Introduction to JSON in Python
It is a format for storing data. JSON is referred to as JavaScript Object Notation. It is a lightweight data frame as compared to XML or HTML format. It is simple to understand and looks the same as dictionaries in Python with some minor differences like (Boolean notation and Null notation). Nowadays JSON is a very common data format for storing data/ Fetching data from APIs and for configuration files. The JSON format is language independent and is adaptable in python as well. In the case of Python, it has a separate library called JavaScript Object Notation.
How JSON Works in Python?
As we know that Jason is basically a file format to store the data, now with the help of we can use existing JSON file or create a new python dataset and assign it in JSON format. The Syntax for each operation is discussed below.
1. Importing JSON Library in Python
Python uses the JavaScript Object Notation library. To Install the library the syntax is given below.
Syntax:
Pip install jsonlib ;
pip install demjson
Once you have a library in python, write the following command for importing it into code.
Import json;
2. Get or Load JSON Format Dataset
To load JSON format data the following syntax is used as given below.
Syntax:
My_json = json.load( Mason )
In parenthesis write the name of the file you want to load.
3. Perform Operations on It
Json format is like dictionaries of python with some minor differences. We can perform several operations that we can perform on python dictionaries like viewing datasets, using loops, changing values, aggregating different keys to create a new key, etc.
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4. Return JSON Format from Python
When we load the JSON file into python it is converted to python readable format and is being worked upon. Once the file is ready it is again converted to original Json format.
To do this we use the following Syntax as given below:
Syntax:
My_json_output = json.dump( Mjson )
In parenthesis write the name of the file you would like to dump.
How to Convert JSON to Python and Python to JSON?
This is the most important part of this article. To convert a JSON document into python we perform Deserialization or Decoding. To convert a python document into json string we perform Serialization or Encoding. To perform these two operations, we need a library called demjson.
Basically, what Serialization and Deserialization do is, it provides a translator which in return encodes and decodes the format. The below table shows the relation between python and json.
Here we can see there are some differences which we can identify clearly that are numbers in json are treated as int and float and null in json is treated as None in Python, an object in json are dictionaries in python and so on. We will see the conversion in detail in the example section.
Examples to Implement JSON in Python
Here are the examples to implement JavaScript Object Notation in python as follows:
1. Encoding / Serialization to JSON File
The task is to create one normal python dictionary and then encode the same into a json file. Here we will take None and false type from python and we will observe how the same has been changed in a json file.
Code:
Import json
#Creating a Dictionary Dataset in python
Mjson= { 'City' : ['Hyd' , 'Delhi' , 'Bombay' , 'Indore', None],
'Food' :['Biryani', 'Momos' , 'Vadapav' , 'Poha' , False]}
# Encoding to json file.
with open("Mjson.json", "w") as write_file:
json.dump(Mjson, write_file)
After executing this code check in the directory of python code, the Mjson.json file would have been created.
Output:
{“City”: [“Hyd”, “Delhi”, “Bombay”, “Indore”, null], “Food”: [“Biryani”, “Momos”, “Vadapav”, “Poha”, false]}
Observe None is changed to null and False is changed to false.
2. Decoding / Deserialization to Python
The Mjson file which we just now have created now we will decode the same to python again. We will observe the previous observation once again.
Code:
import json;
# Decoding json into python
Import json
with open("Mjson.json", "r") as read_file:
My_python = json.load(read_file)
My_python
The output of the above will be our python dictionary. Observe again the null is converted to None.
Output:
{‘City’: [‘Hyd’, ‘Delhi’, ‘Bombay’, ‘Indore’, None], ‘Food’: [‘Biryani’, ‘Momos’, ‘Vadapav’, ‘Poha’, False]}
3. Formatting of JSON String Using Python Encoder
While encoding json, we can use some specified format defined so as to maintain clarity & format of data. Here we will use separators, indent and sort keys. As we already have a json file with us, we will modify the existing one.
Code:
with open("Mjson.json", "w") as write_file:
json.dump(Mjson, write_file, indent= 4, sort_keys =True, separators = (" | " , " = " ) )
Output:
{
“City” = [
“Hyd” |
“Delhi” |
“Bombay” |
“Indore” |
null
] |
“Food” = [
“Biryani” |
“Momos” |
“Vadapav” |
“Poha” |
false
]
}
It’s purely the choice of coder how json format is required.
Advantages
Let see some of the advantages of Python JavaScript Object Notation in detail given below:
- JSON is a formation to transfer data from server to client and vice versa. HTML and XML provide static data, while most of the data we need is dynamic, in this case, JSON can help.
- When an Asynchronous request is sent to a server via browser or application. The Server receives the request and returns data (what format any format is fine, the client needs data only). Now if the format is Html format, it will give design as well as data, but the client already has design it needs only data.
- In the server, the data will be in the form of objects with properties, so it makes data as complex data type objects. Now for this, we have JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).JavaScript Object Notation makes it easy to process complex data with multiple classes and objects.
- It is of utmost need to use json type in DS and ML research, python provides solutions for the same. Server Serialise the objects and the client de-serialize the object and read it.
Conclusion
Json is a format and is generally produced from different java-scripts and APIs which are on JS. With the help of python, one can communicate with json files. In python Deserialization or decoding is used to convert a json object into a python dictionary and Serialization or encoding is used for converting python doc into a json object. This article covers both and also which format the programmer wants can choose it.
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