cpython/Doc/library/json.rst

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:mod:`json` --- JSON encoder and decoder
========================================
.. module:: json
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:synopsis: Encode and decode the JSON format.
.. moduleauthor:: Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
.. sectionauthor:: Bob Ippolito <bob@redivi.com>
.. versionadded:: 2.6
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) <http://json.org> is a subset of JavaScript
syntax (ECMA-262 3rd edition) used as a lightweight data interchange format.
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:mod:`json` exposes an API familiar to users of the standard library
:mod:`marshal` and :mod:`pickle` modules.
Encoding basic Python object hierarchies::
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>>> import json
>>> json.dumps(['foo', {'bar': ('baz', None, 1.0, 2)}])
'["foo", {"bar": ["baz", null, 1.0, 2]}]'
>>> print json.dumps("\"foo\bar")
"\"foo\bar"
>>> print json.dumps(u'\u1234')
"\u1234"
>>> print json.dumps('\\')
"\\"
>>> print json.dumps({"c": 0, "b": 0, "a": 0}, sort_keys=True)
{"a": 0, "b": 0, "c": 0}
>>> from StringIO import StringIO
>>> io = StringIO()
>>> json.dump(['streaming API'], io)
>>> io.getvalue()
'["streaming API"]'
Compact encoding::
>>> import json
>>> json.dumps([1,2,3,{'4': 5, '6': 7}], separators=(',',':'))
'[1,2,3,{"4":5,"6":7}]'
Pretty printing::
>>> import json
>>> print json.dumps({'4': 5, '6': 7}, sort_keys=True, indent=4)
{
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"4": 5,
"6": 7
}
Decoding JSON::
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>>> import json
>>> json.loads('["foo", {"bar":["baz", null, 1.0, 2]}]')
[u'foo', {u'bar': [u'baz', None, 1.0, 2]}]
>>> json.loads('"\\"foo\\bar"')
u'"foo\x08ar'
>>> from StringIO import StringIO
>>> io = StringIO('["streaming API"]')
>>> json.load(io)
[u'streaming API']
Specializing JSON object decoding::
>>> import json
>>> def as_complex(dct):
... if '__complex__' in dct:
... return complex(dct['real'], dct['imag'])
... return dct
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...
>>> json.loads('{"__complex__": true, "real": 1, "imag": 2}',
... object_hook=as_complex)
(1+2j)
>>> import decimal
>>> json.loads('1.1', parse_float=decimal.Decimal)
Decimal('1.1')
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Extending :class:`JSONEncoder`::
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>>> import json
>>> class ComplexEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
... def default(self, obj):
... if isinstance(obj, complex):
... return [obj.real, obj.imag]
... return json.JSONEncoder.default(self, obj)
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...
>>> dumps(2 + 1j, cls=ComplexEncoder)
'[2.0, 1.0]'
>>> ComplexEncoder().encode(2 + 1j)
'[2.0, 1.0]'
>>> list(ComplexEncoder().iterencode(2 + 1j))
['[', '2.0', ', ', '1.0', ']']
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.. highlight:: none
Using json.tool from the shell to validate and pretty-print::
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$ echo '{"json":"obj"}' | python -mjson.tool
{
"json": "obj"
}
$ echo '{ 1.2:3.4}' | python -mjson.tool
Expecting property name: line 1 column 2 (char 2)
.. highlight:: python
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.. note::
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The JSON produced by this module's default settings is a subset of
YAML, so it may be used as a serializer for that as well.
Basic Usage
-----------
.. function:: dump(obj, fp[, skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, cls[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default[, **kw]]]]]]]]]])
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Serialize *obj* as a JSON formatted stream to *fp* (a ``.write()``-supporting
file-like object).
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If *skipkeys* is ``True`` (default: ``False``), then dict keys that are not
of a basic type (:class:`str`, :class:`unicode`, :class:`int`, :class:`long`,
:class:`float`, :class:`bool`, ``None``) will be skipped instead of raising a
:exc:`TypeError`.
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If *ensure_ascii* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then some chunks written
to *fp* may be :class:`unicode` instances, subject to normal Python
:class:`str` to :class:`unicode` coercion rules. Unless ``fp.write()``
explicitly understands :class:`unicode` (as in :func:`codecs.getwriter`) this
is likely to cause an error.
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If *check_circular* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then the circular
reference check for container types will be skipped and a circular reference
will result in an :exc:`OverflowError` (or worse).
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If *allow_nan* is ``False`` (default: ``True``), then it will be a
:exc:`ValueError` to serialize out of range :class:`float` values (``nan``,
``inf``, ``-inf``) in strict compliance of the JSON specification, instead of
using the JavaScript equivalents (``NaN``, ``Infinity``, ``-Infinity``).
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If *indent* is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and object
members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent level of 0
will only insert newlines. ``None`` (the default) selects the most compact
representation.
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If *separators* is an ``(item_separator, dict_separator)`` tuple, then it
will be used instead of the default ``(', ', ': ')`` separators. ``(',',
':')`` is the most compact JSON representation.
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*encoding* is the character encoding for str instances, default is UTF-8.
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*default(obj)* is a function that should return a serializable version of
*obj* or raise :exc:`TypeError`. The default simply raises :exc:`TypeError`.
To use a custom :class:`JSONEncoder` subclass (e.g. one that overrides the
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:meth:`default` method to serialize additional types), specify it with the
*cls* kwarg; otherwise :class:`JSONEncoder` is used.
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.. function:: dumps(obj[, skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, cls[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default[, **kw]]]]]]]]]])
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Serialize *obj* to a JSON formatted :class:`str`.
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If *ensure_ascii* is ``False``, then the return value will be a
:class:`unicode` instance. The other arguments have the same meaning as in
:func:`dump`.
.. function:: load(fp[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, object_pairs_hook[, **kw]]]]]]]])
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Deserialize *fp* (a ``.read()``-supporting file-like object containing a JSON
document) to a Python object.
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If the contents of *fp* are encoded with an ASCII based encoding other than
UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate *encoding* name must be specified.
Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not allowed, and
should be wrapped with ``codecs.getreader(encoding)(fp)``, or simply decoded
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to a :class:`unicode` object and passed to :func:`loads`.
*object_hook* is an optional function that will be called with the result of
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any object literal decoded (a :class:`dict`). The return value of
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*object_hook* will be used instead of the :class:`dict`. This feature can be used
to implement custom decoders (e.g. JSON-RPC class hinting).
*object_pairs_hook* is an optional function that will be called with the
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result of any object literal decoded with an ordered list of pairs. The
return value of *object_pairs_hook* will be used instead of the
:class:`dict`. This feature can be used to implement custom decoders that
rely on the order that the key and value pairs are decoded (for example,
:func:`collections.OrderedDict` will remember the order of insertion). If
*object_hook* is also defined, the *object_pairs_hook* takes priority.
.. versionchanged:: 2.7
Added support for *object_pairs_hook*.
*parse_float*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON
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float to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to ``float(num_str)``.
This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats
(e.g. :class:`decimal.Decimal`).
*parse_int*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int
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to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to ``int(num_str)``. This can
be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers
(e.g. :class:`float`).
*parse_constant*, if specified, will be called with one of the following
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strings: ``'-Infinity'``, ``'Infinity'``, ``'NaN'``, ``'null'``, ``'true'``,
``'false'``. This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers
are encountered.
To use a custom :class:`JSONDecoder` subclass, specify it with the ``cls``
kwarg; otherwise :class:`JSONDecoder` is used. Additional keyword arguments
will be passed to the constructor of the class.
.. function:: loads(s[, encoding[, cls[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, object_pairs_hook[, **kw]]]]]]]])
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Deserialize *s* (a :class:`str` or :class:`unicode` instance containing a JSON
document) to a Python object.
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If *s* is a :class:`str` instance and is encoded with an ASCII based encoding
other than UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate *encoding* name must be
specified. Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not
allowed and should be decoded to :class:`unicode` first.
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The other arguments have the same meaning as in :func:`load`.
Encoders and decoders
---------------------
.. class:: JSONDecoder([encoding[, object_hook[, parse_float[, parse_int[, parse_constant[, strict[, object_pairs_hook]]]]]]])
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Simple JSON decoder.
Performs the following translations in decoding by default:
+---------------+-------------------+
| JSON | Python |
+===============+===================+
| object | dict |
+---------------+-------------------+
| array | list |
+---------------+-------------------+
| string | unicode |
+---------------+-------------------+
| number (int) | int, long |
+---------------+-------------------+
| number (real) | float |
+---------------+-------------------+
| true | True |
+---------------+-------------------+
| false | False |
+---------------+-------------------+
| null | None |
+---------------+-------------------+
It also understands ``NaN``, ``Infinity``, and ``-Infinity`` as their
corresponding ``float`` values, which is outside the JSON spec.
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*encoding* determines the encoding used to interpret any :class:`str` objects
decoded by this instance (UTF-8 by default). It has no effect when decoding
:class:`unicode` objects.
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Note that currently only encodings that are a superset of ASCII work, strings
of other encodings should be passed in as :class:`unicode`.
*object_hook*, if specified, will be called with the result of every JSON
object decoded and its return value will be used in place of the given
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:class:`dict`. This can be used to provide custom deserializations (e.g. to
support JSON-RPC class hinting).
*object_pairs_hook*, if specified will be called with the result of every
JSON object decoded with an ordered list of pairs. The return value of
*object_pairs_hook* will be used instead of the :class:`dict`. This
feature can be used to implement custom decoders that rely on the order
that the key and value pairs are decoded (for example,
:func:`collections.OrderedDict` will remember the order of insertion). If
*object_hook* is also defined, the *object_pairs_hook* takes priority.
.. versionchanged:: 2.7
Added support for *object_pairs_hook*.
*parse_float*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON
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float to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to ``float(num_str)``.
This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats
(e.g. :class:`decimal.Decimal`).
*parse_int*, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int
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to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to ``int(num_str)``. This can
be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers
(e.g. :class:`float`).
*parse_constant*, if specified, will be called with one of the following
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strings: ``'-Infinity'``, ``'Infinity'``, ``'NaN'``, ``'null'``, ``'true'``,
``'false'``. This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers
are encountered.
If *strict* is ``False`` (``True`` is the default), then control characters
will be allowed inside strings. Control characters in this context are
those with character codes in the 0-31 range, including ``'\t'`` (tab),
``'\n'``, ``'\r'`` and ``'\0'``.
.. method:: decode(s)
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Return the Python representation of *s* (a :class:`str` or
:class:`unicode` instance containing a JSON document)
.. method:: raw_decode(s)
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Decode a JSON document from *s* (a :class:`str` or :class:`unicode`
beginning with a JSON document) and return a 2-tuple of the Python
representation and the index in *s* where the document ended.
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This can be used to decode a JSON document from a string that may have
extraneous data at the end.
.. class:: JSONEncoder([skipkeys[, ensure_ascii[, check_circular[, allow_nan[, sort_keys[, indent[, separators[, encoding[, default]]]]]]]]])
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Extensible JSON encoder for Python data structures.
Supports the following objects and types by default:
+-------------------+---------------+
| Python | JSON |
+===================+===============+
| dict | object |
+-------------------+---------------+
| list, tuple | array |
+-------------------+---------------+
| str, unicode | string |
+-------------------+---------------+
| int, long, float | number |
+-------------------+---------------+
| True | true |
+-------------------+---------------+
| False | false |
+-------------------+---------------+
| None | null |
+-------------------+---------------+
To extend this to recognize other objects, subclass and implement a
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:meth:`default` method with another method that returns a serializable object
for ``o`` if possible, otherwise it should call the superclass implementation
(to raise :exc:`TypeError`).
If *skipkeys* is ``False`` (the default), then it is a :exc:`TypeError` to
attempt encoding of keys that are not str, int, long, float or None. If
*skipkeys* is ``True``, such items are simply skipped.
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If *ensure_ascii* is ``True`` (the default), the output is guaranteed to be
:class:`str` objects with all incoming unicode characters escaped. If
*ensure_ascii* is ``False``, the output will be a unicode object.
If *check_circular* is ``True`` (the default), then lists, dicts, and custom
encoded objects will be checked for circular references during encoding to
prevent an infinite recursion (which would cause an :exc:`OverflowError`).
Otherwise, no such check takes place.
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If *allow_nan* is ``True`` (the default), then ``NaN``, ``Infinity``, and
``-Infinity`` will be encoded as such. This behavior is not JSON
specification compliant, but is consistent with most JavaScript based
encoders and decoders. Otherwise, it will be a :exc:`ValueError` to encode
such floats.
Merged revisions 82798,82805,83659,83977,84015,84018,84141,84264,84326-84327,84480,84482,84484,84530-84531,84553,84619,84915-84916 via svnmerge from svn+ssh://pythondev@svn.python.org/python/branches/py3k ........ r82798 | georg.brandl | 2010-07-11 11:23:11 +0200 (So, 11 Jul 2010) | 1 line #6774: explain shutdown() behavior varying with platform. ........ r82805 | georg.brandl | 2010-07-11 11:42:10 +0200 (So, 11 Jul 2010) | 1 line #7935: cross-reference to ast.literal_eval() from eval() docs. ........ r83659 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-03 14:06:29 +0200 (Di, 03 Aug 2010) | 1 line Terminology fix: exceptions are raised, except in generator.throw(). ........ r83977 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-13 17:10:49 +0200 (Fr, 13 Aug 2010) | 1 line Fix copy-paste error. ........ r84015 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-14 17:44:34 +0200 (Sa, 14 Aug 2010) | 1 line Add some maintainers. ........ r84018 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-14 17:48:49 +0200 (Sa, 14 Aug 2010) | 1 line Typo fix. ........ r84141 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-17 16:11:59 +0200 (Di, 17 Aug 2010) | 1 line Markup nits. ........ r84264 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-22 22:23:38 +0200 (So, 22 Aug 2010) | 1 line #9649: fix default value description. ........ r84326 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-26 16:30:15 +0200 (Do, 26 Aug 2010) | 1 line #9689: add links from overview to in-depth class API descriptions. ........ r84327 | georg.brandl | 2010-08-26 16:30:56 +0200 (Do, 26 Aug 2010) | 1 line #9681: typo. ........ r84480 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-04 00:33:27 +0200 (Sa, 04 Sep 2010) | 1 line More inclusive title. ........ r84482 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-04 00:40:02 +0200 (Sa, 04 Sep 2010) | 1 line #9760: clarify what context expression is. ........ r84484 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-04 00:49:27 +0200 (Sa, 04 Sep 2010) | 1 line Fix missing word. ........ r84530 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-05 19:07:12 +0200 (So, 05 Sep 2010) | 1 line #9747: fix copy-paste error in getresgid() doc. ........ r84531 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-05 19:09:18 +0200 (So, 05 Sep 2010) | 1 line #9776: fix some spacing. ........ r84553 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-06 08:49:07 +0200 (Mo, 06 Sep 2010) | 1 line #9780: both { and } are not valid fill characters. ........ r84619 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-08 12:43:45 +0200 (Mi, 08 Sep 2010) | 1 line Add Lukasz. ........ r84915 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-20 08:27:02 +0200 (Mo, 20 Sep 2010) | 1 line Fix typo. ........ r84916 | georg.brandl | 2010-09-20 08:29:01 +0200 (Mo, 20 Sep 2010) | 1 line Mention % as string formatting. ........
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If *sort_keys* is ``True`` (default ``False``), then the output of dictionaries
will be sorted by key; this is useful for regression tests to ensure that
JSON serializations can be compared on a day-to-day basis.
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If *indent* is a non-negative integer (it is ``None`` by default), then JSON
array elements and object members will be pretty-printed with that indent
level. An indent level of 0 will only insert newlines. ``None`` is the most
compact representation.
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If specified, *separators* should be an ``(item_separator, key_separator)``
tuple. The default is ``(', ', ': ')``. To get the most compact JSON
representation, you should specify ``(',', ':')`` to eliminate whitespace.
If specified, *default* is a function that gets called for objects that can't
otherwise be serialized. It should return a JSON encodable version of the
object or raise a :exc:`TypeError`.
If *encoding* is not ``None``, then all input strings will be transformed
into unicode using that encoding prior to JSON-encoding. The default is
UTF-8.
.. method:: default(o)
Implement this method in a subclass such that it returns a serializable
object for *o*, or calls the base implementation (to raise a
:exc:`TypeError`).
For example, to support arbitrary iterators, you could implement default
like this::
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def default(self, o):
try:
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iterable = iter(o)
except TypeError:
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pass
else:
return list(iterable)
return JSONEncoder.default(self, o)
.. method:: encode(o)
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Return a JSON string representation of a Python data structure, *o*. For
example::
>>> JSONEncoder().encode({"foo": ["bar", "baz"]})
'{"foo": ["bar", "baz"]}'
.. method:: iterencode(o)
Encode the given object, *o*, and yield each string representation as
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available. For example::
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for chunk in JSONEncoder().iterencode(bigobject):
mysocket.write(chunk)