encoding/json: explicitly document and test "-" key tag

Struct fields can be suppressed in JSON serialization by "-" tags, but
that doesn't preclude generation of "-" object keys.
Document and verify the mechanism for doing so.

Change-Id: I7f60e1759cfee15cb7b2447cd35fab91c5b004e6
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/21204
Run-TryBot: Russ Cox <rsc@golang.org>
Reviewed-by: Russ Cox <rsc@golang.org>
TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <gobot@golang.org>

2 files changed, 32 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/src/encoding/json/encode.go b/src/encoding/json/encode.go
index 6e43a9d48b..667df31ce3 100644
--- a/src/encoding/json/encode.go
+++ b/src/encoding/json/encode.go
@@ -57,19 +57,26 @@ import (
 // []byte encodes as a base64-encoded string, and a nil slice
 // encodes as the null JSON value.
 //
-// Struct values encode as JSON objects. Each exported struct field
-// becomes a member of the object unless
-//   - the field's tag is "-", or
-//   - the field is empty and its tag specifies the "omitempty" option.
-// The empty values are false, 0, any
-// nil pointer or interface value, and any array, slice, map, or string of
-// length zero. The object's default key string is the struct field name
-// but can be specified in the struct field's tag value. The "json" key in
-// the struct field's tag value is the key name, followed by an optional comma
-// and options. Examples:
+// Struct values encode as JSON objects.
+// Each exported struct field becomes a member of the object, using the
+// field name as the object key, unless the field is omitted for one of the
+// reasons given below.
 //
-//   // Field is ignored by this package.
-//   Field int `json:"-"`
+// The encoding of each struct field can be customized by the format string
+// stored under the "json" key in the struct field's tag.
+// The format string gives the name of the field, possibly followed by a
+// comma-separated list of options. The name may be empty in order to
+// specify options without overriding the default field name.
+//
+// The "omitempty" option specifies that the field should be omitted
+// from the encoding if the field has an empty value, defined as
+// false, 0, a nil pointer, a nil interface value, and any empty array,
+// slice, map, or string.
+//
+// As a special case, if the field tag is "-", the field is always omitted.
+// Note that a field with name "-" can still be generated using the tag "-,".
+//
+// Examples of struct field tags and their meanings:
 //
 //   // Field appears in JSON as key "myName".
 //   Field int `json:"myName"`
@@ -84,6 +91,12 @@ import (
 //   // Note the leading comma.
 //   Field int `json:",omitempty"`
 //
+//   // Field is ignored by this package.
+//   Field int `json:"-"`
+//
+//   // Field appears in JSON as key "-".
+//   Field int `json:"-,"`
+//
 // The "string" option signals that a field is stored as JSON inside a
 // JSON-encoded string. It applies only to fields of string, floating point,
 // integer, or boolean types. This extra level of encoding is sometimes used
@@ -111,7 +124,9 @@ import (
 //
 // 1) Of those fields, if any are JSON-tagged, only tagged fields are considered,
 // even if there are multiple untagged fields that would otherwise conflict.
+//
 // 2) If there is exactly one field (tagged or not according to the first rule), that is selected.
+//
 // 3) Otherwise there are multiple fields, and all are ignored; no error occurs.
 //
 // Handling of anonymous struct fields is new in Go 1.1.
diff --git a/src/encoding/json/tagkey_test.go b/src/encoding/json/tagkey_test.go
index c1739ea97f..f77c49c764 100644
--- a/src/encoding/json/tagkey_test.go
+++ b/src/encoding/json/tagkey_test.go
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ type punctuationTag struct {
 	V string `json:"!#$%&()*+-./:<=>?@[]^_{|}~"` // https://golang.org/issue/3546
 }
 
+type dashTag struct {
+	V string `json:"-,"`
+}
+
 type emptyTag struct {
 	W string
 }
@@ -80,6 +84,7 @@ var structTagObjectKeyTests = []struct {
 	{basicLatin6xTag{"6x"}, "6x", "abcdefghijklmno"},
 	{basicLatin7xTag{"7x"}, "7x", "pqrstuvwxyz"},
 	{miscPlaneTag{"いろはにほへと"}, "いろはにほへと", "色は匂へど"},
+	{dashTag{"foo"}, "foo", "-"},
 	{emptyTag{"Pour Moi"}, "Pour Moi", "W"},
 	{misnamedTag{"Animal Kingdom"}, "Animal Kingdom", "X"},
 	{badFormatTag{"Orfevre"}, "Orfevre", "Y"},