Files
json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json_view/find.md
T
Niels Lohmann decf6de9c7 Return the first member of duplicate keys from lookups again
Looking up the last member of a duplicate key cannot stop at a match, so
every lookup scanned the whole object (1.6 to 3.4 times slower for small
objects). operator[](key), at, find, value, contains, count, and JSON
pointer resolution return the first member again, as yyjson and simdjson
do; materialize() and get<map>() keep the last value, as parse().

The documentation says so in the feature page and on each lookup page,
and explains how to get the value parse() would give. The integer index
templates and the discarded chaining of operator[] stay.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-10-11 10:28:03 +02:00

2.4 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json_view::find

iterator find(string_view_t key) const;
iterator find(const char* key) const;
iterator find(const string_t& key) const;

Finds a member with key key -- the first one, should the key occur more than once (see Notes on duplicate keys). If the value is not an object, or no member has this key, end() is returned.

Parameters

key (in)
key value of the element to search for

Return value

An iterator to the member with key key, or end() if there is none or the value is not an object.

Exception safety

No-throw guarantee: this function never throws exceptions.

Complexity

Linear in the number of members: as for ordered_json, members are compared one after another, in document order, stopping at the first match. Each comparison first checks the key's length -- already known from the index, without reading the key bytes -- before comparing its content.

Notes

!!! warning "Duplicate keys: the first member wins"

If the source text repeats a key, this resolves to the *first* member with it, not to the last one that
[`materialize()`](materialize.md) and `parse()` keep. See the [Notes on duplicate keys](operator[].md#notes) of
`operator[]` and [Duplicate keys](../../features/json_view.md#duplicate-keys) for the reasons and for how to get
the last value.

Unlike BasicJsonType::find, which always returns #!cpp end() for a non-object type, this also does so for a discarded view -- there is no separate "invalid" iterator to return.

Examples

??? example

The example below scans a batch of events for those that carry an optional `user_id` field, using `find()`
instead of [`operator[]`](operator[].md) (which would throw for the events that are not objects at all) or
[`contains()`](contains.md) followed by a second lookup. Events without a match are never materialized.

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

Output:

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

See also

Version history

  • Added in version 3.13.0.