Python read multiline JSON
- by Paul W
I have been trying to use JSON to store settings for a program. I can't seem to get Python 2.6 's JSON Decoder to decode multi-line JSON strings...
Here is example input:
.settings file:
"""
{\
'user':'username',\
'password':'passwd',\
}\
"""
I have tried a couple other syntaxes for this file, which I will specify below (with the traceback they cause).
My python code for reading the file in is
import json
settings_text = open(".settings", "r").read()
settings = json.loads(settings_text)
The Traceback for this is:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "json_test.py", line 4, in <module>
print json.loads(text)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/__init__.py", line 307, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 322, in decode
raise ValueError(errmsg("Extra data", s, end, len(s)))
ValueError: Extra data: line 1 column 2 - line 7 column 1 (char 2 - 41)
I assume the "Extra data" is the triple-quote.
Here are the other syntaxes I have tried for the .settings file, with their respective Tracebacks:
"{\
'user':'username',\
'pass':'passwd'\
}"
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "json_test.py", line 4, in <module>
print json.loads(text)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/__init__.py", line 307, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 319, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 336, in raw_decode
obj, end = self._scanner.iterscan(s, **kw).next()
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/scanner.py", line 55, in iterscan
rval, next_pos = action(m, context)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 155, in JSONString
return scanstring(match.string, match.end(), encoding, strict)
ValueError: Invalid \escape: line 1 column 2 (char 2)
'{\
"user":"username",\
"pass":"passwd",\
}'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "json_test.py", line 4, in <module>
print json.loads(text)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/__init__.py", line 307, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 319, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/lib/python2.6/json/decoder.py", line 338, in raw_decode
raise ValueError("No JSON object could be decoded")
ValueError: No JSON object could be decoded
If I put the settings all on one line, it decodes fine.