Python: read in an Array of json objects using json.loads()

Question

I have a file data.txt which contains a list of json objects like below:

[{"id":"1111","color":["blue"],"length":"120"},{"id":"1112","color":["red"],"length":"130"},{"id":"1112","color":["yellow"],"length":"136"}]

I tried to read it using python json.loads:

data = json.loads("data.txt")

but then I got the following errors. Did I miss anything here? Thanks a lot!

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/__init__.pyc in loads(s, encoding, cls, object_hook, parse_float, parse_int, parse_constant, object_pairs_hook, **kw)
    336             parse_int is None and parse_float is None and
    337             parse_constant is None and object_pairs_hook is None and not kw):
--> 338         return _default_decoder.decode(s)
    339     if cls is None:
    340         cls = JSONDecoder

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/decoder.pyc in decode(self, s, _w)
    363 
    364         """
--> 365         obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
    366         end = _w(s, end).end()
    367         if end != len(s):

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/decoder.pyc in raw_decode(self, s, idx)
    381             obj, end = self.scan_once(s, idx)
    382         except StopIteration:
--> 383             raise ValueError("No JSON object could be decoded")
    384         return obj, end

ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded

That's because "data.txt" is not a valid JSON string. loads accepts the JSON data, not a file name. — roeland
– roeland, Commented Dec 1, 2015 at 0:56

Agustín Lado · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-01 00:57:38Z

23

You're trying to read the string "data.txt". What you want is to open and read the file.

import json

with open('data.txt', 'r') as data_file:
    json_data = data_file.read()

data = json.loads(json_data)

answered Dec 1, 2015 at 0:57

Agustín Lado

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Brendan Molloy · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-01 00:57:58Z

11

Try:

data = json.load(open("data.txt", 'r'))

json.loads interprets a string as JSON data, while json.load takes a file object and reads it, then interprets it as JSON.

answered Dec 1, 2015 at 0:57

Brendan Molloy

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adamc · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-01 01:04:07Z

2

You need to open the file for reading and read it. To get the behavior you want:

with open('data.txt', 'r') as f:
    data = json.loads(f.read())

That should give you the json structure you want. Using with keeps you from having to close the file explicitly when you're finished.

answered Dec 1, 2015 at 1:04

adamc

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