JSON load/dump in Python

Question

>>> json.loads('["foo", {"bar":["baz", null, 1.0, 2]}]')
[u'foo', {u'bar': [u'baz', None, 1.0, 2]}]

I modified it like this:

>>> the_dump=json.dumps("['foo', {'bar':['baz', null, 1.0, 2]}]")
>>> the_load = json.loads(the_dump)
u"['foo', {'bar':['baz', null, 1.0, 2]}]"

Now it's a string. I want to do this: the_load[1]['bar'].

Can it be done this way? Where am I going wrong?

Why does this work?

>>> a= "[1,2,3]"
>>> json.loads(a)[0]
1

If you're interested in speed and security, I'd recommend installing the simplejson module yourself. Python's json module, as of 2.6, is an older version of simplejson that doesn't have all the speed and security improvements of the latest version. — Edwin
– Edwin, Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 17:59

Josh Bleecher Snyder · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-21 18:29:20Z

12

>>> the_dump=json.dumps("['foo', {'bar':['baz', null, 1.0, 2]}]")

You're asking it to json encode a string, so it's not surprising that you get a string back when you decode. Try instead:

>>> the_dump=json.dumps(['foo', {'bar':['baz', None, 1.0, 2]}])

answered Dec 21, 2011 at 17:56

8,4323 gold badges38 silver badges38 bronze badges

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

1 Answer 1