How to read json in python

How to Read JSON in Python

Solution

Python has a built-in json module for working with JSON data. Here are the common approaches:

1. Read JSON from a File

import json

# Read JSON file
with open('data.json', 'r') as file:
    data = json.load(file)

print(data)

2. Parse JSON from a String

import json

json_string = '{"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}'
data = json.loads(json_string)

print(data['name'])  # Output: John

3. Read JSON from an API Response

import json
import urllib.request

# Using urllib (built-in)
with urllib.request.urlopen('https://api.example.com/data') as response:
    data = json.load(response)

# Or with requests library (if installed)
import requests
response = requests.get('https://api.example.com/data')
data = response.json()

Key Functions

Common Errors & Fixes

# Handle potential errors
import json

try:
    with open('data.json', 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
        data = json.load(file)
except FileNotFoundError:
    print("File not found")
except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
    print(f"Invalid JSON: {e}")

Prevention Tips

• Always use encoding='utf-8' for files with special characters
• Validate JSON format before parsing (use a linter or online validator)
• Use try/except blocks to handle malformed JSON gracefully