Converting array of numbers to json in perl, getting array of strings

Question

I\'m trying to convert an array of numbers to json:

   $json = to_json(\"numbers_array\" => \\@numbers_array);
   print $json;

but the output I\'m get

Answer 1

In addition to earlier answers: it's not a question of the definition of your data but of usage.

From the JSON::XS pod:

JSON::XS will encode […] scalars that have last been used in a string context before encoding as JSON strings, and anything else as number value

Consider this piece of code:

use JSON::XS;
my $numbers = [123,124,125];
print "A number: $numbers->[1]\n";            #<- use 2nd entry in string context.
print JSON::XS->new->encode ($numbers)."\n";

It prints:

A number: 124
[123,"124",125]

Would you have expected that number 124 be encoded as string? Beware!

(I learned that the hard way chasing a heisenbug that only showed up when I had some debug logging active.)