# nlohmann::basic_json::cbegin
```cpp
const_iterator cbegin() const noexcept;
```
Returns an iterator to the first element.
`cbegin()` points to the first element, like `begin()`, and `end()` to the position after
the last element; the dashed cell is the past-the-last position, which must not be dereferenced.
## Return value
iterator to the first element
## Exception safety
No-throw guarantee: this member function never throws exceptions.
## Complexity
Constant.
## Examples
??? example
The following code shows an example for `cbegin()`.
```cpp
#include
#include
using nlohmann::json;
int main()
{
// create an array value
const json array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
// get an iterator to the first element
json::const_iterator it = array.cbegin();
// serialize the element that the iterator points to
std::cout << *it << '\n';
}
```
Output:
```json
1
```
## See also
- [`begin`](begin.md) - returns an iterator to the first element
- [`cend`](cend.md) - returns a const iterator to one past the last element
- [`crbegin`](crbegin.md) - returns a const reverse iterator to the last element
- [Iterators](../../features/iterators.md) - the article on iterators
- [`basic_json_view::cbegin`](../basic_json_view/cbegin.md) - the same iteration on a zero-copy view
## Version history
- Added in version 1.0.0.