The [JSON standard](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8259.html) defines objects as "an unordered collection of zero or more name/value pairs". As such, an implementation does not need to preserve any specific order of object keys.
## Default behavior: sort keys
The default type `nlohmann::json` uses a `std::map` to store JSON objects, and thus stores object keys **sorted alphabetically**.
??? example
...
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@@ -33,6 +35,8 @@ The default type `nlohmann::json` uses a `std::map` to store JSON objects, and t
}
```
## Alternative behavior: preserve insertion order
If you do want to preserve the **insertion order**, you can try the type [`nlohmann::ordered_json`](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/2179).
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@@ -65,3 +69,58 @@ If you do want to preserve the **insertion order**, you can try the type [`nlohm
```
Alternatively, you can use a more sophisticated ordered map like [`tsl::ordered_map`](https://github.com/Tessil/ordered-map)([integration](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/546#issuecomment-304447518)) or [`nlohmann::fifo_map`](https://github.com/nlohmann/fifo_map)([integration](https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/485#issuecomment-333652309)).
### Notes on parsing
Note that you also need to call the right [`parse`](../api/basic_json/parse.md) function when reading from a file.
Assume file `input.json` contains the JSON object above:
```json
{
"one":1,
"two":2,
"three":3
}
```
!!! success "Right way"
The following code correctly calls the `parse` function from `nlohmann::ordered_json`:
```cpp
std::ifstream i("input.json");
auto j = nlohmann::ordered_json::parse(i);
std::cout << j.dump(2) << std::endl;
```
The output will be:
```json
{
"one": 1,
"two": 2,
"three": 3
}
```
??? failure "Wrong way"
The following code incorrectly calls the `parse` function from `nlohmann::json` which does not preserve the
insertion order, but sorts object keys. Assigning the result to `nlohmann::ordered_json` compiles, but does not