How to manipulate json file in Python

Question

I want to pull data from here: http://www.carqueryapi.com/api/0.3/?callback=?&cmd=getMakes

Here's my python script so far:

import urllib.request
import json
url =("http://www.carqueryapi.com/api/0.3/?callback=?&cmd=getMakes")
request = urllib.request.Request(url)
response = urllib.request.urlopen(request)
result = response.read().decode('utf-8')
print (result)

When I try to manipulate the resultes, starting with:

d = json.loads(result)

I get an error message: "ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded"

What am I doing wrong?

You're going to save yourself A LOT of headaches if you use python's requests library rather than urllib to make http requests. You should provide the json data in your post. — TheGreatContini
– TheGreatContini, Commented May 14, 2016 at 19:53
just ran your code, the result is a json string wrapped in (). strip the enclosing parentheses and then you should be able to load the json. also, consider using requests instead of urllib — Haleemur Ali
– Haleemur Ali, Commented May 14, 2016 at 20:00

emvee · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-14 19:58:55Z

2

Your URL/query is wrong; you are not getting a valid JSON reply back from the server; it starts like this:

?({"Makes":[{"make_id":"abarth","make_display":"Abarth","make_is_common":"0","make_country":"Italy"},

If you modify url like this:

url = ("http://www.carqueryapi.com/api/0.3/?cmd=getMakes")

it should work. At least it worked for me after that.

Apparently, the callback=? is meant such that the client can insert a callback method which gets passed the json. I.e. you can have the server generate executable javascript rather than just json.

answered May 14, 2016 at 19:58

emvee

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TheGreatContini · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-14 19:58:22Z

0

If I click your URL, the first characters in the body are "?(". That's corrupting your attempt to feed it into JSON. You will need to pre-process the data to strip out the junk. There is also junk at the end.

Save yourself headaches by using Python requests library rather than urllib, by the way!

answered May 14, 2016 at 19:58

TheGreatContini

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