json/doc/mkdocs/docs/features/iterators.md
Niels Lohmann 29cd970b94
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2021-12-29 13:41:01 +01:00

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# Iterators
## Overview
A `basic_json` value is a container and allows access via iterators. Depending on the value type, `basic_json` stores zero or more values.
As for other containers, `begin()` returns an iterator to the first value and `end()` returns an iterator to the value following the last value. The latter iterator is a placeholder and cannot be dereferenced. In case of null values, empty arrays, or empty objects, `begin()` will return `end()`.
![Illustration from cppreference.com](../images/range-begin-end.svg)
### Iteration order for objects
When iterating over objects, values are ordered with respect to the `object_comparator_t` type which defaults to `std::less`. See the [types documentation](types/index.md#key-order) for more information.
??? example
```cpp
// create JSON object {"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3}
json j;
j["one"] = 1;
j["two"] = 2;
j["three"] = 3;
for (auto it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it)
{
std::cout << *it << std::endl;
}
```
Output:
```json
1
3
2
```
The reason for the order is the lexicographic ordering of the object keys "one", "three", "two".
### Access object key during iteration
The JSON iterators have two member functions, `key()` and `value()` to access the object key and stored value, respectively. When calling `key()` on a non-object iterator, an [invalid_iterator.207](../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptioninvalid_iterator207) exception is thrown.
??? example
```cpp
// create JSON object {"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3}
json j;
j["one"] = 1;
j["two"] = 2;
j["three"] = 3;
for (auto it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it)
{
std::cout << it.key() << " : " << it.value() << std::endl;
}
```
Output:
```json
one : 1
three : 3
two : 2
```
### Range-based for loops
C++11 allows using range-based for loops to iterate over a container.
```cpp
for (auto it : j_object)
{
// "it" is of type json::reference and has no key() member
std::cout << "value: " << it << '\n';
}
```
For this reason, the `items()` function allows accessing `iterator::key()` and `iterator::value()` during range-based for loops. In these loops, a reference to the JSON values is returned, so there is no access to the underlying iterator.
```cpp
for (auto& el : j_object.items())
{
std::cout << "key: " << el.key() << ", value:" << el.value() << '\n';
}
```
The items() function also allows using structured bindings (C++17):
```cpp
for (auto& [key, val] : j_object.items())
{
std::cout << "key: " << key << ", value:" << val << '\n';
}
```
!!! note
When iterating over an array, `key()` will return the index of the element as string. For primitive types (e.g., numbers), `key()` returns an empty string.
!!! warning
Using `items()` on temporary objects is dangerous. Make sure the object's lifetime exceeds the iteration. See <https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/2040> for more information.
### Reverse iteration order
`rbegin()` and `rend()` return iterators in the reverse sequence.
![Illustration from cppreference.com](../images/range-rbegin-rend.svg)
??? example
```cpp
json j = {1, 2, 3, 4};
for (auto it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it)
{
std::cout << *it << std::endl;
}
```
Output:
```json
4
3
2
1
```
### Iterating strings and binary values
Note that "value" means a JSON value in this setting, not values stored in the underlying containers. That is, `*begin()` returns the complete string or binary array and is also safe the underlying string or binary array is empty.
??? example
```cpp
json j = "Hello, world";
for (auto it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it)
{
std::cout << *it << std::endl;
}
```
Output:
```json
"Hello, world"
```
## Iterator invalidation
| Operations | invalidated iterators |
|------------|-----------------------|
| `clear` | all |