How do I check if a string is valid JSON in Python?
Question:
In Python, is there a way to check if a string is valid JSON before trying to parse it?
For example working with things like the Facebook Graph API, sometimes it returns JSON, sometimes it could return an image file.
Answers:
I would say parsing it is the only way you can really entirely tell. Exception will be raised by python’s json.loads()
function (almost certainly) if not the correct format. However, the the purposes of your example you can probably just check the first couple of non-whitespace characters…
I’m not familiar with the JSON that facebook sends back, but most JSON strings from web apps will start with a open square [
or curly {
bracket. No images formats I know of start with those characters.
Conversely if you know what image formats might show up, you can check the start of the string for their signatures to identify images, and assume you have JSON if it’s not an image.
Another simple hack to identify a graphic, rather than a text string, in the case you’re looking for a graphic, is just to test for non-ASCII characters in the first couple of dozen characters of the string (assuming the JSON is ASCII).
Example Python script returns a boolean if a string is valid json:
import json
def is_json(myjson):
try:
json.loads(myjson)
except ValueError as e:
return False
return True
Which prints:
print is_json("{}") #prints True
print is_json("{asdf}") #prints False
print is_json('{ "age":100}') #prints True
print is_json("{'age':100 }") #prints False
print is_json("{"age":100 }") #prints True
print is_json('{"age":100 }') #prints True
print is_json('{"foo":[5,6.8],"foo":"bar"}') #prints True
Convert a JSON string to a Python dictionary:
import json
mydict = json.loads('{"foo":"bar"}')
print(mydict['foo']) #prints bar
mylist = json.loads("[5,6,7]")
print(mylist)
[5, 6, 7]
Convert a python object to JSON string:
foo = {}
foo['gummy'] = 'bear'
print(json.dumps(foo)) #prints {"gummy": "bear"}
If you want access to low-level parsing, don’t roll your own, use an existing library: http://www.json.org/
Great tutorial on python JSON module: https://pymotw.com/2/json/
Is String JSON and show syntax errors and error messages:
sudo cpan JSON::XS
echo '{"foo":[5,6.8],"foo":"bar" bar}' > myjson.json
json_xs -t none < myjson.json
Prints:
, or } expected while parsing object/hash, at character offset 28 (before "bar}
at /usr/local/bin/json_xs line 183, <STDIN> line 1.
json_xs
is capable of syntax checking, parsing, prittifying, encoding, decoding and more:
I came up with an generic, interesting solution to this problem:
class SafeInvocator(object):
def __init__(self, module):
self._module = module
def _safe(self, func):
def inner(*args, **kwargs):
try:
return func(*args, **kwargs)
except:
return None
return inner
def __getattr__(self, item):
obj = getattr(self.module, item)
return self._safe(obj) if hasattr(obj, '__call__') else obj
and you can use it like so:
safe_json = SafeInvocator(json)
text = "{'foo':'bar'}"
item = safe_json.loads(text)
if item:
# do something
Much simple in try block. You can then validate if the body is a valid JSON
async def get_body(request: Request):
try:
body = await request.json()
except:
body = await request.body()
return body
An effective, and reliable way to check for valid JSON. If the ‘get’ accessor does’t throw an AttributeError
then the JSON is valid.
import json
valid_json = {'type': 'doc', 'version': 1, 'content': [{'type': 'paragraph', 'content': [{'text': 'Request for widget', 'type': 'text'}]}]}
invalid_json = 'opo'
def check_json(p, attr):
doc = json.loads(json.dumps(p))
try:
doc.get(attr) # we don't care if the value exists. Only that 'get()' is accessible
return True
except AttributeError:
return False
To use, we call the function and look for a key.
# Valid JSON
print(check_json(valid_json, 'type'))
Returns ‘True’
# Invalid JSON / Key not found
print(check_json(invalid_json, 'type'))
Returns ‘False’
In Python, is there a way to check if a string is valid JSON before trying to parse it?
For example working with things like the Facebook Graph API, sometimes it returns JSON, sometimes it could return an image file.
I would say parsing it is the only way you can really entirely tell. Exception will be raised by python’s json.loads()
function (almost certainly) if not the correct format. However, the the purposes of your example you can probably just check the first couple of non-whitespace characters…
I’m not familiar with the JSON that facebook sends back, but most JSON strings from web apps will start with a open square [
or curly {
bracket. No images formats I know of start with those characters.
Conversely if you know what image formats might show up, you can check the start of the string for their signatures to identify images, and assume you have JSON if it’s not an image.
Another simple hack to identify a graphic, rather than a text string, in the case you’re looking for a graphic, is just to test for non-ASCII characters in the first couple of dozen characters of the string (assuming the JSON is ASCII).
Example Python script returns a boolean if a string is valid json:
import json
def is_json(myjson):
try:
json.loads(myjson)
except ValueError as e:
return False
return True
Which prints:
print is_json("{}") #prints True
print is_json("{asdf}") #prints False
print is_json('{ "age":100}') #prints True
print is_json("{'age':100 }") #prints False
print is_json("{"age":100 }") #prints True
print is_json('{"age":100 }') #prints True
print is_json('{"foo":[5,6.8],"foo":"bar"}') #prints True
Convert a JSON string to a Python dictionary:
import json
mydict = json.loads('{"foo":"bar"}')
print(mydict['foo']) #prints bar
mylist = json.loads("[5,6,7]")
print(mylist)
[5, 6, 7]
Convert a python object to JSON string:
foo = {}
foo['gummy'] = 'bear'
print(json.dumps(foo)) #prints {"gummy": "bear"}
If you want access to low-level parsing, don’t roll your own, use an existing library: http://www.json.org/
Great tutorial on python JSON module: https://pymotw.com/2/json/
Is String JSON and show syntax errors and error messages:
sudo cpan JSON::XS
echo '{"foo":[5,6.8],"foo":"bar" bar}' > myjson.json
json_xs -t none < myjson.json
Prints:
, or } expected while parsing object/hash, at character offset 28 (before "bar}
at /usr/local/bin/json_xs line 183, <STDIN> line 1.
json_xs
is capable of syntax checking, parsing, prittifying, encoding, decoding and more:
I came up with an generic, interesting solution to this problem:
class SafeInvocator(object):
def __init__(self, module):
self._module = module
def _safe(self, func):
def inner(*args, **kwargs):
try:
return func(*args, **kwargs)
except:
return None
return inner
def __getattr__(self, item):
obj = getattr(self.module, item)
return self._safe(obj) if hasattr(obj, '__call__') else obj
and you can use it like so:
safe_json = SafeInvocator(json)
text = "{'foo':'bar'}"
item = safe_json.loads(text)
if item:
# do something
Much simple in try block. You can then validate if the body is a valid JSON
async def get_body(request: Request):
try:
body = await request.json()
except:
body = await request.body()
return body
An effective, and reliable way to check for valid JSON. If the ‘get’ accessor does’t throw an AttributeError
then the JSON is valid.
import json
valid_json = {'type': 'doc', 'version': 1, 'content': [{'type': 'paragraph', 'content': [{'text': 'Request for widget', 'type': 'text'}]}]}
invalid_json = 'opo'
def check_json(p, attr):
doc = json.loads(json.dumps(p))
try:
doc.get(attr) # we don't care if the value exists. Only that 'get()' is accessible
return True
except AttributeError:
return False
To use, we call the function and look for a key.
# Valid JSON
print(check_json(valid_json, 'type'))
Returns ‘True’
# Invalid JSON / Key not found
print(check_json(invalid_json, 'type'))
Returns ‘False’