cbor_read: Read CBOR from a file or connection

In zucbor: Deterministic and Secure CBOR Encoding and Decoding

Read CBOR from a file or connection

Description

Reads the input and decodes it as cbor_decode() or cbor_decode_seq() would. At most max_size + 1 bytes are ever read, so an oversized file or an endless connection fails with zucbor_size_limit rather than exhausting memory.

Usage

cbor_read(file, ..., max_size = 64 * 1024^2)

cbor_read_seq(file, ..., each = NULL, max_size = 64 * 1024^2)

Arguments

file	A file path, a URL, or a connection.
...	Arguments passed on to cbor_decode() or cbor_decode_seq().
max_size	The largest input, in bytes, read before giving up with zucbor_size_limit; with each, the largest item.
each	NULL, or a function of one argument, called with each item of the sequence in turn. See "Reading a sequence item by item".

Value

As cbor_decode() or cbor_decode_seq(); with each, the number of items read, a double.

Reading a sequence item by item

With each, cbor_read_seq() reads a sequence of any length in memory bounded by its largest item: each item is decoded and passed to each as soon as its last byte has been read, nothing is kept, and the call returns the number of items read. A long telemetry log or a socket that stays open is read this way.

Each item is still checked whole before anything is built from it, as cbor_decode() does, and the limits then apply to each item: max_size bounds the bytes of one item, and max_items the data items inside one. A faulty item stops the read with its condition, after each has been called for every item before it; the condition's offset counts from the start of the read, not of the item. So does input that ends inside an item. An error in each propagates unchanged and stops the read too.

A string with an http, https, ftp, ftps or file scheme is read with url(), any other string as a file path. A connection that is not open is opened in "rb" mode and closed afterwards; an open one must be binary, is read from its current position, and is left open.

Examples

path <- tempfile(fileext = ".cbor")
writeBin(as.raw(c(0xa1, 0x61, 0x61, 0x01)), path)
cbor_read(path)

# A sequence of three items, one at a time.
writeBin(cbor_encode_seq(list(1L, "two", list(3L))), path)
cbor_read_seq(path, each = function(item) str(item))
unlink(path)

zucbor documentation built on Oct. 21, 2026, 5:14 p.m.