Traversing a JSON in Python

Question

I am trying to traverse each 'node?' of a JSON objet in python. I am trying to implement a recursive function like

def function(data):
         for element in data:
                --- do something----
                if (some condition):
                        function(element)

what I want to know is how can I find if the element in question is another object or just a string. That is, what should I write instead of 'some condition' in my above code. Like when I travese an XML , I check if it has any children using getchildren() and if it does, I recursively call the function again.....

Cédric Julien · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-09 16:04:38Z

1

A good pythonic way to do it could be something like this :

def function(data):
   try:
      for element in data:
         --- do something----
         function(element)
   except TypeError:
      pass

Do the stuff and let python raise an exception if you try to iterate on something that is not iterable ;)

answered Dec 9, 2011 at 16:04

Cédric Julien

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g.d.d.c · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-09 16:00:20Z

1

Using type is generally frowned upon in Python in favor of the more-functional isinstance. You can also test multiple types at the same time using isinstance:

if isinstance(myVar, (list, tuple)):
  # Something here.

answered Dec 9, 2011 at 16:00

g.d.d.c

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1 Comment

ovi Over a year ago

why? why is frowned upon type?

Ross · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-09 15:56:36Z

0

You could use the type(var) function to check whether the element is a dictionary or list.

def recurse(data):
    for element in data:
        if type(element) is list or type(element) is dict:
            recurse(element)
        else:
            # do something with element
            pass

answered Dec 9, 2011 at 15:56

Ross

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