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.. index:: abi, application binary interface
.. _ABI:
**************************
Contract ABI Specification
**************************
Basic Design
============
The Contract Application Binary Interface (ABI) is the standard way to interact with contracts in the Ethereum ecosystem, both
from outside the blockchain and for contract-to-contract interaction. Data is encoded according to its type,
as described in this specification. The encoding is not self describing and thus requires a schema in order to decode.
We assume the interface functions of a contract are strongly typed, known at compilation time and static.
We assume that all contracts will have the interface definitions of any contracts they call available at compile-time.
This specification does not address contracts whose interface is dynamic or otherwise known only at run-time.
.. _abi_function_selector:
.. index:: selector
Function Selector
=================
The first four bytes of the call data for a function call specifies the function to be called. It is the
first (left, high-order in big-endian) four bytes of the Keccak-256 hash of the signature of
the function. The signature is defined as the canonical expression of the basic prototype without data
location specifier, i.e.
the function name with the parenthesised list of parameter types. Parameter types are split by a single
comma - no spaces are used.
.. note::
The return type of a function is not part of this signature. In
:ref:`Solidity's function overloading <overload-function>` return types are not considered.
The reason is to keep function call resolution context-independent.
The :ref:`JSON description of the ABI<abi_json>` however contains both inputs and outputs.
Argument Encoding
=================
Starting from the fifth byte, the encoded arguments follow. This encoding is also used in
other places, e.g. the return values and also event arguments are encoded in the same way,
without the four bytes specifying the function.
Types
=====
The following elementary types exist:
- ``uint<M>``: unsigned integer type of ``M`` bits, ``0 < M <= 256``, ``M % 8 == 0``. e.g. ``uint32``, ``uint8``, ``uint256``.
- ``int<M>``: two's complement signed integer type of ``M`` bits, ``0 < M <= 256``, ``M % 8 == 0``.
- ``address``: equivalent to ``uint160``, except for the assumed interpretation and language typing.
For computing the function selector, ``address`` is used.
- ``uint``, ``int``: synonyms for ``uint256``, ``int256`` respectively. For computing the function
selector, ``uint256`` and ``int256`` have to be used.
- ``bool``: equivalent to ``uint8`` restricted to the values 0 and 1. For computing the function selector, ``bool`` is used.
- ``fixed<M>x<N>``: signed fixed-point decimal number of ``M`` bits, ``8 <= M <= 256``,
``M % 8 == 0``, and ``0 < N <= 80``, which denotes the value ``v`` as ``v / (10 ** N)``.
- ``ufixed<M>x<N>``: unsigned variant of ``fixed<M>x<N>``.
- ``fixed``, ``ufixed``: synonyms for ``fixed128x18``, ``ufixed128x18`` respectively. For
computing the function selector, ``fixed128x18`` and ``ufixed128x18`` have to be used.
- ``bytes<M>``: binary type of ``M`` bytes, ``0 < M <= 32``.
- ``function``: an address (20 bytes) followed by a function selector (4 bytes). Encoded identical to ``bytes24``.
The following (fixed-size) array type exists:
- ``<type>[M]``: a fixed-length array of ``M`` elements, ``M >= 0``, of the given type.
.. note::
While this ABI specification can express fixed-length arrays with zero elements, they're not supported by the compiler.
The following non-fixed-size types exist:
- ``bytes``: dynamic sized byte sequence.
- ``string``: dynamic sized unicode string assumed to be UTF-8 encoded.
- ``<type>[]``: a variable-length array of elements of the given type.
Types can be combined to a tuple by enclosing them inside parentheses, separated by commas:
- ``(T1,T2,...,Tn)``: tuple consisting of the types ``T1``, ..., ``Tn``, ``n >= 0``
It is possible to form tuples of tuples, arrays of tuples and so on. It is also possible to form zero-tuples (where ``n == 0``).
Mapping Solidity to ABI types
-----------------------------
Solidity supports all the types presented above with the same names with the
exception of tuples. On the other hand, some Solidity types are not supported
by the ABI. The following table shows on the left column Solidity types that
are not part of the ABI, and on the right column the ABI types that represent
them.
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Solidity | ABI |
+===============================+=============================================================================+
|:ref:`address payable<address>`|``address`` |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|:ref:`contract<contracts>` |``address`` |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|:ref:`enum<enums>` |``uint8`` |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|:ref:`struct<structs>` |``tuple`` |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
.. warning::
Before version ``0.8.0`` enums could have more than 256 members and were represented by the
smallest integer type just big enough to hold the value of any member.
Design Criteria for the Encoding
================================
The encoding is designed to have the following properties, which are especially useful if some arguments are nested arrays:
1. The number of reads necessary to access a value is at most the depth of the value
inside the argument array structure, i.e. four reads are needed to retrieve ``a_i[k][l][r]``. In a
previous version of the ABI, the number of reads scaled linearly with the total number of dynamic
parameters in the worst case.
2. The data of a variable or array element is not interleaved with other data and it is
relocatable, i.e. it only uses relative "addresses".
Formal Specification of the Encoding
====================================
We distinguish static and dynamic types. Static types are encoded in-place and dynamic types are
encoded at a separately allocated location after the current block.
**Definition:** The following types are called "dynamic":
* ``bytes``
* ``string``
* ``T[]`` for any ``T``
* ``T[k]`` for any dynamic ``T`` and any ``k >= 0``
* ``(T1,...,Tk)`` if ``Ti`` is dynamic for some ``1 <= i <= k``
All other types are called "static".
**Definition:** ``len(a)`` is the number of bytes in a binary string ``a``.
The type of ``len(a)`` is assumed to be ``uint256``.
We define ``enc``, the actual encoding, as a mapping of values of the ABI types to binary strings such
that ``len(enc(X))`` depends on the value of ``X`` if and only if the type of ``X`` is dynamic.
**Definition:** For any ABI value ``X``, we recursively define ``enc(X)``, depending
on the type of ``X`` being
- ``(T1,...,Tk)`` for ``k >= 0`` and any types ``T1``, ..., ``Tk``
``enc(X) = head(X(1)) ... head(X(k)) tail(X(1)) ... tail(X(k))``
where ``X = (X(1), ..., X(k))`` and
``head`` and ``tail`` are defined for ``Ti`` as follows:
if ``Ti`` is static:
``head(X(i)) = enc(X(i))`` and ``tail(X(i)) = ""`` (the empty string)
otherwise, i.e. if ``Ti`` is dynamic:
``head(X(i)) = enc(len( head(X(1)) ... head(X(k)) tail(X(1)) ... tail(X(i-1)) ))``
``tail(X(i)) = enc(X(i))``
Note that in the dynamic case, ``head(X(i))`` is well-defined since the lengths of
the head parts only depend on the types and not the values. The value of ``head(X(i))`` is the offset
of the beginning of ``tail(X(i))`` relative to the start of ``enc(X)``.
- ``T[k]`` for any ``T`` and ``k``:
``enc(X) = enc((X[0], ..., X[k-1]))``
i.e. it is encoded as if it were a tuple with ``k`` elements
of the same type.
- ``T[]`` where ``X`` has ``k`` elements (``k`` is assumed to be of type ``uint256``):
``enc(X) = enc(k) enc([X[0], ..., X[k-1]])``
i.e. it is encoded as if it were an array of static size ``k``, prefixed with
the number of elements.
- ``bytes``, of length ``k`` (which is assumed to be of type ``uint256``):
``enc(X) = enc(k) pad_right(X)``, i.e. the number of bytes is encoded as a
``uint256`` followed by the actual value of ``X`` as a byte sequence, followed by
the minimum number of zero-bytes such that ``len(enc(X))`` is a multiple of 32.
- ``string``:
``enc(X) = enc(enc_utf8(X))``, i.e. ``X`` is UTF-8 encoded and this value is interpreted
as of ``bytes`` type and encoded further. Note that the length used in this subsequent
encoding is the number of bytes of the UTF-8 encoded string, not its number of characters.
- ``uint<M>``: ``enc(X)`` is the big-endian encoding of ``X``, padded on the higher-order
(left) side with zero-bytes such that the length is 32 bytes.
- ``address``: as in the ``uint160`` case
- ``int<M>``: ``enc(X)`` is the big-endian two's complement encoding of ``X``, padded on the higher-order (left) side with ``0xff`` bytes for negative ``X`` and with zero-bytes for non-negative ``X`` such that the length is 32 bytes.
- ``bool``: as in the ``uint8`` case, where ``1`` is used for ``true`` and ``0`` for ``false``
- ``fixed<M>x<N>``: ``enc(X)`` is ``enc(X * 10**N)`` where ``X * 10**N`` is interpreted as a ``int256``.
- ``fixed``: as in the ``fixed128x18`` case
- ``ufixed<M>x<N>``: ``enc(X)`` is ``enc(X * 10**N)`` where ``X * 10**N`` is interpreted as a ``uint256``.
- ``ufixed``: as in the ``ufixed128x18`` case
- ``bytes<M>``: ``enc(X)`` is the sequence of bytes in ``X`` padded with trailing zero-bytes to a length of 32 bytes.
Note that for any ``X``, ``len(enc(X))`` is a multiple of 32.
Function Selector and Argument Encoding
=======================================
All in all, a call to the function ``f`` with parameters ``a_1, ..., a_n`` is encoded as
``function_selector(f) enc((a_1, ..., a_n))``
and the return values ``v_1, ..., v_k`` of ``f`` are encoded as
``enc((v_1, ..., v_k))``
i.e. the values are combined into a tuple and encoded.
Examples
========
Given the contract:
.. code-block:: solidity
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
pragma solidity >=0.4.16 <0.9.0;
contract Foo {
function bar(bytes3[2] memory) public pure {}
function baz(uint32 x, bool y) public pure returns (bool r) { r = x > 32 || y; }
function sam(bytes memory, bool, uint[] memory) public pure {}
}
Thus for our ``Foo`` example if we wanted to call ``baz`` with the parameters ``69`` and
``true``, we would pass 68 bytes total, which can be broken down into:
- ``0xcdcd77c0``: the Method ID. This is derived as the first 4 bytes of the Keccak hash of
the ASCII form of the signature ``baz(uint32,bool)``.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000045``: the first parameter,
a uint32 value ``69`` padded to 32 bytes
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001``: the second parameter - boolean
``true``, padded to 32 bytes
In total:
.. code-block:: none
0xcdcd77c000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000450000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
It returns a single ``bool``. If, for example, it were to return ``false``, its output would be
the single byte array ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000``, a single bool.
If we wanted to call ``bar`` with the argument ``["abc", "def"]``, we would pass 68 bytes total, broken down into:
- ``0xfce353f6``: the Method ID. This is derived from the signature ``bar(bytes3[2])``.
- ``0x6162630000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000``: the first part of the first
parameter, a ``bytes3`` value ``"abc"`` (left-aligned).
- ``0x6465660000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000``: the second part of the first
parameter, a ``bytes3`` value ``"def"`` (left-aligned).
In total:
.. code-block:: none
0xfce353f661626300000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006465660000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
If we wanted to call ``sam`` with the arguments ``"dave"``, ``true`` and ``[1,2,3]``, we would
pass 292 bytes total, broken down into:
- ``0xa5643bf2``: the Method ID. This is derived from the signature ``sam(bytes,bool,uint256[])``. Note that ``uint`` is replaced with its canonical representation ``uint256``.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060``: the location of the data part of the first parameter (dynamic type), measured in bytes from the start of the arguments block. In this case, ``0x60``.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001``: the second parameter: boolean true.
- ``0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0``: the location of the data part of the third parameter (dynamic type), measured in bytes. In this case, ``0xa0``.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004``: the data part of the first argument, it starts with the length of the byte array in elements, in this case, 4.
- ``0x6461766500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000``: the contents of the first argument: the UTF-8 (equal to ASCII in this case) encoding of ``"dave"``, padded on the right to 32 bytes.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003``: the data part of the third argument, it starts with the length of the array in elements, in this case, 3.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001``: the first entry of the third parameter.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002``: the second entry of the third parameter.
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003``: the third entry of the third parameter.
In total:
.. code-block:: none
0xa5643bf20000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000464617665000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000020000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003
Use of Dynamic Types
====================
A call to a function with the signature ``f(uint,uint32[],bytes10,bytes)`` with values
``(0x123, [0x456, 0x789], "1234567890", "Hello, world!")`` is encoded in the following way:
We take the first four bytes of ``sha3("f(uint256,uint32[],bytes10,bytes)")``, i.e. ``0x8be65246``.
Then we encode the head parts of all four arguments. For the static types ``uint256`` and ``bytes10``,
these are directly the values we want to pass, whereas for the dynamic types ``uint32[]`` and ``bytes``,
we use the offset in bytes to the start of their data area, measured from the start of the value
encoding (i.e. not counting the first four bytes containing the hash of the function signature). These are:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000123`` (``0x123`` padded to 32 bytes)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080`` (offset to start of data part of second parameter, 4*32 bytes, exactly the size of the head part)
- ``0x3132333435363738393000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000`` (``"1234567890"`` padded to 32 bytes on the right)
- ``0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000e0`` (offset to start of data part of fourth parameter = offset to start of data part of first dynamic parameter + size of data part of first dynamic parameter = 4\*32 + 3\*32 (see below))
After this, the data part of the first dynamic argument, ``[0x456, 0x789]`` follows:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002`` (number of elements of the array, 2)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000456`` (first element)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000789`` (second element)
Finally, we encode the data part of the second dynamic argument, ``"Hello, world!"``:
- ``0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d`` (number of elements (bytes in this case): 13)
- ``0x48656c6c6f2c20776f726c642100000000000000000000000000000000000000`` (``"Hello, world!"`` padded to 32 bytes on the right)
All together, the encoding is (newline after function selector and each 32-bytes for clarity):
.. code-block:: none
0x8be65246
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000123
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000080
3132333435363738393000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000e0
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000456
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000789
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d
48656c6c6f2c20776f726c642100000000000000000000000000000000000000
Let us apply the same principle to encode the data for a function with a signature ``g(uint[][],string[])``
with values ``([[1, 2], [3]], ["one", "two", "three"])`` but start from the most atomic parts of the encoding:
First we encode the length and data of the first embedded dynamic array ``[1, 2]`` of the first root array ``[[1, 2], [3]]``:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002`` (number of elements in the first array, 2; the elements themselves are ``1`` and ``2``)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001`` (first element)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002`` (second element)
Then we encode the length and data of the second embedded dynamic array ``[3]`` of the first root array ``[[1, 2], [3]]``:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001`` (number of elements in the second array, 1; the element is ``3``)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003`` (first element)
Then we need to find the offsets ``a`` and ``b`` for their respective dynamic arrays ``[1, 2]`` and ``[3]``.
To calculate the offsets we can take a look at the encoded data of the first root array ``[[1, 2], [3]]``
enumerating each line in the encoding:
.. code-block:: none
0 - a - offset of [1, 2]
1 - b - offset of [3]
2 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 - count for [1, 2]
3 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 - encoding of 1
4 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 - encoding of 2
5 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 - count for [3]
6 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - encoding of 3
Offset ``a`` points to the start of the content of the array ``[1, 2]`` which is line
2 (64 bytes); thus ``a = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040``.
Offset ``b`` points to the start of the content of the array ``[3]`` which is line 5 (160 bytes);
thus ``b = 0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0``.
Then we encode the embedded strings of the second root array:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003`` (number of characters in word ``"one"``)
- ``0x6f6e650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000`` (utf8 representation of word ``"one"``)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003`` (number of characters in word ``"two"``)
- ``0x74776f0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000`` (utf8 representation of word ``"two"``)
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005`` (number of characters in word ``"three"``)
- ``0x7468726565000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000`` (utf8 representation of word ``"three"``)
In parallel to the first root array, since strings are dynamic elements we need to find their offsets ``c``, ``d`` and ``e``:
.. code-block:: none
0 - c - offset for "one"
1 - d - offset for "two"
2 - e - offset for "three"
3 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - count for "one"
4 - 6f6e650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "one"
5 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - count for "two"
6 - 74776f0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "two"
7 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005 - count for "three"
8 - 7468726565000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "three"
Offset ``c`` points to the start of the content of the string ``"one"`` which is line 3 (96 bytes);
thus ``c = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060``.
Offset ``d`` points to the start of the content of the string ``"two"`` which is line 5 (160 bytes);
thus ``d = 0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0``.
Offset ``e`` points to the start of the content of the string ``"three"`` which is line 7 (224 bytes);
thus ``e = 0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000e0``.
Note that the encodings of the embedded elements of the root arrays are not dependent on each other
and have the same encodings for a function with a signature ``g(string[],uint[][])``.
Then we encode the length of the first root array:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002`` (number of elements in the first root array, 2; the elements themselves are ``[1, 2]`` and ``[3]``)
Then we encode the length of the second root array:
- ``0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003`` (number of strings in the second root array, 3; the strings themselves are ``"one"``, ``"two"`` and ``"three"``)
Finally we find the offsets ``f`` and ``g`` for their respective root dynamic arrays ``[[1, 2], [3]]`` and
``["one", "two", "three"]``, and assemble parts in the correct order:
.. code-block:: none
0x2289b18c - function signature
0 - f - offset of [[1, 2], [3]]
1 - g - offset of ["one", "two", "three"]
2 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 - count for [[1, 2], [3]]
3 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040 - offset of [1, 2]
4 - 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0 - offset of [3]
5 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 - count for [1, 2]
6 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 - encoding of 1
7 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002 - encoding of 2
8 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 - count for [3]
9 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - encoding of 3
10 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - count for ["one", "two", "three"]
11 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060 - offset for "one"
12 - 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000a0 - offset for "two"
13 - 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000e0 - offset for "three"
14 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - count for "one"
15 - 6f6e650000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "one"
16 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 - count for "two"
17 - 74776f0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "two"
18 - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005 - count for "three"
19 - 7468726565000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 - encoding of "three"
Offset ``f`` points to the start of the content of the array ``[[1, 2], [3]]`` which is line 2 (64 bytes);
thus ``f = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000040``.
Offset ``g`` points to the start of the content of the array ``["one", "two", "three"]`` which is line 10 (320 bytes);
thus ``g = 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000140``.
.. _abi_events:
Events
======
Events are an abstraction of the Ethereum logging/event-watching protocol. Log entries provide the contract's
address, a series of up to four topics and some arbitrary length binary data. Events leverage the existing function
ABI in order to interpret this (together with an interface spec) as a properly typed structure.
Given an event name and series of event parameters, we split them into two sub-series: those which are indexed and
those which are not.
Those which are indexed, which may number up to 3 (for non-anonymous events) or 4 (for anonymous ones), are used
alongside the Keccak hash of the event signature to form the topics of the log entry.
Those which are not indexed form the byte array of the event.
In effect, a log entry using this ABI is described as:
- ``address``: the address of the contract (intrinsically provided by Ethereum);
- ``topics[0]``: ``keccak(EVENT_NAME+"("+EVENT_ARGS.map(canonical_type_of).join(",")+")")`` (``canonical_type_of``
is a function that simply returns the canonical type of a given argument, e.g. for ``uint indexed foo``, it would
return ``uint256``). This value is only present in ``topics[0]`` if the event is not declared as ``anonymous``;
- ``topics[n]``: ``abi_encode(EVENT_INDEXED_ARGS[n - 1])`` if the event is not declared as ``anonymous``
or ``abi_encode(EVENT_INDEXED_ARGS[n])`` if it is (``EVENT_INDEXED_ARGS`` is the series of ``EVENT_ARGS`` that
are indexed);
- ``data``: ABI encoding of ``EVENT_NON_INDEXED_ARGS`` (``EVENT_NON_INDEXED_ARGS`` is the series of ``EVENT_ARGS``
that are not indexed, ``abi_encode`` is the ABI encoding function used for returning a series of typed values
from a function, as described above).
For all types of length at most 32 bytes, the ``EVENT_INDEXED_ARGS`` array contains
the value directly, padded or sign-extended (for signed integers) to 32 bytes, just as for regular ABI encoding.
However, for all "complex" types or types of dynamic length, including all arrays, ``string``, ``bytes`` and structs,
``EVENT_INDEXED_ARGS`` will contain the *Keccak hash* of a special in-place encoded value
(see :ref:`indexed_event_encoding`), rather than the encoded value directly.
This allows applications to efficiently query for values of dynamic-length types
(by setting the hash of the encoded value as the topic), but leaves applications unable
to decode indexed values they have not queried for. For dynamic-length types,
application developers face a trade-off between fast search for predetermined values
(if the argument is indexed) and legibility of arbitrary values (which requires that
the arguments not be indexed). Developers may overcome this tradeoff and achieve both
efficient search and arbitrary legibility by defining events with two arguments — one
indexed, one not — intended to hold the same value.
.. _abi_errors:
Errors
======
In case of a failure inside a contract, the contract can use a special opcode to abort execution and revert
all state changes. In addition to these effects, descriptive data can be returned to the caller.
This descriptive data is the encoding of an error and its arguments in the same way as data for a function
call.
As an example, let us consider the following contract whose ``transfer`` function always
reverts with a custom error of "insufficient balance":
.. code-block:: solidity
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
pragma solidity ^0.8.4;
contract TestToken {
error InsufficientBalance(uint256 available, uint256 required);
function transfer(address /*to*/, uint amount) public pure {
revert InsufficientBalance(0, amount);
}
}
The return data would be encoded in the same way as the function call
``InsufficientBalance(0, amount)`` to the function ``InsufficientBalance(uint256,uint256)``,
i.e. ``0xcf479181``, ``uint256(0)``, ``uint256(amount)``.
The error selectors ``0x00000000`` and ``0xffffffff`` are reserved for future use.
.. warning::
Never trust error data.
The error data by default bubbles up through the chain of external calls, which
means that a contract may receive an error not defined in any of the contracts
it calls directly.
Furthermore, any contract can fake any error by returning data that matches
an error signature, even if the error is not defined anywhere.
.. _abi_json:
JSON
====
The JSON format for a contract's interface is given by an array of function, event and error descriptions.
A function description is a JSON object with the fields:
- ``type``: ``"function"``, ``"constructor"``, ``"receive"`` (the :ref:`"receive Ether" function <receive-ether-function>`) or ``"fallback"`` (the :ref:`"default" function <fallback-function>`);
- ``name``: the name of the function;
- ``inputs``: an array of objects, each of which contains:
* ``name``: the name of the parameter.
* ``type``: the canonical type of the parameter (more below).
* ``components``: used for tuple types (more below).
- ``outputs``: an array of objects similar to ``inputs``.
- ``stateMutability``: a string with one of the following values: ``pure`` (:ref:`specified to not read
blockchain state <pure-functions>`), ``view`` (:ref:`specified to not modify the blockchain
state <view-functions>`), ``nonpayable`` (function does not accept Ether - the default) and ``payable`` (function accepts Ether).
Constructor and fallback function never have ``name`` or ``outputs``. Fallback function doesn't have ``inputs`` either.
.. note::
Sending non-zero Ether to non-payable function will revert the transaction.
.. note::
The state mutability ``nonpayable`` is reflected in Solidity by not specifying
a state mutability modifier at all.
An event description is a JSON object with fairly similar fields:
- ``type``: always ``"event"``
- ``name``: the name of the event.
- ``inputs``: an array of objects, each of which contains:
* ``name``: the name of the parameter.
* ``type``: the canonical type of the parameter (more below).
* ``components``: used for tuple types (more below).
* ``indexed``: ``true`` if the field is part of the log's topics, ``false`` if it one of the log's data segment.
- ``anonymous``: ``true`` if the event was declared as ``anonymous``.
Errors look as follows:
- ``type``: always ``"error"``
- ``name``: the name of the error.
- ``inputs``: an array of objects, each of which contains:
* ``name``: the name of the parameter.
* ``type``: the canonical type of the parameter (more below).
* ``components``: used for tuple types (more below).
.. note::
There can be multiple errors with the same name and even with identical signature
in the JSON array, for example if the errors originate from different
files in the smart contract or are referenced from another smart contract.
For the ABI, only the name of the error itself is relevant and not where it is
defined.
For example,
.. code-block:: solidity
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
pragma solidity ^0.8.4;
contract Test {
constructor() { b = hex"12345678901234567890123456789012"; }
event Event(uint indexed a, bytes32 b);
event Event2(uint indexed a, bytes32 b);
error InsufficientBalance(uint256 available, uint256 required);
function foo(uint a) public { emit Event(a, b); }
bytes32 b;
}
would result in the JSON:
.. code-block:: json
[{
"type":"error",
"inputs": [{"name":"available","type":"uint256"},{"name":"required","type":"uint256"}],
"name":"InsufficientBalance"
}, {
"type":"event",
"inputs": [{"name":"a","type":"uint256","indexed":true},{"name":"b","type":"bytes32","indexed":false}],
"name":"Event"
}, {
"type":"event",
"inputs": [{"name":"a","type":"uint256","indexed":true},{"name":"b","type":"bytes32","indexed":false}],
"name":"Event2"
}, {
"type":"function",
"inputs": [{"name":"a","type":"uint256"}],
"name":"foo",
"outputs": []
}]
Handling tuple types
--------------------
Despite that names are intentionally not part of the ABI encoding they do make a lot of sense to be included
in the JSON to enable displaying it to the end user. The structure is nested in the following way:
An object with members ``name``, ``type`` and potentially ``components`` describes a typed variable.
The canonical type is determined until a tuple type is reached and the string description up
to that point is stored in ``type`` prefix with the word ``tuple``, i.e. it will be ``tuple`` followed by
a sequence of ``[]`` and ``[k]`` with
integers ``k``. The components of the tuple are then stored in the member ``components``,
which is of array type and has the same structure as the top-level object except that
``indexed`` is not allowed there.
As an example, the code
.. code-block:: solidity
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
pragma solidity >0.7.4 <0.9.0;
pragma abicoder v2;
contract Test {
struct S { uint a; uint[] b; T[] c; }
struct T { uint x; uint y; }
function f(S memory, T memory, uint) public pure {}
function g() public pure returns (S memory, T memory, uint) {}
}
would result in the JSON:
.. code-block:: json
[
{
"name": "f",
"type": "function",
"inputs": [
{
"name": "s",
"type": "tuple",
"components": [
{
"name": "a",
"type": "uint256"
},
{
"name": "b",
"type": "uint256[]"
},
{
"name": "c",
"type": "tuple[]",
"components": [
{
"name": "x",
"type": "uint256"
},
{
"name": "y",
"type": "uint256"
}
]
}
]
},
{
"name": "t",
"type": "tuple",
"components": [
{
"name": "x",
"type": "uint256"
},
{
"name": "y",
"type": "uint256"
}
]
},
{
"name": "a",
"type": "uint256"
}
],
"outputs": []
}
]
.. _abi_packed_mode:
Strict Encoding Mode
====================
Strict encoding mode is the mode that leads to exactly the same encoding as defined in the formal specification above.
This means offsets have to be as small as possible while still not creating overlaps in the data areas and thus no gaps are
allowed.
Usually, ABI decoders are written in a straightforward way just following offset pointers, but some decoders
might enforce strict mode. The Solidity ABI decoder currently does not enforce strict mode, but the encoder
always creates data in strict mode.
Non-standard Packed Mode
========================
Through ``abi.encodePacked()``, Solidity supports a non-standard packed mode where:
- types shorter than 32 bytes are neither zero padded nor sign extended and
- dynamic types are encoded in-place and without the length.
- array elements are padded, but still encoded in-place
Furthermore, structs as well as nested arrays are not supported.
As an example, the encoding of ``int16(-1), bytes1(0x42), uint16(0x03), string("Hello, world!")`` results in:
.. code-block:: none
0xffff42000348656c6c6f2c20776f726c6421
^^^^ int16(-1)
^^ bytes1(0x42)
^^^^ uint16(0x03)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ string("Hello, world!") without a length field
More specifically:
- During the encoding, everything is encoded in-place. This means that there is
no distinction between head and tail, as in the ABI encoding, and the length
of an array is not encoded.
- The direct arguments of ``abi.encodePacked`` are encoded without padding,
as long as they are not arrays (or ``string`` or ``bytes``).
- The encoding of an array is the concatenation of the
encoding of its elements **with** padding.
- Dynamically-sized types like ``string``, ``bytes`` or ``uint[]`` are encoded
without their length field.
- The encoding of ``string`` or ``bytes`` does not apply padding at the end
unless it is part of an array or struct (then it is padded to a multiple of
32 bytes).
In general, the encoding is ambiguous as soon as there are two dynamically-sized elements,
because of the missing length field.
If padding is needed, explicit type conversions can be used: ``abi.encodePacked(uint16(0x12)) == hex"0012"``.
Since packed encoding is not used when calling functions, there is no special support
for prepending a function selector. Since the encoding is ambiguous, there is no decoding function.
.. warning::
If you use ``keccak256(abi.encodePacked(a, b))`` and both ``a`` and ``b`` are dynamic types,
it is easy to craft collisions in the hash value by moving parts of ``a`` into ``b`` and
vice-versa. More specifically, ``abi.encodePacked("a", "bc") == abi.encodePacked("ab", "c")``.
If you use ``abi.encodePacked`` for signatures, authentication or data integrity, make
sure to always use the same types and check that at most one of them is dynamic.
Unless there is a compelling reason, ``abi.encode`` should be preferred.
.. _indexed_event_encoding:
Encoding of Indexed Event Parameters
====================================
Indexed event parameters that are not value types, i.e. arrays and structs are not
stored directly but instead a keccak256-hash of an encoding is stored. This encoding
is defined as follows:
- the encoding of a ``bytes`` and ``string`` value is just the string contents
without any padding or length prefix.
- the encoding of a struct is the concatenation of the encoding of its members,
always padded to a multiple of 32 bytes (even ``bytes`` and ``string``).
- the encoding of an array (both dynamically- and statically-sized) is
the concatenation of the encoding of its elements, always padded to a multiple
of 32 bytes (even ``bytes`` and ``string``) and without any length prefix
In the above, as usual, a negative number is padded by sign extension and not zero padded.
``bytesNN`` types are padded on the right while ``uintNN`` / ``intNN`` are padded on the left.
.. warning::
The encoding of a struct is ambiguous if it contains more than one dynamically-sized
array. Because of that, always re-check the event data and do not rely on the search result
based on the indexed parameters alone.
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