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RFC 4627:The application/json Media Type for JavaS...
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2. JSON Grammar


   A JSON text is a sequence of tokens.  The set of tokens includes six
   structural characters, strings, numbers, and three literal names.

   A JSON text is a serialized object or array.

      JSON-text = object / array

   These are the six structural characters:

      begin-array     = ws %x5B ws  ; [left square bracket

      begin-object    = ws %x7B ws  ; { left curly bracket

      end-array       = ws %x5D ws  ;] right square bracket

      end-object      = ws %x7D ws  ; } right curly bracket

      name-separator  = ws %x3A ws  ; : colon

      value-separator = ws %x2C ws  ; , comma

   Insignificant whitespace is allowed before or after any of the six
   structural characters.

      ws = *(
                %x20 /              ; Space
                %x09 /              ; Horizontal tab
                %x0A /              ; Line feed or New line
                %x0D                ; Carriage return
            )


2.1. Values


   A JSON value MUST be an object, array, number, or string, or one of
   the following three literal names:

      false null true

   The literal names MUST be lowercase.  No other literal names are
   allowed.

         value = false / null / true / object / array / number / string

         false = %x66.61.6c.73.65   ; false

         null  = %x6e.75.6c.6c      ; null

         true  = %x74.72.75.65      ; true


2.2. Objects


   An object structure is represented as a pair of curly brackets
   surrounding zero or more name/value pairs (or members).  A name is a
   string.  A single colon comes after each name, separating the name
   from the value.  A single comma separates a value from a following
   name.  The names within an object SHOULD be unique.

      object = begin-object [member *( value-separator member )]
      end-object

      member = string name-separator value


2.3. Arrays


   An array structure is represented as square brackets surrounding zero
   or more values (or elements).  Elements are separated by commas.

      array = begin-array [value *( value-separator value )] end-array


2.4. Numbers


   The representation of numbers is similar to that used in most
   programming languages.  A number 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.

   Octal and hex forms are not allowed.  Leading zeros are not allowed.

   A fraction part is a decimal point followed by one or more digits.

   An exponent part begins with the letter E in upper or lowercase,
   which may be followed by a plus or minus sign.  The E and optional
   sign are followed by one or more digits.

   Numeric values that cannot be represented as sequences of digits
   (such as Infinity and NaN) are not permitted.

         number = [minus] int [frac] [exp]

         decimal-point = %x2E       ; .

         digit1-9 = %x31-39         ; 1-9

         e = %x65 / %x45            ; e E

         exp = e [minus / plus] 1*DIGIT

         frac = decimal-point 1*DIGIT

         int = zero / ( digit1-9 *DIGIT )

         minus = %x2D               ; -

         plus = %x2B                ; +

         zero = %x30                ; 0


2.5. Strings


   The representation of strings is similar to conventions used in the C
   family of programming languages.  A string begins and ends with
   quotation marks.  All Unicode characters may be placed within the
   quotation marks except for the characters that must be escaped:
   quotation mark, reverse solidus, and the control characters (U+0000
   through U+001F).

   Any character may be escaped.  If the character is in the Basic
   Multilingual Plane (U+0000 through U+FFFF), then it may be
   represented as a six-character sequence: a reverse solidus, followed
   by the lowercase letter u, followed by four hexadecimal digits that
   encode the character's code point.  The hexadecimal letters A though
   F can be upper or lowercase.  So, for example, a string containing
   only a single reverse solidus character may be represented as
   "\u005C".

   Alternatively, there are two-character sequence escape
   representations of some popular characters.  So, for example, a
   string containing only a single reverse solidus character may be
   represented more compactly as "\\".

   To escape an extended character that is not in the Basic Multilingual
   Plane, the character is represented as a twelve-character sequence,
   encoding the UTF-16 surrogate pair.  So, for example, a string
   containing only the G clef character (U+1D11E) may be represented as
   "\uD834\uDD1E".

         string = quotation-mark *char quotation-mark

         char = unescaped /
                escape (
                    %x22 /          ; "    quotation mark  U+0022
                    %x5C /          ; \    reverse solidus U+005C
                    %x2F /          ; /    solidus         U+002F
                    %x62 /          ; b    backspace       U+0008
                    %x66 /          ; f    form feed       U+000C
                    %x6E /          ; n    line feed       U+000A
                    %x72 /          ; r    carriage return U+000D
                    %x74 /          ; t    tab             U+0009
                    %x75 4HEXDIG )  ; uXXXX                U+XXXX

         escape = %x5C              ; \

         quotation-mark = %x22      ; "

         unescaped = %x20-21 / %x23-5B / %x5D-10FFFF



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