node.js require of a json file

Question

I am trying to require() this JSON file.

{
    "info" : function (request) {
        var i = "<pre>";
        i+= "current working directory: " + process.cwd() + "\n";
        i+="request url: " + request.url + "\n";
        i+= "</pre>";
        return i;
    }
}

Using this line

var render = require('./render.json');

But I get an exception from the JSON file of : Unexpected token u

What am I doing wrong please ?

The following works in a browser. Which I would expect, since a function is a object. And nodejs docs suggests JSON can be a module: http://nodejs.org/api/modules.html#modules_file_modules

<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>

<script>

  var a = {
    "b" : function(msg){
      alert(msg);
    }
  }

  a.b("Hello");

</script>

</body>
</html>

unexpected token "u" is because the only valid token after "f" is "a" (for "false") — Andrey Sidorov
– Andrey Sidorov, Commented Sep 28, 2013 at 0:56
That makes perfect sense @andrey-sidorov. I am new to nodejs, so maybe modules are not what I think they are. — Anthony Scaife
– Anthony Scaife, Commented Oct 1, 2013 at 12:06
You're trying to mix JSON and JS here. The two languages are actually distinct from one another, despite sharing very similar syntax. JSON is basically the specific subset of JS syntax that allows you to define certain data structures - strings, booleans, numbers, Objects, and Arrays. Note that functions are not part of this! JS, on the other hand is... well.. everything else. Your render.json file isn't valid JSON or JS. Thus, there's no way to interpret it that makes sense in either context! tl;dr - functions aren't valid JSON. — broofa
– broofa, Commented Nov 27, 2014 at 12:56

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:31:00Z

4

JSON is purely meant to be a data description language. Per http://www.json.org, it is a "lightweight data-interchange format." - not a programming language.

you cannot have function inside your JSON and use node.

{
    "error": [
        function (request) {

        }
    ]

}

Is it valid to define functions in JSON results?

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:31

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 28, 2013 at 0:50

Thalaivar

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Comments

Kirill · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-17 16:32:59Z

2

The way I have gotten around this is to create a js file instead of a json file:
config.js

exports.config = [
    {
        "foo": 12,
        "bar": 10,
        "baz": function(a){
            console.dir(a);
        }
    }
]

then within node:

 config = require('./config.js').config;

 var a = {
   m: 'something',
   o: 'somethingelses'
 }

 config[0].baz(a);

edited Jan 17, 2017 at 16:32

Kirill

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answered Feb 5, 2014 at 6:54

Don Vawter

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