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json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json/number_integer_t.md
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Niels LohmannandClaude Opus 5 599bb1b68c docs: document the implicit requirements on basic_json's template parameters
The requirements that basic_json places on its eleven template parameters
were only implied by how the library uses the resulting object_t, array_t,
string_t, etc. Consumers had to discover them by trial and error.

Add "Template Parameter Requirements" collecting them, split into what is
always required and what is only required when a particular part of the API
is instantiated. Notable findings that were previously undocumented:

- ObjectType must provide a key_compare member type (actual_object_comparator
  names object_t::key_compare in both arms of a std::conditional), and its
  third template parameter is used as a comparator, so std::unordered_map
  cannot be used without a wrapper.
- ArrayType must provide capacity() -- push_back(), emplace_back(),
  operator+=(), and operator[](size_type) call it unconditionally -- and
  needs random-access iterators, so std::deque and std::list do not work.
- StringType needs contiguous, null-terminated data(), a one-byte value_type,
  and either assignability from std::to_string or an ADL int_to_string().
- NumberFloatType must be float, double, or long double for parsing and
  serialization; the integer types must satisfy std::is_integral.
- AllocatorType must be stateless, support incomplete types, and use plain
  pointers.
- BooleanType and the number types are union members and must be trivial.

Link the new page from the basic_json overview, the types feature page, and
the individual type alias pages, and correct the container examples given for
ObjectType (std::unordered_map) and ArrayType (std::list), which do not work.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_018hxZxz8svM54c6ATEvXp5E
Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-08-28 17:38:55 +00:00

3.4 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json::number_integer_t

using number_integer_t = NumberIntegerType;

The type used to store JSON numbers (integers).

RFC 8259 describes numbers as follows:

The representation of numbers is similar to that used in most programming languages. A number is represented in base 10 using decimal digits. It contains an integer component that may be prefixed with an optional minus sign, which may be followed by a fraction part and/or an exponent part. Leading zeros are not allowed. (...) Numeric values that cannot be represented in the grammar below (such as Infinity and NaN) are not permitted.

This description includes both integer and floating-point numbers. However, C++ allows more precise storage if it is known whether the number is a signed integer, an unsigned integer, or a floating-point number. Therefore, three different types, number_integer_t, number_unsigned_t and number_float_t are used.

To store integer numbers in C++, a type is defined by the template parameter NumberIntegerType which chooses the type to use.

Template parameters

NumberIntegerType
the type to store signed integers. It must be a signed integral type (#!cpp std::is_integral) with a #!cpp std::numeric_limits specialization, and it is stored directly inside a basic_json value. See Template Parameter Requirements.

Notes

Default type

With the default values for NumberIntegerType (std::int64_t), the default value for number_integer_t is #!cpp std::int64_t.

Default behavior

  • The restrictions about leading zeros are not enforced in C++. Instead, leading zeros in integer literals lead to an interpretation as an octal number. Internally, the value will be stored as a decimal number. For instance, the C++ integer literal 010 will be serialized to 8. During deserialization, leading zeros yield an error.

Limits

RFC 8259 specifies:

An implementation may set limits on the range and precision of numbers.

When the default type is used, the maximal integer number that can be stored is 9223372036854775807 (INT64_MAX) and the minimal integer number that can be stored is -9223372036854775808 (INT64_MIN). Integer numbers that are out of range will yield over/underflow when used in a constructor. During deserialization, too large or small integer numbers will automatically be stored as number_unsigned_t or number_float_t.

RFC 8259 further states:

Note that when such software is used, numbers that are integers and are in the range [-2^{53}+1, 2^{53}-1] are interoperable in the sense that implementations will agree exactly on their numeric values.

As this range is a subrange of the exactly supported range [INT64_MIN, INT64_MAX], this class's integer type is interoperable.

Storage

Integer number values are stored directly inside a basic_json type.

Examples

??? example

The following code shows that `number_integer_t` is by default, a typedef to `#!cpp std::int64_t`.
 
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/number_integer_t.cpp"
```

Output:

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

Version history

  • Added in version 1.0.0.