docs: document standards compliance and parse() vs operator>> strictness (#5326)

* docs: document RFC 8259 / JSONTestSuite compliance and parse() vs operator>> strictness

The compliance story lived only in tests/src/unit-testsuites.cpp, so
drive-by comparisons kept claiming the library "does not fully pass
JSONTestSuite". Make it discoverable:

- README: add a "Standards compliance" note stating that both nst
  JSONTestSuite revisions run in CI, that all mandatory y_/n_ cases pass
  through the strict parse() entry point, and listing the deliberate
  implementation-defined i_ choices (unbounded nesting, silent BOM
  stripping, noncharacters forwarded, strict rejection of invalid UTF-8
  and lone surrogates, out_of_range.406 on numeric overflow).
- features/parsing: add a "Strictness and trailing data" section
  documenting that parse() is strict and rejects trailing data while
  operator>> follows relaxed iostream semantics (parses one value and
  leaves the stream positioned after it) -- the single place a naive
  test yields a "non-compliant" result.

Documentation only; no parser behavior change. Closes #5290.

Signed-off-by: manon <youdie006@users.noreply.github.com>

* docs: correct test-data vendoring and parse()/operator>> claims per review

- README: the JSONTestSuite data is downloaded from nlohmann/json_test_data at
  configure time, not vendored/committed; say so.
- README: only the updated suite runs y_ and n_ cases through strict parse();
  the original suite's y_ cases go through operator>>. Narrow the claim.
- parsing/index.md and operator_gtgt.md: note that operator>> consumes a number's
  terminating byte, so concatenated numbers must be whitespace-separated (1 2
  works, 1true does not); structural and literal values are unaffected.

Signed-off-by: manon <youdie006@users.noreply.github.com>

---------

Signed-off-by: manon <youdie006@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: manon <youdie006@users.noreply.github.com>
This commit is contained in:
KBS
2026-08-04 02:15:53 +09:00
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@@ -1822,6 +1822,15 @@ The library itself consists of a single header file licensed under the MIT licen
## Notes
### Standards compliance
The library targets strict conformance with [RFC 8259](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8259.html). Both the original [JSONTestSuite](https://github.com/nst/JSONTestSuite) and its updated revision are exercised in CI; their test data is downloaded from [`nlohmann/json_test_data`](https://github.com/nlohmann/json_test_data) at configure time rather than committed to this repository (see [`tests/src/unit-testsuites.cpp`](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/blob/develop/tests/src/unit-testsuites.cpp)):
- The updated revision runs all mandatory `y_` (must-accept) and `n_` (must-reject) cases through the strict [`parse()`](https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/parse/) entry point; the original suite runs its `n_` cases through `parse()` and its `y_` cases through [`operator>>`](https://json.nlohmann.me/api/operator_gtgt/).
- The `i_` (implementation-defined) cases are, by RFC 8259, free to be accepted *or* rejected, so "passing all `i_` cases" is not a meaningful conformance metric. The library makes deliberate, documented choices there: nesting depth is not artificially limited, a leading UTF-8 byte order mark is silently ignored, [Unicode noncharacters](https://www.unicode.org/faq/private_use.html#nonchar1) are forwarded unchanged, invalid UTF-8 and lone/unpaired UTF-16 surrogates are rejected (stricter than required), and a number that cannot be stored without becoming `NaN`/`INF` raises [`out_of_range.406`](https://json.nlohmann.me/home/exceptions/#jsonexceptionout_of_range406).
One behavioral nuance is worth calling out, because a superficial test often misreads it as non-compliance: [`parse()`](https://json.nlohmann.me/api/basic_json/parse/) is strict and rejects trailing data after a value, whereas [`operator>>`](https://json.nlohmann.me/api/operator_gtgt/) follows relaxed iostream semantics — it parses a single value and leaves the stream positioned right after it. Feeding "a valid document followed by trailing bytes" through `operator>>` reports success; the same input through `parse()` is rejected. This is a documented two-API design, not a conformance gap. See [**parsing**](https://json.nlohmann.me/features/parsing/) for details.
### Character encoding
The library supports **Unicode input** as follows:

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@@ -28,6 +28,22 @@ Inputs consisting of multiple values separated by newlines are handled by the [J
By default, the library rejects comments and trailing commas. Both can be enabled with parameters of the `parse`
function — see [comments](../comments.md) and [trailing commas](../trailing_commas.md).
## Strictness and trailing data
[`parse`](../../api/basic_json/parse.md) reads a single JSON value and requires the whole input to be consumed: any
non-whitespace data after the value is reported as a parse error. Use it when you want to guarantee that an input is
exactly one complete JSON document.
[`operator>>`](../../api/operator_gtgt.md) follows relaxed `#!cpp std::istream` semantics instead: it parses one JSON
value and leaves the stream positioned right after it, without requiring the rest of the stream to be consumed. This is
what makes it possible to read several concatenated values from the same stream, but it also means that "a valid
document followed by trailing bytes" is accepted rather than rejected. If you are validating conformance, or need to
reject any input that is not exactly one JSON document, prefer `parse`.
When using `operator>>` to read several concatenated values this way, a value that is a number must be followed by
whitespace, because `operator>>` consumes the character that terminates a number — see the
[`operator>>` notes](../../api/operator_gtgt.md#notes) for details and examples.
## SAX vs. DOM parsing
The library offers two parsing models: