inner dictionary parsing of a json object in python

Question

I have a list, called filelist = [] to which I'm appending a dictionary of some key value pairs.

filelist.append({"url": url, "exename": ename, "filename": fname}] as I loop through a set of files.
Later, loads() the below json object to a "json" key: 

for file in filelist: file["json"] = json.loads(json)

I am having no trouble pulling out the first layer of dictionary values, ie.

for files in filelist:
    print files["json"]["response_code"]

>>> 1

However, I am having issues at getting to the inner dictionary I'm assuming is bound to files["json"]["scans"] for example:

for files in filelist:
    for avvendors in files["json"]["scans"]

I'm really interested in pulling out the "detected" key but it seems python is not loading the "scans" key as a dictionary but instead is storing it as a string. I'm thinking of doing a second loads() on the inner dictionary to see what happens.

for stuff in avvendors:
    if stuf["detected"]:
        #do something

I'm not really sure what is happening here. I know I will likely figure it out but some insight into what python does with the json internally would be nice. Also, I will not get a chance to work on this till Monday or Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday and the suspense is killing me.

Here's the full block for readability:

for files in filelist: for avvendors in files["json"]["scans]: if avvendors["detected"]: #Do something useful

{"response_code": 1,
"verbose_msg": "Scan finished, scan information embedded in this object",

"resource": "99017f6eebbac24f351415dd410d522d",
"scan_id": "52d3df0ed60c46f336c131bf2ca454f73bafdc4b04dfa2aea80746f5ba9e6d1c-1273894724",
"md5": "99017f6eebbac24f351415dd410d522d",
"sha1": "4d1740485713a2ab3a4f5822a01f645fe8387f92",
"sha256": "52d3df0ed60c46f336c131bf2ca454f73bafdc4b04dfa2aea80746f5ba9e6d1c",

"scan_date": "2010-05-15 03:38:44",

"positives": 40,
"total": 40,
"scans": {"nProtect": {"detected": true, "version": "2010-05-14.01", "result": "Trojan.Generic.3611249", "update": "20100514"},
"CAT-QuickHeal": {"detected": true, "version": "10.00", "result": "Trojan.VB.acgy", "update": "20100514"},
"McAfee": {"detected": true, "version": "5.400.0.1158", "result": "Generic.dx!rkx", "update": "20100515"},
"TheHacker": {"detected": true, "version": "6.5.2.0.280", "result": "Trojan/VB.gen", "update": "20100514"},
"VirusBuster": {"detected": true, "version": "5.0.27.0", "result": "Trojan.VB.JFDE", "update": "20100514"},
"NOD32": {"detected": true, "version": "5115", "result": "a variant of Win32/Qhost.NTY", "update": "20100514"},
"F-Prot": {"detected": false, "version": "4.5.1.85", "result": null, "update": "20100514"},
"Symantec": {"detected": true, "version": "20101.1.0.89", "result": "Trojan.KillAV", "update": "20100515"},
"Norman": {"detected": true, "version": "6.04.12", "result": "W32/Smalltroj.YFHZ", "update": "20100514"},
"TrendMicro-HouseCall": {"detected": true, "version": "9.120.0.1004", "result": "TROJ_VB.JVJ", "update": "20100515"},
"Avast": {"detected": true, "version": "4.8.1351.0", "result": "Win32:Malware-gen", "update": "20100514"},
"eSafe": {"detected": true, "version": "7.0.17.0", "result": "Win32.TRVB.Acgy", "update": "20100513"},
"ClamAV": {"detected": false, "version": "0.96.0.3-git", "result": null, "update": "20100514"},
"Kaspersky": {"detected": true, "version": "7.0.0.125", "result": "Trojan.Win32.VB.acgy", "update": "20100515"},
"BitDefender": {"detected": true, "version": "7.2", "result": "Trojan.Generic.3611249", "update": "20100515"},
"Comodo": {"detected": true, "version": "4842", "result": "Heur.Suspicious", "update": "20100515"},
"F-Secure": {"detected": true, "version": "9.0.15370.0", "result": "Trojan.Generic.3611249", "update": "20100514"},
"DrWeb": {"detected": true, "version": "5.0.2.03300", "result": "Trojan.Hosts.37", "update": "20100515"},
"AntiVir": {"detected": true, "version": "8.2.1.242", "result": "TR/VB.acgy.1", "update": "20100514"},
"TrendMicro": {"detected": true, "version": "9.120.0.1004", "result": "TROJ_VB.JVJ", "update": "20100514"},
"McAfee-GW-Edition": {"detected": true, "version": "2010.1", "result": "Generic.dx!rkx", "update": "20100515"},
"Sophos": {"detected": true, "version": "4.53.0", "result": "Troj/VBHost-A", "update": "20100515"},
"eTrust-Vet": {"detected": true, "version": "35.2.7490", "result": "Win32/ASuspect.HDBBD", "update": "20100515"},
"Authentium": {"detected": false, "version": "5.2.0.5", "result": null, "update": "20100514"},
"Jiangmin": {"detected": true, "version": "13.0.900", "result": "Trojan/VB.yqh", "update": "20100514"}, [...] }

unutbu · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-14 18:44:44Z

2

Be careful when iterating over a dict. It just returns the keys. If you want the keys and values, use the .iteritems() method (or in Python3, .items()):

for files in filelist:
   for avvendor, stuf in files["json"]["scans"].iteritems():
       if stuf["detected"]:
          #do something

In your case, the value of the scans key is a dict: "scans": {"nProtect": ...}

edited Apr 14, 2012 at 18:44

answered Apr 14, 2012 at 18:39

unutbu

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4 Comments

Gareth Latty Over a year ago

Remember than in python 3.x this is just dict.items().

Dale Over a year ago

So python is probably loading the inner dictionary as a dictionary and I'm wrong in assuming that it was just loaded as a string?

unutbu Over a year ago

json.loads() returns a Python object, such as a list of dicts of dicts. So yes, the inner dictionary is a dict, not a string.

Dale Over a year ago

nevermind, now that I recall, "true" was getting changed to True and "AntiVir" was changing to u'AntiVir' etc. when used print on the whole mess provided, Thanks!

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