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json/docs/mkdocs/docs/api/basic_json_view/number_token.md
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Niels Lohmann 7b755737b4 Address the review of json_view element access
From gregmarr's review of #5622:

- count() counts every member with the key, so count(key) > 1 detects
  duplicate keys; it was contains() as 0/1 before.
- get_to() passes types that get<T>() does not convert directly to
  from_json with the existing value, as basic_json::get_to() does, so that
  a from_json which sets only the fields present keeps the others.
- array_index() checks the empty token and "-" first; the results are
  unchanged.
- Docs: no "if an exception is thrown" where a view never changes
  anything; the borrowed source must also stay unmodified; items() on a
  temporary view is safe; back()/front() notes shortened; the basic_json
  see-also entries say how the view's results can differ.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-10-18 10:05:51 +02:00

3.0 KiB

nlohmann::basic_json_view::number_token

string_view_t number_token() const;

Returns the number exactly as it appears in the source text, without parsing or rounding it.

Return value

The number's token text, as a string_view_t into the document's source() text -- for example #!cpp "1.50", #!cpp "1E2", #!cpp "-0", or an integer literal with more digits than any number type holds (such as a 30-digit integer, which get<T>() and materialize() can only represent approximately, as a number_float_t).

Exception safety

Strong guarantee: there are no changes to the view or the document it refers to.

Exceptions

Throws type_error.302 if the value is not a number; example: "type must be number, but is string".

This exception does not carry a JSON_DIAGNOSTICS path: the view has no BasicJsonType value to point at, so the exception is created without one, even if BasicJsonType was built with JSON_DIAGNOSTICS enabled.

Complexity

Constant.

Notes

BasicJsonType has no counterpart to this function: once a number is parsed into number_integer_t, number_unsigned_t, or number_float_t, its original textual form (leading zeros aside, which are already rejected by the grammar; trailing zeros in the fraction; the case and sign of the exponent; ...) is gone. number_token() is useful precisely where that form must survive -- a price or an identifier that must be reproduced exactly, or a number too large for any of BasicJsonType's number types to hold without loss.

The returned string_view_t always points into the document's source() text -- numbers are never decoded into the document's separate string buffer -- and is valid exactly as long as that text is, see the validity rules of basic_json_view.

Examples

??? example

The example below keeps a price and an order ID exactly as they were written in an incoming order, where
converting them with [`get<T>()`](get.md) would lose information: the price picks up floating-point rounding, and
the order ID -- more digits than a 64-bit integer holds -- can only be approximated as a `#!cpp double` once
`#!cpp materialize()`d.

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

Output:

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

See also

Version history

  • Added in version 3.13.0.