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json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json_view/contains.md
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Niels Lohmann 6ee5e89803 Scan json_view strings with SIMD and index large objects
Speed up json_view's parser with SIMD scanning and a hash table
for large objects.

Long runs of string bytes are scanned 16 bytes at a time with NEON
(AArch64, GCC and Clang) and SSE2 (x86-64), both baseline
instruction sets. Keys keep 16 table checks before the vector
loop, because their lengths repeat from record to record; string
values get 8, because their lengths vary more. Non-ASCII text is
validated 16 bytes at a time with simdjson's "lookup4" check
(Keiser and Lemire, 2021), with NEON on AArch64 and, on x86-64,
with SSSE3. SSSE3 is not part of baseline x86-64, so the check is
compiled for SSSE3 with a function attribute and used only where
CPUID reports it, which all x86-64 CPUs since about 2011 do; the
answer is cached in a statically initialized atomic, so there is
no guard of a local static and no global constructor. The same
input is accepted either way. JSON_VIEW_NO_SIMD selects the
portable code.

On x86-64, string runs are now checked vector-first: one SSE2
compare from the first byte finds the end of most keys and short
values, instead of a branch per byte for the first 8-16 bytes.
AArch64 keeps the byte-wise steps, where a NEON mask costs more and
the branches predict well. Entering an object or array no longer
stalls: open() stores the parent's frame field by field instead of
building it on the stack and reading it back with wider loads,
which waited for the narrower stores to retire.

Objects with 128 members or more get an open-addressing hash table
built when the object closes, so operator[], at(), find(),
contains(), count(), value(), and JSON pointers take constant time
on average in such objects; of duplicate keys, the first is kept,
as for the linear search. The idea comes from Boost.JSON.

simdjson is credited in simd.hpp's SPDX block, the README, and
license.md.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-10-06 10:48:07 +02:00

3.5 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json_view::contains

// (1)
bool contains(string_view_t key) const;
bool contains(const char* key) const;
bool contains(const string_t& key) const;

// (2)
bool contains(const json_pointer& ptr) const;
  1. Checks whether the value is an object with a member with key key.
  2. Checks whether a JSON pointer ptr can be resolved, starting at this value.

Parameters

key (in)
key value to check its existence
ptr (in)
JSON pointer to check its existence

Return value

  1. #!cpp true if the value is an object and has a member with key key, #!cpp false otherwise
  2. #!cpp true if ptr can be resolved to a value starting at this view, #!cpp false otherwise

Exception safety

No-throw guarantee: this function never throws exceptions.

Complexity

  1. 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. Objects with 128 or more members get a hash index while parsing, so that a lookup in them takes constant time on average.
  2. Linear in the number of reference tokens of ptr and, for each token, in the number of members of the object at that level or the index into the array -- as for operator[] and at with a JSON pointer.

Notes

Overload 1 always returns #!cpp false when the value is not an object -- including a discarded view.

!!! info "Postconditions"

If `#!cpp v.contains(key)` returns `#!cpp true`, then `#!cpp v[key]` is not [discarded](is_discarded.md). If
`#!cpp v.contains(ptr)` returns `#!cpp true`, then `#!cpp v[ptr]` is not discarded and `#!cpp v.at(ptr)` does not
throw.

!!! info "Overload 2 never throws"

Unlike [`BasicJsonType::contains(const json_pointer&)`](../basic_json/contains.md), which can throw for certain
malformed pointers (for instance an empty array-index reference token), overload 2 never throws: a missing key,
an out-of-range or malformed array index, a `#!cpp "-"` index, or a reference token used on a primitive all
simply make it return `#!cpp false`.

Examples

??? example "Example: (1) check with key"

The example below counts how many of a batch of records carry an optional `retry_of` field, using `contains()`
to check without ever materializing a single record of the batch.

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

Output:

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

??? example "Example: (2) check with JSON pointer"

The example below checks an optional, nested field with a JSON pointer, and shows two pointers that
`#!cpp contains()` resolves to `#!cpp false` without throwing.

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

Output:

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

See also

  • find - find a value in an object
  • count - returns the number of occurrences of a key
  • at, operator[] - resolve a JSON pointer and throw, or return a discarded view
  • BasicJsonType::contains - the corresponding function of basic_json

Version history

  • Added in version 3.13.0.