also

  • from_bon8 create a JSON value from an input in BON8 format
  • to_cbor create a CBOR serialization of a JSON value
  • to_msgpack create a MessagePack serialization of a JSON value
  • to_bson create a BSON serialization of a JSON value
  • to_ubjson create a UBJSON serialization of a JSON value
  • to_bjdata create a BJData serialization of a JSON value

Version history

  • Added in version 3.13.0.