The JSON Module in Python tutorial

The JSON Module in Python

JSON

JSON(JavaScript Object Notation) is a standard and lightweight format for data interchange. We can handle JSON data with the json module,

Read JSON data as dict

Python dict(dictionary) is closest to the JSON notation.

import json

# input JSON
person = '{ "name":"Ankit", "age":23, "city":"Delhi"}'
# parse person
a = json.loads(person)
#get the results in a Python dict
print(a['city'])  #Delhi

Dump data into JSON

import json

person={
'name':'Ankit',
'age':23,
'city':'Delhi'
}

# change into JSON
y = json.dumps(person)
# print the JSON

print(y)
#Output
{"name": "Ankit", "age": 23, "city": "Delhi"}

The Object types dict, list, tuple, string, int, float, True, False, and None can also be converted into JSON strings, with JSON module.

import json
print(json.dumps({'name': 'Amit', "maerks": 79}))
print(json.dumps(['Ajay', 78,90,True]))
print(json.dumps(('Orange', 'Apple','Grapes')))
print(json.dumps('Python Programming'))
print(json.dumps(73))
print(json.dumps(96.45))
print(json.dumps(True))
print(json.dumps(False))
print(json.dumps(None))

#Output
{"name": "Amit", "maerks": 79}
["Ajay", 78, 90, true]
["Orange", "Apple", "Grapes"]
"Python Programming"
73
96.45
true
false
null

Dump and Load data from files

We can retrieve and manipulate the data from/to a JSON file with the json module. For example to write the JSON data to a file,

import json
d={
'color':'RED',
'model':2003,
'brand':'Honda',
'dim':[1880,1400,780]
}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','w') as f:
  json.dump(d,f)

print('written')

To read the data from the JSON file, we can write

import json

with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','r') as f:
      d=json.load(f)
print(d)
#Output:
{'color': 'RED', 'model': 2003, 'brand': 'Honda', 'dim': [1880, 1400, 780]}

OR 

import json

j = {"cars": [{"color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA"}, {"color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT"}]}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','w') as f:
       d=json.dump(j,f)
print('written')

To load the data from a file, we can use

import json

j = {"cars": [{"color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA"}, {"color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT"}]}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','r') as f:
          d=json.load(f)
print(d)

To read the JSON data with a proper indent, we can indent the data as,

import json
j = {"cars": [{"color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA"}, {"color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT"}]}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','r') as f:
    d=json.load(f)
print(json.dumps(d,indent=2))
 
#Output:
{ "cars": [ { "color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA" }, { "color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT" } ] }

We can also sort the keys, with sort_keys attribute,

import json
j = {"cars": [{"color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA"}, {"color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT"}]}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','r') as f:
    d=json.load(f)
print(json.dumps(d,sort_keys=True,indent=2))
#Output:
{
  "cars": [
    {
      "brand": "HONDA",
      "color": "BLACK"
    },
    {
      "brand": "RENAULT",
      "color": "RED"
    }
  ]
}

 We can also use the separators attribute,

import json
j = {"cars": [{"color": "BLACK", "brand": "HONDA"}, {"color": "RED", "brand": "RENAULT"}]}
with open('C:/Users/user/Desktop/car','r') as f:
    d=json.load(f)
print(json.dumps(d,sort_keys=True,indent=2, separators=(' . ', ' = ')))

#Output:

{
  "cars": [
    {
      "brand"= "HONDA",
      "color"= "BLACK"
    },
    {
      "brand"= "RENAULT",
      "color"= "RED"
    }
  ]
}