Python JSON Sorting nested data

Question

Trying to find the easiest way to sort nested json data. Everything I've tried up to this point seems to fail. I'm using Python 2.7 and attempting to sort by name attribute. Here's one of the many python samples I tried:

    def sort_json(self,json_data):
        data_obj = json.dumps(json_data,sort_keys=True)
        return sorted(data_obj["data"]["workflows"]["allWorkflows"], 
        key=lambda d: d["name"])

Here's a sample of the unsorted json:

{
  "data": {
    "workflows": {
      "allWorkflows": [{
        "name": "ICX-SLX Config Basic Support",
        "version": 106,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Config/Basic Support/ICX-SLX Config Basic Support"
      }, {
        "name": "ICX Upgrade Firmware",
        "version": 37,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Upgrade/ICX Upgrade Firmware"
      }, {
        "name": "Quarantine_PCAP_Flow",
        "version": 357,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Security/Quarantine_PCAP_Flow"
      }, {
        "name": "ICX-MLX Backup Configuration",
        "version": 101,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Backup/ICX-MLX Backup Configuration"
      }, {
        "name": "ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device",
        "version": 15,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Restart/ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device"
      }, {
        "name": "Revert_Quarantine_End_System",
        "version": 169,
        "path": "/Workflows/System/Security/Revert_Quarantine_End_System"
      }]
    }
  }
}

Any working examples would be really appreciated.

For the above code example I get the following error: TypeError: string indices must be integers, not str — Bill
– Bill, Commented Dec 3, 2018 at 19:15

Dani Mesejo · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-03 19:20:24Z

4

If I understood correctly you need to remove the line:

data_obj = json.dumps(json_data,sort_keys=True)

for example:

def sort_json(json_data):
    workflows = json_data["data"]["workflows"]["allWorkflows"]
    return sorted(workflows, key=lambda d: d["name"])


jd = {
    "data": {
        "workflows": {
            "allWorkflows": [{
                "name": "ICX-SLX Config Basic Support",
                "version": 106,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Config/Basic Support/ICX-SLX Config Basic Support"
            }, {
                "name": "ICX Upgrade Firmware",
                "version": 37,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Upgrade/ICX Upgrade Firmware"
            }, {
                "name": "Quarantine_PCAP_Flow",
                "version": 357,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Security/Quarantine_PCAP_Flow"
            }, {
                "name": "ICX-MLX Backup Configuration",
                "version": 101,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Backup/ICX-MLX Backup Configuration"
            }, {
                "name": "ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device",
                "version": 15,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Inventory/Restart/ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device"
            }, {
                "name": "Revert_Quarantine_End_System",
                "version": 169,
                "path": "/Workflows/System/Security/Revert_Quarantine_End_System"
            }]
        }
    }
}

result = sort_json(jd)
print(result)

Output

[{'version': 37, 'name': 'ICX Upgrade Firmware', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Inventory/Upgrade/ICX Upgrade Firmware'}, {'version': 101, 'name': 'ICX-MLX Backup Configuration', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Inventory/Backup/ICX-MLX Backup Configuration'}, {'version': 106, 'name': 'ICX-SLX Config Basic Support', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Config/Basic Support/ICX-SLX Config Basic Support'}, {'version': 15, 'name': 'ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Inventory/Restart/ICX-SLX-MLX Restart Device'}, {'version': 357, 'name': 'Quarantine_PCAP_Flow', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Security/Quarantine_PCAP_Flow'}, {'version': 169, 'name': 'Revert_Quarantine_End_System', 'path': '/Workflows/System/Security/Revert_Quarantine_End_System'}]

answered Dec 3, 2018 at 19:20

Dani Mesejo

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6 Comments

Bill Over a year ago

Tried your example and get back this error: workflows = json_data["data"]["workflows"]["allWorkflows"] TypeError: string indices must be integers, not str

Dani Mesejo Over a year ago

What are you passing to the function a string or a dictionary?

Bill Over a year ago

Passing it in as a string

Dani Mesejo Over a year ago

Pass it as a dictionary, do not transform the dictionary into a string

Bill Over a year ago

There we go... Used json.loads(json_data) and that worked. Thanks... Is there anyway to convert the output to the original layout versus 1 line?

|

Wendy Zhu · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-03 20:01:56Z

Hi Bill: I think the complication comes from the triple nesting of the json file. Once I removed the overhead layers and made a new dictionary of {name: version, path} then I can sort: (This might be a little more cumbersome than you want, but at least it made the problem clear to me. Hope this helps!)

import json

with open("sample.json") as json_data:
    d = json.load(json_data)

key = 'data'
key2 = 'workflows'
key3 = 'allWorkflows'

list1 = []
list2 = []
list3 = []

for k in d[key][key2][key3]:
    name_d = k
    list1.append(name_d['name'])
    list2.append(name_d['version'])
    list3.append(name_d['path'])

mydict = {i:[j, k] for i, j, k in zip(list1, list2, list3)}
print(sorted(mydict.items()))

jktre · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-15 00:42:18Z

You could use a (partially complete) recursive solution to handle more levels / nesting:

input.json

{"foo": {"bar": [3,2,1], "bax": {"buz": [6,5,4]}}, "too": [9,8,7], "farm": [{"boo": [7,6]}, {"coo": ["def", "abc"]}, {"loo": {"dog": [6,9,1], "cat": [{"fog": [3,2,1]}]}}]}

expected.json

{"foo": {"bar": [1,2,3], "bax": {"buz": [4,5,6]}}, "too": [7,8,9], "farm": [{"boo": [6,7]}, {"coo": ["abc", "def"]}, {"loo": {"dog": [1,6,9], "cat": [{"fog": [1,2,3]}]}}]}

function

def sort_json(payload: Dict) -> Dict:
  for k, v in payload.items():
    if isinstance(v, dict):
      sort_json(v)
    else:
      if all(isinstance(x, int) or isinstance(x, str) for x in v):
        v.sort()
      if all(isinstance(x, dict) or isinstance(x, dict) for x in v):
        for j in v:
          sort_json(j)
  return payload

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