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json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json/from_ubjson.md
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Niels Lohmann 63c10a51fc Review and extend the documentation, and check it in CI (#5638)
* Review and extend the documentation, and check it in CI

A review of all documentation pages found factual errors, dead links,
missing cross-references, and gaps in examples. This fixes them and adds
checks so the same problems are caught automatically.

Fixes:
- wrong signatures and version histories (operator!= C++20 member,
  binary() subtype type, get<PointerType>(), JSON_NO_THREAD_LOCAL, ...)
- stale descriptions (number parsing since #5283, UBJSON table, SAX
  example that no longer compiled, tsl::ordered_map advice)
- dead internal and external links; repology.org badges (the domain is
  suspended) replaced by badges that query the registries directly
- deprecation notes link the migration guide; the guide itself fixed

Additions:
- "See also" sections, cross-references, 25 runnable examples, 12
  Mermaid diagrams, new API pages for json_pointer::operator<=> and
  byte_container_with_subtype::operator==/!=
- landing page, guides for untrusted input and performance
- "unreleased" badge after versions newer than the latest release

Checks:
- strict documentation build (broken links/anchors fail it); CI and
  the publish workflow fetch the full history the build needs
- weekly external link check, Mermaid syntax check in CI
- check_structure.py: example titles, heading levels, alt texts,
  header links, docset index coverage; its unused-example check works
  again
- all examples produce the same output on every platform

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Keep the customer links that could not be fixed

A dead link on the customers page is still the evidence of where the
use of the library was documented. Keep the original URLs of the entries
without a working replacement (Marne, Cisco Webex Desk Camera, Philips
Hue, CyberArk) and exclude exactly these URLs from the link check.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Correct the duplicate-key recipe's claim about SAX positions

The SAX interface's key() receives no position either; only parse_error()
does. Also note that the recipe does not report the path to the repeated
key (see discussion #5085).

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Say the library is available as a single header and mention json_fwd.hpp

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Correct documentation errors found while hunting for bugs

- patch/patch_inplace: list the JSON pointer errors parse_error.106-109
  and out_of_range.402/404, and quote the actual parse_error.105 message.
- unflatten: list parse_error.106/107/108 and out_of_range.404.
- to_bson: list out_of_range.415 (binary subtype above 255) and note
  that 412 and 415 are new in 3.13.0.
- to_string: state that string_t must be convertible to std::string, also
  in the StringType requirements table.
- JSON Lines: a `while (input >> j)` loop also throws after the last value
  for concatenated JSON values; show a loop that works for both.
- BON8: a string gets 0xFF only if nothing follows it in the message; a
  string at the end of an array or object is ended by 0xFE.
- custom_string_type.hpp: add operator+=(char), which the "Always
  required" list asks for (json_pointer::to_string, flatten, unflatten,
  and diff did not compile), and an ADL int_to_string for diff and items.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Cache the release headers with functools.lru_cache

Codacy (Pylint) flagged the mutable default argument that header() used
as its cache. functools.lru_cache keeps the same memoization without it.
The script's output is unchanged.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

---------

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-10-02 11:32:15 +02:00

5.1 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json::from_ubjson

// (1)
template<typename InputType>
static basic_json from_ubjson(InputType&& i,
                              const bool strict = true,
                              const bool allow_exceptions = true);
// (2)
template<typename IteratorType, typename SentinelType = IteratorType>
static basic_json from_ubjson(IteratorType first, SentinelType last,
                              const bool strict = true,
                              const bool allow_exceptions = true);

Deserializes a given input to a JSON value using the UBJSON (Universal Binary JSON) serialization format.

  1. Reads from a compatible input.
  2. Reads from an iterator range, or an iterator and a sentinel of a different type (C++20 ranges support).

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

Template parameters

InputType
A compatible input, for instance:
  • an std::istream object
  • a FILE pointer
  • a C-style array of characters
  • a pointer to a null-terminated string of single byte characters
  • a container obj for which begin(obj) and end(obj) produce a valid pair of iterators (as found via ADL or member functions, with semantics compatible to std::begin and std::end)
IteratorType
a compatible iterator type
SentinelType
defaults to IteratorType; may be a different type comparable to IteratorType via operator!=, for instance.
  • a custom sentinel type for C++20 ranges
  • std::default_sentinel_t, when IteratorType is std::counted_iterator

Parameters

i (in)
an input in UBJSON format convertible to an input adapter
first (in)
iterator to the start of the input
last (in)
iterator to the end of the input, or a sentinel value that compares equal to the end iterator with operator!=
strict (in)
whether to expect the input to be consumed until EOF (#!cpp true by default)
allow_exceptions (in)
whether to throw exceptions in case of a parse error (optional, #!cpp true by default)

Return value

deserialized JSON value; in case of a parse error and allow_exceptions set to #!cpp false, the return value will be value_t::discarded. The latter can be checked with is_discarded.

Exception safety

Strong guarantee: if an exception is thrown, there are no changes in the JSON value.

Exceptions

  • Throws parse_error.110 if the given input ends prematurely or the end of the file was not reached when strict was set to true
  • Throws parse_error.112 if a parse error occurs
  • Throws parse_error.113 if a string could not be parsed successfully
  • Throws out_of_range.408 if the size of an optimized container or n-dimensional array cannot be represented by std::size_t

Complexity

Linear in the size of the input.

Examples

??? example

The example shows the deserialization of a byte vector in UBJSON format to a JSON value.
 
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/from_ubjson.cpp"
```

Output:

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

See also

  • to_ubjson create a UBJSON serialization of a JSON value
  • from_cbor create a JSON value from an input in CBOR format
  • from_msgpack create a JSON value from an input in MessagePack format
  • from_bson create a JSON value from an input in BSON format
  • from_bjdata create a JSON value from an input in BJData format
  • from_bon8 create a JSON value from an input in BON8 format

Version history

  • Added in version 3.1.0.
  • Added allow_exceptions parameter in version 3.2.0.
  • Extended container support (1) to include types with lvalue-only ADL begin/end (matching std::begin/std::end semantics) in version 3.13.0.
  • Extended overload (2) to accept heterogeneous iterator+sentinel pairs (C++20 ranges support) in version 3.13.0.

!!! warning "Deprecation"

- Overload (2) replaces calls to `from_ubjson` with a pointer and a length as first two parameters, which has been
  deprecated in version 3.8.0. This overload will be removed in version 4.0.0. Please replace all calls like
  `#!cpp from_ubjson(ptr, len, ...);` with `#!cpp from_ubjson(ptr, ptr+len, ...);`.
- Overload (2) replaces calls to `from_ubjson` with a pair of iterators as their first parameter, which has been
  deprecated in version 3.8.0. This overload will be removed in version 4.0.0. Please replace all calls like
  `#!cpp from_ubjson({ptr, ptr+len}, ...);` with `#!cpp from_ubjson(ptr, ptr+len, ...);`.

You should be warned by your compiler with a `-Wdeprecated-declarations` warning if you are using a deprecated
function.

See the [migration guide](../../integration/migration_guide.md#parsing) for how to update existing code.