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Internet Data Handling</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body"> <div class="section" id="module-json"> <h1>18.2. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">json</span></tt> — JSON encoder and decoder<a class="headerlink" href="#module-json" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p class="versionadded"> <span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.6.</span></p> <p>JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) <<a class="reference external" href="http://json.org">http://json.org</a>> is a subset of JavaScript syntax (ECMA-262 3rd edition) used as a lightweight data interchange format.</p> <p><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">json</span></tt> exposes an API familiar to users of the standard library <a title="Convert Python objects to streams of bytes and back (with different constraints)." class="reference external" href="marshal.html#module-marshal"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">marshal</span></tt></a> and <a title="Convert Python objects to streams of bytes and back." class="reference external" href="pickle.html#module-pickle"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">pickle</span></tt></a> modules.</p> <p>Encoding basic Python object hierarchies:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="s">'foo'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">{</span><span class="s">'bar'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'baz'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="bp">None</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mf">1.0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)}])</span> <span class="go">'["foo", {"bar": ["baz", null, 1.0, 2]}]'</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">"</span><span class="se">\"</span><span class="s">foo</span><span class="se">\b</span><span class="s">ar"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">"\"foo\bar"</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">u'</span><span class="se">\u1234</span><span class="s">'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">"\u1234"</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'</span><span class="se">\\</span><span class="s">'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">"\\"</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">({</span><span class="s">"c"</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">"b"</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">"a"</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">},</span> <span class="n">sort_keys</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="bp">True</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">{"a": 0, "b": 0, "c": 0}</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">StringIO</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">StringIO</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">io</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dump</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="s">'streaming API'</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="n">io</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">io</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">getvalue</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="go">'["streaming API"]'</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Compact encoding:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">([</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">3</span><span class="p">,{</span><span class="s">'4'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">'6'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">7</span><span class="p">}],</span> <span class="n">separators</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">','</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="s">':'</span><span class="p">))</span> <span class="go">'[1,2,3,{"4":5,"6":7}]'</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Pretty printing:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">print</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">({</span><span class="s">'4'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">'6'</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="mi">7</span><span class="p">},</span> <span class="n">sort_keys</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="bp">True</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">indent</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">{</span> <span class="go"> "4": 5,</span> <span class="go"> "6": 7</span> <span class="go">}</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Decoding JSON:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">loads</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'["foo", {"bar":["baz", null, 1.0, 2]}]'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">[u'foo', {u'bar': [u'baz', None, 1.0, 2]}]</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">loads</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'"</span><span class="se">\\</span><span class="s">"foo</span><span class="se">\\</span><span class="s">bar"'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">u'"foo\x08ar'</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">StringIO</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="n">StringIO</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">io</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">StringIO</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'["streaming API"]'</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">load</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">io</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">[u'streaming API']</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Specializing JSON object decoding:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">as_complex</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">dct</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="s">'__complex__'</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">dct</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">complex</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">dct</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'real'</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="n">dct</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="s">'imag'</span><span class="p">])</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">dct</span> <span class="gp">...</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">loads</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'{"__complex__": true, "real": 1, "imag": 2}'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="n">object_hook</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">as_complex</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">(1+2j)</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">decimal</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">loads</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s">'1.1'</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">parse_float</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">decimal</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Decimal</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">Decimal('1.1')</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Extending <a title="json.JSONEncoder" class="reference internal" href="#json.JSONEncoder"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">JSONEncoder</span></tt></a>:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">json</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="k">class</span> <span class="nc">ComplexEncoder</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">JSONEncoder</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">default</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">obj</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">if</span> <span class="nb">isinstance</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">obj</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="nb">complex</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="n">obj</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">real</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">obj</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">imag</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="gp">... </span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">json</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">JSONEncoder</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">default</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">obj</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="gp">...</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">dumps</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="n">j</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">cls</span><span class="o">=</span><span class="n">ComplexEncoder</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">'[2.0, 1.0]'</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">ComplexEncoder</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">encode</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="n">j</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="go">'[2.0, 1.0]'</span> <span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="nb">list</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">ComplexEncoder</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">iterencode</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">2</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="n">j</span><span class="p">))</span> <span class="go">['[', '2.0', ', ', '1.0', ']']</span> </pre></div> </div> <p>Using json.tool from the shell to validate and pretty-print:</p> <div class="highlight-none"><div class="highlight"><pre>$ echo '{"json":"obj"}' | python -mjson.tool { "json": "obj" } $ echo '{ 1.2:3.4}' | python -mjson.tool Expecting property name: line 1 column 2 (char 2) </pre></div> </div> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="first admonition-title">Note</p> <p class="last">The JSON produced by this module’s default settings is a subset of YAML, so it may be used as a serializer for that as well.</p> </div> <div class="section" id="basic-usage"> <h2>18.2.1. Basic Usage<a class="headerlink" href="#basic-usage" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <dl class="function"> <dt id="json.dump"> <tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">dump</tt><big>(</big><em>obj</em>, <em>fp</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>skipkeys</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>ensure_ascii</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>check_circular</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>allow_nan</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>cls</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>indent</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>separators</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>default</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**kw</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.dump" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Serialize <em>obj</em> as a JSON formatted stream to <em>fp</em> (a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.write()</span></tt>-supporting file-like object).</p> <p>If <em>skipkeys</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt> (default: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt>), then dict keys that are not of a basic type (<a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a>, <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a>, <a title="int" class="reference external" href="functions.html#int"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">int</span></tt></a>, <a title="long" class="reference external" href="functions.html#long"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">long</span></tt></a>, <a title="float" class="reference external" href="functions.html#float"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">float</span></tt></a>, <a title="bool" class="reference external" href="functions.html#bool"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">bool</span></tt></a>, <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>) will be skipped instead of raising a <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>.</p> <p>If <em>ensure_ascii</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt> (default: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>), then some chunks written to <em>fp</em> may be <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> instances, subject to normal Python <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> to <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> coercion rules. Unless <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">fp.write()</span></tt> explicitly understands <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> (as in <a title="codecs.getwriter" class="reference external" href="codecs.html#codecs.getwriter"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">codecs.getwriter()</span></tt></a>) this is likely to cause an error.</p> <p>If <em>check_circular</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt> (default: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>), then the circular reference check for container types will be skipped and a circular reference will result in an <a title="exceptions.OverflowError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.OverflowError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">OverflowError</span></tt></a> (or worse).</p> <p>If <em>allow_nan</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt> (default: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>), then it will be a <a title="exceptions.ValueError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></tt></a> to serialize out of range <a title="float" class="reference external" href="functions.html#float"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">float</span></tt></a> values (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">nan</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">inf</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-inf</span></tt>) in strict compliance of the JSON specification, instead of using the JavaScript equivalents (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">NaN</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Infinity</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-Infinity</span></tt>).</p> <p>If <em>indent</em> is a non-negative integer, then JSON array elements and object members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent level of 0 will only insert newlines. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> (the default) selects the most compact representation.</p> <p>If <em>separators</em> is an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(item_separator,</span> <span class="pre">dict_separator)</span></tt> tuple, then it will be used instead of the default <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(',</span> <span class="pre">',</span> <span class="pre">':</span> <span class="pre">')</span></tt> separators. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(',',</span> <span class="pre">':')</span></tt> is the most compact JSON representation.</p> <p><em>encoding</em> is the character encoding for str instances, default is UTF-8.</p> <p><em>default(obj)</em> is a function that should return a serializable version of <em>obj</em> or raise <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>. The default simply raises <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>.</p> <p>To use a custom <a title="json.JSONEncoder" class="reference internal" href="#json.JSONEncoder"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">JSONEncoder</span></tt></a> subclass (e.g. one that overrides the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">default()</span></tt> method to serialize additional types), specify it with the <em>cls</em> kwarg.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="json.dumps"> <tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">dumps</tt><big>(</big><em>obj</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>skipkeys</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>ensure_ascii</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>check_circular</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>allow_nan</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>cls</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>indent</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>separators</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>default</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**kw</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.dumps" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Serialize <em>obj</em> to a JSON formatted <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a>.</p> <p>If <em>ensure_ascii</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt>, then the return value will be a <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> instance. The other arguments have the same meaning as in <a title="json.dump" class="reference internal" href="#json.dump"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dump()</span></tt></a>.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="json.load"> <tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">load</tt><big>(</big><em>fp</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>cls</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>object_hook</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_float</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_int</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_constant</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**kw</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.load" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Deserialize <em>fp</em> (a <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">.read()</span></tt>-supporting file-like object containing a JSON document) to a Python object.</p> <p>If the contents of <em>fp</em> are encoded with an ASCII based encoding other than UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate <em>encoding</em> name must be specified. Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not allowed, and should be wrapped with <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">codecs.getreader(encoding)(fp)</span></tt>, or simply decoded to a <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> object and passed to <a title="json.loads" class="reference internal" href="#json.loads"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">loads()</span></tt></a>.</p> <p><em>object_hook</em> is an optional function that will be called with the result of any object literal decoded (a <a title="dict" class="reference external" href="stdtypes.html#dict"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dict</span></tt></a>). The return value of <em>object_hook</em> will be used instead of the <a title="dict" class="reference external" href="stdtypes.html#dict"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dict</span></tt></a>. This feature can be used to implement custom decoders (e.g. JSON-RPC class hinting).</p> <p><em>parse_float</em>, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON float to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">float(num_str)</span></tt>. This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats (e.g. <a title="decimal.Decimal" class="reference external" href="decimal.html#decimal.Decimal"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">decimal.Decimal</span></tt></a>).</p> <p><em>parse_int</em>, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">int(num_str)</span></tt>. This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers (e.g. <a title="float" class="reference external" href="functions.html#float"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">float</span></tt></a>).</p> <p><em>parse_constant</em>, if specified, will be called with one of the following strings: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'-Infinity'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'Infinity'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'NaN'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'null'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'true'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'false'</span></tt>. This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers are encountered.</p> <p>To use a custom <a title="json.JSONDecoder" class="reference internal" href="#json.JSONDecoder"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">JSONDecoder</span></tt></a> subclass, specify it with the <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">cls</span></tt> kwarg. Additional keyword arguments will be passed to the constructor of the class.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="json.loads"> <tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">loads</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>cls</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>object_hook</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_float</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_int</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_constant</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**kw</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.loads" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Deserialize <em>s</em> (a <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> or <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> instance containing a JSON document) to a Python object.</p> <p>If <em>s</em> is a <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> instance and is encoded with an ASCII based encoding other than UTF-8 (e.g. latin-1), then an appropriate <em>encoding</em> name must be specified. Encodings that are not ASCII based (such as UCS-2) are not allowed and should be decoded to <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> first.</p> <p>The other arguments have the same meaning as in <a title="json.dump" class="reference internal" href="#json.dump"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dump()</span></tt></a>.</p> </dd></dl> </div> <div class="section" id="encoders-and-decoders"> <h2>18.2.2. Encoders and decoders<a class="headerlink" href="#encoders-and-decoders" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2> <dl class="class"> <dt id="json.JSONDecoder"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">JSONDecoder</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>object_hook</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_float</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_int</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>parse_constant</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>strict</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONDecoder" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Simple JSON decoder.</p> <p>Performs the following translations in decoding by default:</p> <table border="1" class="docutils"> <colgroup> <col width="44%" /> <col width="56%" /> </colgroup> <thead valign="bottom"> <tr><th class="head">JSON</th> <th class="head">Python</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody valign="top"> <tr><td>object</td> <td>dict</td> </tr> <tr><td>array</td> <td>list</td> </tr> <tr><td>string</td> <td>unicode</td> </tr> <tr><td>number (int)</td> <td>int, long</td> </tr> <tr><td>number (real)</td> <td>float</td> </tr> <tr><td>true</td> <td>True</td> </tr> <tr><td>false</td> <td>False</td> </tr> <tr><td>null</td> <td>None</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>It also understands <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">NaN</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Infinity</span></tt>, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-Infinity</span></tt> as their corresponding <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">float</span></tt> values, which is outside the JSON spec.</p> <p><em>encoding</em> determines the encoding used to interpret any <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> objects decoded by this instance (UTF-8 by default). It has no effect when decoding <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> objects.</p> <p>Note that currently only encodings that are a superset of ASCII work, strings of other encodings should be passed in as <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a>.</p> <p><em>object_hook</em>, if specified, will be called with the result of every JSON object decoded and its return value will be used in place of the given <a title="dict" class="reference external" href="stdtypes.html#dict"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">dict</span></tt></a>. This can be used to provide custom deserializations (e.g. to support JSON-RPC class hinting).</p> <p><em>parse_float</em>, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON float to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">float(num_str)</span></tt>. This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON floats (e.g. <a title="decimal.Decimal" class="reference external" href="decimal.html#decimal.Decimal"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">decimal.Decimal</span></tt></a>).</p> <p><em>parse_int</em>, if specified, will be called with the string of every JSON int to be decoded. By default, this is equivalent to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">int(num_str)</span></tt>. This can be used to use another datatype or parser for JSON integers (e.g. <a title="float" class="reference external" href="functions.html#float"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">float</span></tt></a>).</p> <p><em>parse_constant</em>, if specified, will be called with one of the following strings: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'-Infinity'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'Infinity'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'NaN'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'null'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'true'</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'false'</span></tt>. This can be used to raise an exception if invalid JSON numbers are encountered.</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="json.JSONDecoder.decode"> <tt class="descname">decode</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONDecoder.decode" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd>Return the Python representation of <em>s</em> (a <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> or <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> instance containing a JSON document)</dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="json.JSONDecoder.raw_decode"> <tt class="descname">raw_decode</tt><big>(</big><em>s</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONDecoder.raw_decode" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Decode a JSON document from <em>s</em> (a <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> or <a title="unicode" class="reference external" href="functions.html#unicode"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">unicode</span></tt></a> beginning with a JSON document) and return a 2-tuple of the Python representation and the index in <em>s</em> where the document ended.</p> <p>This can be used to decode a JSON document from a string that may have extraneous data at the end.</p> </dd></dl> </dd></dl> <dl class="class"> <dt id="json.JSONEncoder"> <em class="property">class </em><tt class="descclassname">json.</tt><tt class="descname">JSONEncoder</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>skipkeys</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>ensure_ascii</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>check_circular</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>allow_nan</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>sort_keys</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>indent</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>separators</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>encoding</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>default</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONEncoder" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Extensible JSON encoder for Python data structures.</p> <p>Supports the following objects and types by default:</p> <table border="1" class="docutils"> <colgroup> <col width="56%" /> <col width="44%" /> </colgroup> <thead valign="bottom"> <tr><th class="head">Python</th> <th class="head">JSON</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody valign="top"> <tr><td>dict</td> <td>object</td> </tr> <tr><td>list, tuple</td> <td>array</td> </tr> <tr><td>str, unicode</td> <td>string</td> </tr> <tr><td>int, long, float</td> <td>number</td> </tr> <tr><td>True</td> <td>true</td> </tr> <tr><td>False</td> <td>false</td> </tr> <tr><td>None</td> <td>null</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>To extend this to recognize other objects, subclass and implement a <a title="json.JSONEncoder.default" class="reference internal" href="#json.JSONEncoder.default"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">default()</span></tt></a> method with another method that returns a serializable object for <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">o</span></tt> if possible, otherwise it should call the superclass implementation (to raise <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>).</p> <p>If <em>skipkeys</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt> (the default), then it is a <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a> to attempt encoding of keys that are not str, int, long, float or None. If <em>skipkeys</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt>, such items are simply skipped.</p> <p>If <em>ensure_ascii</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt> (the default), the output is guaranteed to be <a title="str" class="reference external" href="functions.html#str"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">str</span></tt></a> objects with all incoming unicode characters escaped. If <em>ensure_ascii</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">False</span></tt>, the output will be a unicode object.</p> <p>If <em>check_circular</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt> (the default), then lists, dicts, and custom encoded objects will be checked for circular references during encoding to prevent an infinite recursion (which would cause an <a title="exceptions.OverflowError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.OverflowError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">OverflowError</span></tt></a>). Otherwise, no such check takes place.</p> <p>If <em>allow_nan</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt> (the default), then <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">NaN</span></tt>, <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Infinity</span></tt>, and <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">-Infinity</span></tt> will be encoded as such. This behavior is not JSON specification compliant, but is consistent with most JavaScript based encoders and decoders. Otherwise, it will be a <a title="exceptions.ValueError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.ValueError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">ValueError</span></tt></a> to encode such floats.</p> <p>If <em>sort_keys</em> is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">True</span></tt> (the default), then the output of dictionaries will be sorted by key; this is useful for regression tests to ensure that JSON serializations can be compared on a day-to-day basis.</p> <p>If <em>indent</em> is a non-negative integer (it is <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> by default), then JSON array elements and object members will be pretty-printed with that indent level. An indent level of 0 will only insert newlines. <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> is the most compact representation.</p> <p>If specified, <em>separators</em> should be an <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(item_separator,</span> <span class="pre">key_separator)</span></tt> tuple. The default is <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(',</span> <span class="pre">',</span> <span class="pre">':</span> <span class="pre">')</span></tt>. To get the most compact JSON representation, you should specify <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">(',',</span> <span class="pre">':')</span></tt> to eliminate whitespace.</p> <p>If specified, <em>default</em> is a function that gets called for objects that can’t otherwise be serialized. It should return a JSON encodable version of the object or raise a <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>.</p> <p>If <em>encoding</em> is not <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt>, then all input strings will be transformed into unicode using that encoding prior to JSON-encoding. The default is UTF-8.</p> <dl class="method"> <dt id="json.JSONEncoder.default"> <tt class="descname">default</tt><big>(</big><em>o</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONEncoder.default" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Implement this method in a subclass such that it returns a serializable object for <em>o</em>, or calls the base implementation (to raise a <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a>).</p> <p>For example, to support arbitrary iterators, you could implement default like this:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">default</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">o</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="k">try</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">iterable</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="nb">iter</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">o</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">except</span> <span class="ne">TypeError</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">pass</span> <span class="k">else</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="nb">list</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">iterable</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">return</span> <span class="n">JSONEncoder</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">default</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">o</span><span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="json.JSONEncoder.encode"> <tt class="descname">encode</tt><big>(</big><em>o</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONEncoder.encode" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Return a JSON string representation of a Python data structure, <em>o</em>. For example:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="gp">>>> </span><span class="n">JSONEncoder</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">encode</span><span class="p">({</span><span class="s">"foo"</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="p">[</span><span class="s">"bar"</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s">"baz"</span><span class="p">]})</span> <span class="go">'{"foo": ["bar", "baz"]}'</span> </pre></div> </div> </dd></dl> <dl class="method"> <dt id="json.JSONEncoder.iterencode"> <tt class="descname">iterencode</tt><big>(</big><em>o</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#json.JSONEncoder.iterencode" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Encode the given object, <em>o</em>, and yield each string representation as available. For example:</p> <div class="highlight-python"><div class="highlight"><pre><span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">chunk</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">JSONEncoder</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">iterencode</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">bigobject</span><span class="p">):</span> <span class="n">mysocket</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">write</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">chunk</span><span class="p">)</span> </pre></div> </div> </dd></dl> </dd></dl> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h3><a href="../contents.html">Table Of Contents</a></h3> <ul> <li><a class="reference external" href="#">18.2. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">json</span></tt> — JSON encoder and decoder</a><ul> <li><a class="reference external" href="#basic-usage">18.2.1. 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