replace quotes in json file using python

Question

How to we convert singles quotes to double quotes in json file using python script.

file name: strings.json File content

[{'postId':'328e9497740b456154c636349','postTimestamp': '1521543600','pageType': '/home.php:topnews','viewTime': 1521545993647,'user_name': 'windows-super-user','gender': 3,'likes': '8','id': 'ffa1e07529ac917f6d573a','postImg': 1,'postDesc': [753],'origLink': 0,'duration': 0,'timestamp': 9936471521545,'back_time': 1521545993693},{'postId':'15545154c636349','postTimestamp': '547773600',        'pageType': '/home.php:topnews','viewTime': 45993647,'user_name': 'linux user','gender': 3,'likes': '8','id': '695e45a17f6d573a','postImg': 1,'postDesc': [953],'origLink': 0,'duration': 0,'timestamp': 545993647,'back_time': 85993693},{'postId':'9098897740b456154c636349','postTimestamp': '899943600',  'pageType': '/home.php:topnews','viewTime': 1521545993647,'user_name': 'unix_super_user','gender': 3,'likes': '8','id': '917f6d573a695e45affa1e07','postImg': 1,'postDesc': [253],'origLink': 0,'duration': 0,'timestamp': 193647,'back_time': 1521545993693}]

I have tried the below code, and it is not working;

with open('strings.json') as f:
    jstr = json.dump(f)
    print(jstr)

expected output:

[
    {
        "postId":"328e9497740b456154c636349",
        "postTimestamp": "1521543600",
        "pageType": "/home.php:topnews",
        "viewTime": 1521545993647,
        "user_name": "windows-super-user",
        "gender": 3,
        "likes": "8",
        "id": "ffa1e07529ac917f6d573a",
        "postImg": 1,
        "postDesc": [753],
        "origLink": 0,
        "duration": 0,
        "timestamp": 9936471521545,
        "back_time": 1521545993693
    },
    {
        "postId":"15545154c636349",
        "postTimestamp": "547773600",
        "pageType": "/home.php:topnews",
        "viewTime": 45993647,
        "user_name": "linux user",
        "gender": 3,
        "likes": "8",
        "id": "695e45a17f6d573a",
        "postImg": 1,
        "postDesc": [953],
        "origLink": 0,
        "duration": 0,
        "timestamp": 545993647,
        "back_time": 85993693
    }
]

The easy answer is just read the entire file in as a string, use .replace("'", '"'), and save it again. If that's too simplistic to work for you, then I would also try using jstr = json.loads(f) to load json into a dict and then using json.dumps(jstr) to output that as a proper json string. I don't remember .dump()'s default behavior off the top of my head — Green Cloak Guy
– Green Cloak Guy, Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 21:52
Possible duplicate of Convert a String representation of a Dictionary to a dictionary? — snakecharmerb
– snakecharmerb, Commented Apr 27, 2019 at 7:03
If possible, fix it at the source. Ask the provider to fix their program so it generates valid json. — user1751825
– user1751825, Commented Nov 26, 2019 at 18:27

almiki · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-26 21:54:30Z

3

Single quotes are not valid for strings in JSON, so that file isn't valid JSON as far as any parser is concerned.

If you want to replace all single quotes with double quotes, just do something like:

# Read in the file contents as text
with open('strings.json') as f:
    invalid_json = f.read()

# Replace all ' with "
valid_json = invalid_json.replace("'", '"')

# Verify that the JSON is valid now and this doesn't raise an exception
json.loads(valid_json)

# Save the modified text back to the file
with open('strings.json.fixed', 'w') as f:
    f.write(valid_json)

answered Apr 26, 2019 at 21:54

almiki

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itgeek Over a year ago

Getting an error JSONDecodeError("Expecting value", s, err.value) from None

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