How to scan a json file for a certain string? With Python

Question

I am using the json libary with the following code:

config = json.load(open("config/config.json"))

to load my json file. However I cannot find out how to scan this file for a certain string. The code in this file is:

[
    {
        "name": "SID",
        "path": "/",
        "domain": test.com
    }
]

I'm trying to make an if statement that if test.com is the set domain it does one thing but if not it does another. Help is appreciated

I would use recursion...If you dont know the structure of the JSON. For example, search all the keys and check the data item. If the data type is an array or object, call the function again to search there until null. — Christian4423
– Christian4423, Commented May 3, 2018 at 18:56
@wpercy that would find the string even it was the substring of something else. It would also find it if it was the value for another key other than domain. — user3483203
– user3483203, Commented May 3, 2018 at 18:58
@chrisz that seems to return [pylint] E0001:EOL while scanning string literal (<string>, line 134) — Ogden
– Ogden, Commented May 3, 2018 at 18:59
Also there could be multiple repeats of: [ { "name": "SID", "path": "/", "domain": test.com } ] Each with different domains so I would not be able to do [0] — Ogden
– Ogden, Commented May 3, 2018 at 19:00

bjarchi · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-03 19:29:44Z

1

Depending on whether there may be multiple items in the config json file, I would do something like the following (general):

<load config>

for item in config:
    if item['domain'] == 'test.com':
        <do something>
    else:
        <do something else>

If you know there will only ever be one item in the config, then you could take the option listed in the comment, and test for:

if config[0]['domain'] == 'test.com': <...>

instead.

Note that this simple example is only valid if your JSON input was created under your control - e.g. written by another module of your application or etc. In other words, it will fail if item['domain'] is (say) 'TEST.com' - so you may need to do some cleanup on the input before testing.

Quick example in Python REPL:

>>> li
[{'domain': 'test.com'}, {'domain': 'test1.com'}]
>>> for item in li:
...     if item['domain'] == 'test.com':
...         print('test.com')
...     else:
...         print('other')
...
test.com
other

edited May 3, 2018 at 19:29

answered May 3, 2018 at 19:03

bjarchi

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5 Comments

Ogden Over a year ago

That creates an endless loop between test1.com and test2.com with the following code:

Ogden Over a year ago

for item in cookies1: if item['domain'] == 'myaccount.com': driver1.get("test1.com") else: driver1.get("test2.com")

bjarchi Over a year ago

It's a little hard to tell without formatting, but the for loop iterates over each item in the list only once. If you're getting some kind of endless looping then it may be in the calls to driver1.get()... I just (re) tested this exact code in the python REPL using a simple list of two dictionaries each containing one field keyed 'domain', using print statements to test the logic, and it works as expected.

Ogden Over a year ago

I think I've found the issue test.com is in my json file lots of times, but I only want it to perform the loop once.

Ogden Over a year ago

I managed to sort of fix this by adding break after the loop, but it is returning the wrong output even though "test.com" is stated once in my .json file I believe its only checking the first domain now.

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