json-ptr

What is json-ptr?

The json-ptr npm package provides utilities for working with JSON Pointers (RFC 6901) and JSON References (RFC 6901). It allows you to create, parse, and resolve JSON Pointers and References, making it easier to navigate and manipulate JSON data structures.

What are json-ptr's main functionalities?

Creating JSON Pointers

This feature allows you to create JSON Pointers from a string path. The example demonstrates creating a JSON Pointer for the path '/foo/bar'.

const ptr = require('json-ptr');
const pointer = ptr.create('/foo/bar');
console.log(pointer.toString()); // '/foo/bar'

Resolving JSON Pointers

This feature allows you to resolve a JSON Pointer against a JSON document to retrieve the value at the specified path. The example shows how to get the value 'baz' from the path '/foo/bar' in the given document.

const ptr = require('json-ptr');
const document = { foo: { bar: 'baz' } };
const value = ptr.get(document, '/foo/bar');
console.log(value); // 'baz'

Parsing JSON Pointers

This feature allows you to parse a JSON Pointer into its component parts. The example demonstrates parsing the pointer '/foo/bar' into an array of its segments.

const ptr = require('json-ptr');
const parsed = ptr.parse('/foo/bar');
console.log(parsed); // ['foo', 'bar']

Handling JSON References

This feature allows you to resolve JSON References within a document. The example shows how to resolve a reference to the path '#/foo/bar' and retrieve the value 'baz'.

const ptr = require('json-ptr');
const document = { foo: { bar: 'baz' }, ref: { '$ref': '#/foo/bar' } };
const value = ptr.resolve(document, document.ref);
console.log(value); // 'baz'

Other packages similar to json-ptr

jsonpointer

The jsonpointer package provides similar functionality for resolving JSON Pointers. It allows you to get and set values in a JSON document using JSON Pointers. Compared to json-ptr, jsonpointer is more focused on basic get and set operations and may not have as extensive support for JSON References.

json-ref

The json-ref package focuses on resolving JSON References within a document. It provides utilities for dereferencing JSON References and is useful for working with JSON schemas. Compared to json-ptr, json-ref is more specialized in handling JSON References and may not provide as much functionality for working with JSON Pointers.

jsonpath

The jsonpath package provides a way to query JSON documents using JSONPath expressions, which are more powerful and flexible than JSON Pointers. While jsonpath offers more advanced querying capabilities, it is not directly focused on JSON Pointers or References like json-ptr.

README

json-ptr

A complete implementation of JSON Pointer (RFC 6901) for nodejs and modern browsers.

Supports Relative JSON Pointers. (Example)

Background

I wrote this a few years back when I was unable to find a complete implementation of RFC 6901. It turns out that I now use the hell out of it. I hope you also find it useful.

Install

npm install json-ptr

Release Bundles

As of v3.0.0, we provide CJS, ESM, and UMD builds under the dist/ folder when you install the package from NPM, we also have all appropriate references in our package.json file, so your code should just work. If you need a CDN reference for a website or the like, try UNPKG, which picks up our releases automatically.

CDN: https://unpkg.com/browse/json-ptr@3.1.0/dist/json-ptr.min.js.

Use

Both CJS and ESM are supported.

const { JsonPointer } = require('json-ptr');

import { JsonPointer } from 'json-ptr';

API Documentation

The API documentation is generated from code by typedoc and hosted here. Read the docs.

Documentation is always a work in progress, let us know by creating an issue if you need a scenario documented.

Example

There are many uses for JSON Pointers, here's one we encountered when we updated a public API and suddenly had clients sending two different message bodies to our APIs. This example is contrived to illustrate how we supported both new and old incoming messages:

// examples/versions.ts
import { JsonPointer } from 'json-ptr';

export type SupportedVersion = '1.0' | '1.1';

interface PrimaryGuestNamePointers {
  name: JsonPointer;
  surname: JsonPointer;
  honorific: JsonPointer;
}
const versions: Record<SupportedVersion, PrimaryGuestNamePointers> = {
  '1.0': {
    name: JsonPointer.create('/guests/0/name'),
    surname: JsonPointer.create('/guests/0/surname'),
    honorific: JsonPointer.create('/guests/0/honorific'),
  },
  '1.1': {
    name: JsonPointer.create('/primary/primaryGuest/name'),
    surname: JsonPointer.create('/primary/primaryGuest/surname'),
    honorific: JsonPointer.create('/primary/primaryGuest/honorific'),
  },
};

interface Reservation extends Record<string, unknown> {
  version?: SupportedVersion;
}

/**
 * Gets the primary guest's name from the specified reservation.
 * @param reservation a reservation, either version 1.0 or bearing a `version`
 * property indicating the version.
 */
function primaryGuestName(reservation: Reservation): string {
  const pointers = versions[reservation.version || '1.0'];
  if (!pointers) {
    throw new Error(`Unsupported reservation version: ${reservation.version}`);
  }
  const name = pointers.name.get(reservation) as string;
  const surname = pointers.surname.get(reservation) as string;
  const honorific = pointers.honorific.get(reservation) as string;
  const names: string[] = [];
  if (honorific) names.push(honorific);
  if (name) names.push(name);
  if (surname) names.push(surname);
  return names.join(' ');
}

// The original layout of a reservation (only the parts relevant to our example)
const reservationV1: Reservation = {
  guests: [
    {
      name: 'Wilbur',
      surname: 'Finkle',
      honorific: 'Mr.',
    },
    {
      name: 'Wanda',
      surname: 'Finkle',
      honorific: 'Mrs.',
    },
    {
      name: 'Wilma',
      surname: 'Finkle',
      honorific: 'Miss',
      child: true,
      age: 12,
    },
  ],
  // ...
};

// The new layout of a reservation (only the parts relevant to our example)
const reservationV1_1: Reservation = {
  version: '1.1',
  primary: {
    primaryGuest: {
      name: 'Wilbur',
      surname: 'Finkle',
      honorific: 'Mr.',
    },
    additionalGuests: [
      {
        name: 'Wanda',
        surname: 'Finkle',
        honorific: 'Mrs.',
      },
      {
        name: 'Wilma',
        surname: 'Finkle',
        honorific: 'Miss',
        child: true,
        age: 12,
      },
    ],
    // ...
  },
  // ...
};

console.log(primaryGuestName(reservationV1));
console.log(primaryGuestName(reservationV1_1));

Security Vulnerabilities (Resolved)

• prior to v3.0.0 there was a security vulnerability which allowed a developer to perform prototype pollution by sending malformed path segments to json-ptr. If you were one of these developers, you should upgrade to v3.0.0 immediately, and stop using json-ptr to pollute an object's prototype. If you feel you have a legitimate reason to do so, please use another method and leave json-ptr out of it. Such behavior has been disallowed since it can easily be done using plain ol javascript by those determined to violate common best practice.

• prior to v2.1.0 there was a security vulnerability which allowed an unscrupulous actor to execute arbitrary code if developers failed to sanitize user input before sending it to json-ptr. If your code does not sanitize user input before sending it to json-ptr, your project is vulnerable and you should upgrade to v3.0.0 immediately. And while your at it, start sanitized user input before sending it to any library!

Breaking Changes at v1.3.0

As was rightly pointed out in this issue, I should have rolled the major version at v1.3.0 instead of the minor version due to breaking changes to the API. Not the worst blunder I've made, but my apologies all the same. Since the ship has sailed, I'm boosting the visibility of these breaking changes.

Where did the Global Functions Go?

In version v1.3.0 of the library, global functions were moved to static functions of the JsonPointer class. There should be no difference in arguments or behavior. If you were previously importing the global functions it is a small change to destructure them and have compatible code.

Global Fn	Static Fn	Documentation
create()	JsonPointer.create()	Factory function that creates a JsonPointer
decode()	JsonPointer.decode()	Decodes the specified pointer into path segments.
flatten()	JsonPointer.flatten()	DEvaluates the target's object graph, returning a Record<Pointer, unknown> populated with pointers and the corresponding values from the graph..
get()	JsonPointer.get()	Gets the target object's value at the pointer's location.
has()	JsonPointer.has()	Determines if the specified target's object graph has a value at the pointer's location.
list()		Replaced by JsonPointer.listFragmentIds() and JsonPointer.listPointers().
listFragmentIds()	JsonPointer.listFragmentIds()	Evaluates the target's object graph, returning a UriFragmentIdentifierPointerListItem for each location in the graph.
listPointers()	JsonPointer.listPointers()	Evaluates the target's object graph, returning a JsonStringPointerListItem for each location in the graph.
map()	JsonPointer.map()	Evaluates the target's object graph, returning a Map<Pointer,unknown> populated with pointers and the corresponding values form the graph.
set()	JsonPointer.set()	Sets the target object's value, as specified, at the pointer's location.
	JsonPointer.unset()	Removes the target object's value at the pointer's location.
visit()	JsonPointer.visit()	Evaluates the target's object graph, calling the specified visitor for every unique pointer location discovered while walking the graph.

Tests

We're maintaining near 100% test coverage. Visit our circleci build page and drill down on a recent build's build and test step to see where we're at. It should look something like:

=============================== Coverage summary ===============================
Statements   : 100% ( 270/270 )
Branches     : 100% ( 172/172 )
Functions    : 100% ( 49/49 )
Lines        : 100% ( 265/265 )
================================================================================

We use mocha so you can also clone the code and:

$ npm install
$ npm test

Once you've run the tests on the command line you can open up ./tests.html in the browser of your choice.

Performance

WARNING! These performance metrics are quite outdated. We'll be updating as soon as we have time.

This repository has a companion repository that makes some performance comparisons between json-ptr, jsonpointer and json-pointer.

All timings are expressed as nanoseconds:

.flatten(obj)
...
MODULE       | METHOD  | COMPILED | SAMPLES |       AVG | SLOWER
json-pointer | dict    |          | 10      | 464455181 |
json-ptr     | flatten |          | 10      | 770424039 | 65.88%
jsonpointer  | n/a     |          | -       |         - |

.has(obj, pointer)
...
MODULE       | METHOD | COMPILED | SAMPLES | AVG  | SLOWER
json-ptr     | has    | compiled | 1000000 | 822  |
json-ptr     | has    |          | 1000000 | 1747 | 112.53%
json-pointer | has    |          | 1000000 | 2683 | 226.4%
jsonpointer  | n/a    |          | -       | -    |

.has(obj, fragmentId)
...
MODULE       | METHOD | COMPILED | SAMPLES | AVG  | SLOWER
json-ptr     | has    | compiled | 1000000 | 602  |
json-ptr     | has    |          | 1000000 | 1664 | 176.41%
json-pointer | has    |          | 1000000 | 2569 | 326.74%
jsonpointer  | n/a    |          | -       | -    |

.get(obj, pointer)
...
MODULE       | METHOD | COMPILED | SAMPLES | AVG  | SLOWER
json-ptr     | get    | compiled | 1000000 | 590  |
json-ptr     | get    |          | 1000000 | 1676 | 184.07%
jsonpointer  | get    | compiled | 1000000 | 2102 | 256.27%
jsonpointer  | get    |          | 1000000 | 2377 | 302.88%
json-pointer | get    |          | 1000000 | 2585 | 338.14%

.get(obj, fragmentId)
...
MODULE       | METHOD | COMPILED | SAMPLES | AVG  | SLOWER
json-ptr     | get    | compiled | 1000000 | 587  |
json-ptr     | get    |          | 1000000 | 1673 | 185.01%
jsonpointer  | get    | compiled | 1000000 | 2105 | 258.6%
jsonpointer  | get    |          | 1000000 | 2451 | 317.55%
json-pointer | get    |          | 1000000 | 2619 | 346.17%

These results have been elided because there is too much detail in the actual. Your results will vary slightly depending on the resources available where you run it.

It is important to recognize in the performance results that compiled options are faster. As a general rule, you should compile any pointers you'll be using repeatedly.

Releases

• 2022-02-02 — 3.1.0

  • fixed issue #48 wherein, when calling any of the .set() methods, which in turn rely on setValueAtPath(), and using the force argument to enable creating an object graph, one character path segments were interpreted as numbers, which resulted in unintended object graphs being created when the character was not an integer.
  • fixed borked documentation as reported in issue #44

• 2021-10-26 — 3.0.0 Potential Security Vulnerability Patched

  • When setting a value on an object graph, a developer could purposely use json-ptr to pollute an object's prototype by passing invalid path segments to the set/unset operations. This behavior has been disallowed.

• 2021-05-14 — 2.2.0 Added Handling for Relative JSON Pointers

  • Example usage

• 2021-05-12 — 2.1.1 Bug fix for #36

  • @CarolynWebster reported an unintentional behavior change starting at v1.3.0. An operation involving a pointer/path that crossed a null value in the object graph resulted in an exception. In versions prior to v1.3.0 it returned undefined as intended. The original behavior has been restored.

• 2021-05-12 — 2.1.0 Bug fixes for #28 and #30; Security Vulnerability Patched

  • When compiling the accessors for quickly accessing points in an object graph, the .get() method was not properly delimiting single quotes. This error caused the get operation to throw an exception in during normal usage. Worse, in cases where malicious user input was sent directly to json-ptr, the failure to delimit single quotes allowed the execution of arbitrary code (an injection attack). The first of these issues was reported in #28 by @mprast, the second (vulnerability) by @zpbrent. Thanks also to @elimumford for the actual code used for the fix.

  • If your code sent un-sanitized user input to the .get() method of json-ptr, your project was susceptible to this security vulnerability!

• 2020-10-21 — 2.0.0 Breaking Change

  • Prototype pollution using this library is now disallowed and will throw an error. I've been looking into the origin of this issue and it seems to have been disclosed by mohan on huntr.dev. I received a PR from @luci-m-666, but found another PR by @alromh87 that looks like the origin of the solution. Don't know who to thank, but thanks all -- somebody is due a bounty.
  • Just in case somebody was relying on json-ptr to support pointers across the prototype, I'm rolling the major version number because you're now broken.

BEWARE of Breaking Changes at v1.3.0!

• 2020-07-20 — 1.3.2

  • Added missing tslib dependency.
  • Documented where the global functions are now located; moving them broke compatibility at v1.3.0.

• 2020-07-10 — 1.3.0 BREAKING CHANGES

  • BREAKING CHANGE: Global functions are now static functions on the JsonPointer type. See Where did the Global Functions Go?
  • Merged new .unset() function contributed by @chrishalbert, updated dependencies.
  • Migrated to typescript and retooled build/test/deploy pipeline. Definitely typed.
  • 100% test coverage which illuminated some idiosyncrasies; maybe we killed unobserved bugs, nobody knows.

• 2019-09-14 — 1.2.0

  • Merged new .concat function contributed by @vuwuv, updated dependencies.

• 2019-03-10 — 1.1.2

  • Updated packages to remove critical security concern among dev dependencies'

• 2016-07-26 — 1.0.1

  • Fixed a problem with the Babel configuration

• 2016-01-12 — 1.0.0

  • Rolled major version to 1 to reflect breaking change in .list(obj, fragmentId).

• 2016-01-02 — 0.3.0

  • Retooled for node 4+
  • Better compiled pointers
  • Unrolled recursive .list function
  • Added .map function
  • Fully linted
  • Lots more tests and examples.
  • Documented many previously undocumented features.

• 2014-10-21 — 0.2.0 Added #list function to enumerate all properties in a graph, producing fragmentId/value pairs.

License

MIT