A JSON value is a container and allows access via iterators.
A `basic_json` value is a container and allows access via iterators. Depending on the value type, `basic_json` stores zero or more values.

As for other containers, `begin()` returns an iterator to the first value and `end()` returns an iterator to the value following the last value. The latter iterator is a placeholder and cannot be dereferenced. In case of null values, empty arrays, or empty objects, `begin()` will return `end()`.


## Iterator getters
### Iteration order for objects
### `begin()`
When iterating over objects, values are ordered with respect to the `object_comparator_t` type which defaults to `std::less`. See the [types documentation](types.md#key-order) for more information.
??? example
??? example
The following code shows an example for `begin()`.
The following code shows an example for `cbegin()`.
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/cbegin.cpp"
```
```
Output:
The reason for the order is the lexicographic ordering of the object keys "one", "three", "two".
```json
### Access object key during iteration
--8<-- "examples/cbegin.output"
```
### `end()`
The JSON iterators have two member functions, `key()` and `value()` to access the object key and stored value, respectively. When calling `key()` on a non-object iterator, an [invalid_iterator.207](../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptioninvalid_iterator207) exception is thrown.
C++11 allows to use range-based for loops to iterate over a container.
The following code shows an example for `cend()`.
```cpp
for(autoit:j_object)
{
// "it" is of type json::reference and has no key() member
std::cout<<"value: "<<it<<'\n';
}
```
```cpp
For this reason, the `items()` function allows to access `iterator::key()` and `iterator::value()` during range-based for loops. In these loops, a reference to the JSON values is returned, so there is no access to the underlying iterator.
The items() function also allows to use structured bindings (C++17):
??? example
```cpp
for(auto&[key,val]:j_object.items())
{
std::cout<<"key: "<<key<<", value:"<<val<<'\n';
}
```
The following code shows an example for `rbegin()`.
!!! note
```cpp
When iterating over an array, `key()` will return the index of the element as string. For primitive types (e.g., numbers), `key()` returns an empty string.
--8<-- "examples/rbegin.cpp"
```
Output:
!!! warning
```json
Using `items()` on temporary objects is dangerous. Make sure the object's lifetime exeeds the iteration. See <https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/2040> for more information.
--8<-- "examples/rbegin.output"
```
### `rend()`
### Reverse iteration order
??? example
`rbegin()` and `rend()` return iterators in the reverse sequence.

The following code shows an example for `rend()`.
??? example
```cpp
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/rend.cpp"
json j = {1, 2, 3, 4};
for (auto it = j.begin(); it != j.end(); ++it)
{
std::cout << *it << std::endl;
}
```
```
Output:
Output:
```json
```json
--8<-- "examples/rend.output"
4
3
2
1
```
```
### `items()`
### Iterating strings and binary values
??? example
Note that "value" means a JSON value in this setting, not values stored in the underlying containers. That is, `*begin()` returns the complete string or binary array and is also safe the underlying string or binary array is empty.
The following code shows an example for `items()`.