Stop dump() from heap-allocating its output adapter per call (#5449)

* Stop dump() from heap-allocating its output adapter per call

The serializer held its output sink as output_adapter_t<char>
(a std::shared_ptr<output_adapter_protocol<char>>), which dump() and
operator<< built via make_shared -- one heap allocation per call for a
sink that only wraps a reference to the caller's string or stream.

Hold the sink as a non-owning output_adapter_protocol<char>* instead and
construct the concrete adapter on the stack at the call site. The write
path (o->write_characters) is unchanged, so output is byte-for-byte
identical; a compact dump() of a small object drops from 2 heap
allocations to 1 (only the returned string remains), ~3% faster.

Completes the per-call allocation cleanup on this branch, which already
removed the indent_string buffer (both were reported in #5413).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01L1oJ2ggRHS37zeVe94QTA1
Signed-off-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Take the output adapter by reference at the serializer ctor

Per review: the serializer still holds the adapter as a non-owning
pointer, but the constructor now takes output_adapter_protocol<char>&
and takes its address internally, so every call site passes a
reference. A reference cannot be null and reads as a borrow, which
makes the lifetime contract harder to get wrong than handing over a
raw pointer. The stored member and the write path are unchanged.

Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01XAYM1qhSA2FDaDcGfPW3fG
Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

---------

Signed-off-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

include/nlohmann/detail/output/serializer.hpp

@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ class serializer
 
   public:
     /*!
-    @param[in] s  output stream to serialize to
+    @param[in] s  output adapter to serialize to; not owned by the serializer,
+                  so it must outlive it (it lives at the call site)
     @param[in] ichar  indentation character to use
     @param[in] pretty_print_  whether the output shall be pretty-printed
     @param[in] ensure_ascii_ If @a ensure_ascii_ is true, all non-ASCII
@@ -76,12 +77,12 @@ class serializer
     being threaded through every call to @ref dump, @ref dump_internal and
     @ref dump_iteratively.
     */
-    serializer(output_adapter_t<char> s, const char ichar,
+    serializer(output_adapter_protocol<char>& s, const char ichar,
                const bool pretty_print_ = false,
                const bool ensure_ascii_ = false,
                const std::size_t indent_step_ = 0,
                error_handler_t error_handler_ = error_handler_t::strict)
-        : o(std::move(s))
+        : o(&s)
         , locale(std::localeconv())
         , indent_char(ichar)
         , pretty_print(pretty_print_)
@@ -1678,8 +1679,8 @@ class serializer
         const char decimal_point;
     };
 
-    /// the output of the serializer
+    /// the output of the serializer (non-owning; the adapter lives at the call site)
-    output_adapter_t<char> o = nullptr;
+    output_adapter_protocol<char>* o = nullptr;
 
     /// a (hopefully) large enough character buffer
     std::array<char, 64> number_buffer{{}};

include/nlohmann/json.hpp

@@ -1343,16 +1343,17 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
                   const error_handler_t error_handler = error_handler_t::strict) const
     {
         string_t result;
+        detail::output_string_adapter<char, string_t> string_adapter(result);
 
         if (indent >= 0)
         {
-            serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char, string_t>(result), indent_char,
+            serializer s(string_adapter, indent_char,
                          true, ensure_ascii, static_cast<std::size_t>(indent), error_handler);
             s.dump(*this);
         }
         else
         {
-            serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char, string_t>(result), indent_char,
+            serializer s(string_adapter, indent_char,
                          false, ensure_ascii, 0, error_handler);
             s.dump(*this);
         }
@@ -4083,7 +4084,8 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
         o.width(0);
 
         // do the actual serialization
-        serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char>(o), o.fill(),
+        detail::output_stream_adapter<char> stream_adapter(o);
+        serializer s(stream_adapter, o.fill(),
                      pretty_print, false, static_cast<std::size_t>(indentation));
         s.dump(j);
         return o;

single_include/nlohmann/json.hpp

@@ -21410,7 +21410,8 @@ class serializer
 
   public:
     /*!
-    @param[in] s  output stream to serialize to
+    @param[in] s  output adapter to serialize to; not owned by the serializer,
+                  so it must outlive it (it lives at the call site)
     @param[in] ichar  indentation character to use
     @param[in] pretty_print_  whether the output shall be pretty-printed
     @param[in] ensure_ascii_ If @a ensure_ascii_ is true, all non-ASCII
@@ -21424,12 +21425,12 @@ class serializer
     being threaded through every call to @ref dump, @ref dump_internal and
     @ref dump_iteratively.
     */
-    serializer(output_adapter_t<char> s, const char ichar,
+    serializer(output_adapter_protocol<char>& s, const char ichar,
                const bool pretty_print_ = false,
                const bool ensure_ascii_ = false,
                const std::size_t indent_step_ = 0,
                error_handler_t error_handler_ = error_handler_t::strict)
-        : o(std::move(s))
+        : o(&s)
         , locale(std::localeconv())
         , indent_char(ichar)
         , pretty_print(pretty_print_)
@@ -23026,8 +23027,8 @@ class serializer
         const char decimal_point;
     };
 
-    /// the output of the serializer
+    /// the output of the serializer (non-owning; the adapter lives at the call site)
-    output_adapter_t<char> o = nullptr;
+    output_adapter_protocol<char>* o = nullptr;
 
     /// a (hopefully) large enough character buffer
     std::array<char, 64> number_buffer{{}};
@@ -24738,16 +24739,17 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
                   const error_handler_t error_handler = error_handler_t::strict) const
     {
         string_t result;
+        detail::output_string_adapter<char, string_t> string_adapter(result);
 
         if (indent >= 0)
         {
-            serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char, string_t>(result), indent_char,
+            serializer s(string_adapter, indent_char,
                          true, ensure_ascii, static_cast<std::size_t>(indent), error_handler);
             s.dump(*this);
         }
         else
         {
-            serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char, string_t>(result), indent_char,
+            serializer s(string_adapter, indent_char,
                          false, ensure_ascii, 0, error_handler);
             s.dump(*this);
         }
@@ -27478,7 +27480,8 @@ class basic_json // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-special-member-functions,hicpp-spec
         o.width(0);
 
         // do the actual serialization
-        serializer s(detail::output_adapter<char>(o), o.fill(),
+        detail::output_stream_adapter<char> stream_adapter(o);
+        serializer s(stream_adapter, o.fill(),
                      pretty_print, false, static_cast<std::size_t>(indentation));
         s.dump(j);
         return o;

tests/src/unit-convenience.cpp

@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ void check_escaped(const char* original, const char* escaped = "", bool ensure_a
 void check_escaped(const char* original, const char* escaped, const bool ensure_ascii)
 {
     std::stringstream ss;
-    json::serializer s(nlohmann::detail::output_adapter<char>(ss), ' ', false, ensure_ascii);
+    nlohmann::detail::output_stream_adapter<char> adapter(ss);
+    json::serializer s(adapter, ' ', false, ensure_ascii);
     s.dump_escaped(original);
     s.flush(); // dump_escaped writes into the serializer's internal buffer
     CHECK(ss.str() == escaped);