Data in json format retrieved from a text file can not be read by key names

Question

I have a text file with json data stored in UTF-8 like this:

{'name': u'احسان', 'family': u'شیرزادی'}

I've tried to read and print file data with this code:

file = open("output.txt", "r")
text = file.read()
file.close()
print text

It's OK and exactly as I can see in the file. but when I try to print some part of dictionary by indexes like this:

file = open("output.txt", "r")
text = file.read()
file.close()
print text['name']

An error says that:

    print text['name']
TypeError: string indices must be integers, not str

But when I run this code directly I can see It's working:

temp = {'name': u'احسان', 'family': u'شیرزادی'}
print temp['name']

What's the problem here?

JSON requires double-quotes. Single-quotes are not legal. And the `u` outside of the string is certainly not legal. See www.json.org — Jonathan M, Aug 15 '14 at 18:25
The problem is that `text` is a string (read normally via `file.read`) and not a dictionary, so you can't just do `text['name']`. — hlt, Aug 15 '14 at 18:28
@JonathanM I don't think the problem is your point. I've updated the last part of question. — ehsan shirzadi, Aug 15 '14 at 18:29
@ehsanshirzadi, you're never converting the json string to an object. Use `json.load` after correcting the json. The way to notate an object in Python is different than the way to notate it in JSON. — Jonathan M, Aug 15 '14 at 18:30
@PadraicCunningham: Probably either by hand or by calling `str()` on the dictionary holding the data and pasting it in the file. — rubik, Aug 15 '14 at 18:44

rubik · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-15T18:36:57.260

The result of file.read() is a string. Python cannot know that you want JSON and magically convert it.

There's a module inside of the standard library that can transform strings containing JSON into Python objects:

import json

with open('output.txt', 'r') as fobj:
    data = json.load(fobj)

print data['name']

Also, you should make sure that your JSON data is formatted correctly. As others have mentioned before me, JSON strings need double quotes. Single quotes give a syntax error. And you can't have characters like u outside of quotes.

data = {'name': u'احسان', 'family': u'شیرزادی'}

with open('output2.txt', w) as fobj:
    json.dump(data, fobj)

In the file output2.txt you will have correctly formatted JSON. To retrieve the data back into Python, you can do the same thing as above with the correct filename.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '14 at 18:35

You have several problems. If the data really is stored like that, its not valid json and you will have to read it in as a string. And then you cant access it like a dictionary.

But if your data looks like this in the file (note there is no u in front of words, and double quotes are used):

{"name": "احسان", "family": "شیرزادی"}

then you can read it in as json and use it like a dictionary:

import json

with open("testing.txt") as file:
    data = json.loads(file.read())
    print data["name"]

Output will be:

احسان

Bandhit Suksiri · Answer 3 · 2014-08-15T18:53:36.667

Data should be in JSON format and output of file.read() is string not python dictionary, your have to converts it by json.loads. And I recommend json.dumps for storage your JSON (text) file.

import json
data  = {'name': u'احسان', 'family': u'شیرزادی'}

file = open("output.txt", "w")
file.write(json.dumps(data))
file.close()
print data

file = open("output.txt", "r")
text = json.loads(file.read())
file.close()
print text['name']

Data after dump in JSON should be have double quotes; like this;

{"name": "\u0627\u062d\u0633\u0627\u0646", "family": "\u0634\u06cc\u0631\u0632\u0627\u062f\u06cc"} # coding: utf-8

or

{"name": "احسان", "family": "شیرزادی"}

more information JSON python : https://docs.python.org/2/library/json.html

Regards,

score 0 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

0

Json string needs double quotes. Please check; http://json.org/example

Also you can take a look at this example which imports json library. Reading JSON from a file?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:33

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answered Aug 15 '14 at 18:29

AykutE

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Data in json format retrieved from a text file can not be read by key names

4 Answers4