How to stop json.Marshal from escaping < and >? - go

Question

package main
import "fmt"
import "encoding/json"
type Track struct {
XmlRequest string `json:"xmlRequest"`
}
func main() {
message := new(Track)
message.XmlRequest = "<car><mirror>XML</mirror></car>"
fmt.Println("Before Marshal", message)
messageJSON, _ := json.Marshal(message)
fmt.Println("After marshal", string(messageJSON))
}
Is it possible to make json.Marshal not escape < and >? I currently get:
{"xmlRequest":"\u003ccar\u003e\u003cmirror\u003eXML\u003c/mirror\u003e\u003c/car\u003e"}
but I am looking for something like this:
{"xmlRequest":"<car><mirror>XML</mirror></car>"}

Answer 1

As of Go 1.7, you still cannot do this with json.Marshal(). The source code for json.Marshal shows:
> err := e.marshal(v, encOpts{escapeHTML: true})
The reason json.Marshal always does this is:
String values encode as JSON strings coerced to valid UTF-8,
replacing invalid bytes with the Unicode replacement rune.
The angle brackets "<" and ">" are escaped to "\u003c" and "\u003e"
to keep some browsers from misinterpreting JSON output as HTML.
Ampersand "&" is also escaped to "\u0026" for the same reason.
This means you cannot even do it by writing a custom func (t *Track) MarshalJSON(), you have to use something that does not satisfy the json.Marshaler interface.
So, the workaround, is to write your own function:
func (t *Track) JSON() ([]byte, error) {
buffer := &bytes.Buffer{}
encoder := json.NewEncoder(buffer)
encoder.SetEscapeHTML(false)
err := encoder.Encode(t)
return buffer.Bytes(), err
}
https://play.golang.org/p/FAH-XS-QMC
If you want a generic solution for any struct, you could do:
func JSONMarshal(t interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
buffer := &bytes.Buffer{}
encoder := json.NewEncoder(buffer)
encoder.SetEscapeHTML(false)
err := encoder.Encode(t)
return buffer.Bytes(), err
}
https://play.golang.org/p/bdqv3TUGr3

Answer 2

In Go1.7 the have added a new option to fix this:
encoding/json:
add Encoder.DisableHTMLEscaping This provides a way to disable the escaping of <, >, and & in JSON strings.
The relevant function is
func (*Encoder) SetEscapeHTML
That should be applied to a Encoder.
enc := json.NewEncoder(os.Stdout)
enc.SetEscapeHTML(false)
Simple example: https://play.golang.org/p/SJM3KLkYW-

Answer 3

This doesn't answer the question directly but it could be an answer if you're looking for a way how to deal with json.Marshal escaping < and >...
Another way to solve the problem is to replace those escaped characters in json.RawMessage into just valid UTF-8 characters, after the json.Marshal() call.
It will work as well for any letters other than < and >. (I used to do this to make non-English letters to be human readable in JSON :D)
func _UnescapeUnicodeCharactersInJSON(_jsonRaw json.RawMessage) (json.RawMessage, error) {
str, err := strconv.Unquote(strings.Replace(strconv.Quote(string(_jsonRaw)), `\\u`, `\u`, -1))
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
return []byte(str), nil
}
func main() {
// Both are valid JSON.
var jsonRawEscaped json.RawMessage // json raw with escaped unicode chars
var jsonRawUnescaped json.RawMessage // json raw with unescaped unicode chars
// '\u263a' == '☺'
jsonRawEscaped = []byte(`{"HelloWorld": "\uC548\uB155, \uC138\uC0C1(\u4E16\u4E0A). \u263a"}`) // "\\u263a"
jsonRawUnescaped, _ = _UnescapeUnicodeCharactersInJSON(jsonRawEscaped) // "☺"
fmt.Println(string(jsonRawEscaped)) // {"HelloWorld": "\uC548\uB155, \uC138\uC0C1(\u4E16\u4E0A). \u263a"}
fmt.Println(string(jsonRawUnescaped)) // {"HelloWorld": "안녕, 세상(世上). ☺"}
}
https://play.golang.org/p/pUsrzrrcDG-
I hope this helps someone.

Answer 4

Here's my workaround:
// Marshal is a UTF-8 friendly marshaler. Go's json.Marshal is not UTF-8
// friendly because it replaces the valid UTF-8 and JSON characters "&". "<",
// ">" with the "slash u" unicode escaped forms (e.g. \u0026). It preemptively
// escapes for HTML friendliness. Where text may include any of these
// characters, json.Marshal should not be used. Playground of Go breaking a
// title: https://play.golang.org/p/o2hiX0c62oN
func Marshal(i interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
buffer := &bytes.Buffer{}
encoder := json.NewEncoder(buffer)
encoder.SetEscapeHTML(false)
err := encoder.Encode(i)
return bytes.TrimRight(buffer.Bytes(), "\n"), err
}

Answer 5

No, you can't.
A third-party json package might be the choice rather than the std json lib.
More detail：https://github.com/golang/go/issues/8592

Answer 6

I had a requirement to store xml inside json :puke:
At first I was having significant difficulty unmarshalling that xml after passing it via json, but my issue was actually due to trying to unmarshall the xml string as a json.RawMessage. I actually needed to unmarshall it as a string and then coerce it into []byte for the xml.Unmarshal.
type xmlInJson struct {
Data string `json:"data"`
}
var response xmlInJson
err := json.Unmarshall(xmlJsonData, &response)
var xmlData someOtherStructThatMatchesTheXmlFormat
err = xml.Unmarshall([]byte(response.Data), &xmlData)

Answer 7

Custom function is not kind of the best solution.
How about another library to solve this.
I use gabs
import
go get "github.com/Jeffail/gabs"
use
message := new(Track)
resultJson,_:=gabs.Consume(message)
fmt.Println(string(resultJson.EncodeJSON()))
I solve that problem like this.