How to read a JSON file in Python
• 1 minYou will at some point encounter JSON data.
It is the most widely used format for communication and transmission.
There are two ways to read a JSON file that I use most of the time.
It really depends on the structure of the file.
Reading JSON with the JSON library
When I encounter a JSON file that looks like this and is a straight dictionary, I use the JSON library like so
{
"firstname" : "Brice",
"lastname" : "Doe",
"age" : 20,
"has_siblings" : True,
"favorite_quote" : """
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.
It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Albert Einstein
"""
}and
import json # We import the JSON library
with open("path/to/file.json", "r") as file:
data = json.load(file) # we load the file to the data variable
print(data) # We check the data we have is alright
Reading JSON with pandas library
You might encounter other JSON-like formats, like a JSON file containing a list of records. This is often the case when dealing with APIs.
Such file would look like this :
[
{"firstname":"George","lastname":"Dubois"},
{"firstname":"Aman","lastname":"Van Hein"},
{"firstname":"Dennis","lastname":"Washington"},
{"firstname":"John","lastname":"Doe"},
{"firstname":"Foe","lastname":"Less"}
]Then I would read it like so
import pandas as pd # we import the pandas library to read it as dataframe
df = pd.read_json("path/to/file_2.json") # We read the file as dataframe
print(df) # We print the dataframe objectHere you are! You are now an expert at reading JSON files.
This can also be applied when you deal with APIs data !
