How to write json in neovim lua?

Question

I'm trying to write a json file as part of a neovim plugin I'm working on. I started with the code below.

Code:

    write = function() 
        local json = vim.fn.json_encode("{\"test\": \"thing\"}")
        print(json)
        local ok, result = pcall(vim.fn.writefile, {json}, "./test.json")

        if ok then
            print("Okay")
        else
            print(result)
        end
    end

Output inside test.json: "{\"test\": \"thing\"}"

This almost works, but as you can see it outputs a string. How can I properly get it to write as a JSON object?

koyaanisqatsi · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-02 21:24:36Z

2

A JSON Object is a string.
https://www.w3schools.com/Js/js_json_objects.asp

The vim.fn.json_encode() is more meant to do things like this...

lua_table = {one = 1, two = 2, three = 3}
json_object = vim.fn.json_encode(lua_table)
-- ^-> '{"one": 1, "two": 2, "three": 3}'

Reference: :help json_encode (nvim command mode)

json_encode({expr})                                     json_encode()
                Convert {expr} into a JSON string.  Accepts
                msgpack-special-dict as the input.  Will not convert
                Funcrefs, mappings with non-string keys (can be created as
                msgpack-special-dict), values with self-referencing
                containers, strings which contain non-UTF-8 characters,
                pseudo-UTF-8 strings which contain codepoints reserved for
                surrogate pairs (such strings are not valid UTF-8 strings).
                Non-printable characters are converted into "\u1234" escapes
                or special escapes like "\t", other are dumped as-is.
                Blobs are converted to arrays of the individual bytes.

                Can also be used as a method:
                        GetObject()->json_encode()

edited Nov 2, 2022 at 21:24

answered Nov 2, 2022 at 20:51

koyaanisqatsi

2,9052 gold badges11 silver badges18 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

NeoZoom.lua Over a year ago

FYI: we should use vim.json.encode/decode for better performance power by Lua.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to write json in neovim lua?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related