Loading a file with more than one line of JSON into Pandas

Question

I am trying to read in a JSON file into Python pandas (0.14.0) data frame. Here is the first line line of the JSON file:

{"votes": {"funny": 0, "useful": 0, "cool": 0}, "user_id": "P_Mk0ygOilLJo4_WEvabAA", "review_id": "OeT5kgUOe3vcN7H6ImVmZQ", "stars": 3, "date": "2005-08-26", "text": "This is a pretty typical cafe.  The sandwiches and wraps are good but a little overpriced and the food items are the same.  The chicken caesar salad wrap is my favorite here but everything else is pretty much par for the course.", "type": "review", "business_id": "Jp9svt7sRT4zwdbzQ8KQmw"}

I am trying do the following:df = pd.read_json(path).

I am getting the following error (with full traceback):

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/Users/d/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pandas/io/json.py", line 198, in read_json
    date_unit).parse()
  File "/Users/d/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pandas/io/json.py", line 266, in parse
    self._parse_no_numpy()
  File "/Users/d/anaconda/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pandas/io/json.py", line 483, in _parse_no_numpy
    loads(json, precise_float=self.precise_float), dtype=None)
ValueError: Trailing data

What is the Trailing data error? How do I read it into a data frame?

Following some suggestions, here are few lines of the .json file:

{"votes": {"funny": 0, "useful": 0, "cool": 0}, "user_id": "P_Mk0ygOilLJo4_WEvabAA", "review_id": "OeT5kgUOe3vcN7H6ImVmZQ", "stars": 3, "date": "2005-08-26", "text": "This is a pretty typical cafe.  The sandwiches and wraps are good but a little overpriced and the food items are the same.  The chicken caesar salad wrap is my favorite here but everything else is pretty much par for the course.", "type": "review", "business_id": "Jp9svt7sRT4zwdbzQ8KQmw"}
{"votes": {"funny": 0, "useful": 0, "cool": 0}, "user_id": "TNJRTBrl0yjtpAACr1Bthg", "review_id": "qq3zF2dDUh3EjMDuKBqhEA", "stars": 3, "date": "2005-11-23", "text": "I agree with other reviewers - this is a pretty typical financial district cafe.  However, they have fantastic pies.  I ordered three pies for an office event (apple, pumpkin cheesecake, and pecan) - all were delicious, particularly the cheesecake.  The sucker weighed in about 4 pounds - no joke.\n\nNo surprises on the cafe side - great pies and cakes from the catering business.", "type": "review", "business_id": "Jp9svt7sRT4zwdbzQ8KQmw"}
{"votes": {"funny": 0, "useful": 0, "cool": 0}, "user_id": "H_mngeK3DmjlOu595zZMsA", "review_id": "i3eQTINJXe3WUmyIpvhE9w", "stars": 3, "date": "2005-11-23", "text": "Decent enough food, but very overpriced. Just a large soup is almost $5. Their specials are $6.50, and with an overpriced soda or juice, it's approaching $10. A bit much for a cafe lunch!", "type": "review", "business_id": "Jp9svt7sRT4zwdbzQ8KQmw"}

This .json file I am using contains one JSON object in each line as per the specification.

I tried the jsonlint.com website as suggested and it gives the following error:

Parse error on line 14:
...t7sRT4zwdbzQ8KQmw"}{    "votes": {
----------------------^
Expecting 'EOF', '}', ',', ']'

Answer 1

From version 0.19.0 of Pandas you can use the lines parameter, like so:

import pandas as pd

data = pd.read_json('/path/to/file.json', lines=True)

Answer 2

You have to read it line by line. For example, you can use the following code provided by ryptophan on reddit:

import pandas as pd

# read the entire file into a python array
with open('your.json', 'rb') as f:
    data = f.readlines()

# remove the trailing "\n" from each line
data = map(lambda x: x.rstrip(), data)

# each element of 'data' is an individual JSON object.
# i want to convert it into an *array* of JSON objects
# which, in and of itself, is one large JSON object
# basically... add square brackets to the beginning
# and end, and have all the individual business JSON objects
# separated by a comma
data_json_str = "[" + ','.join(data) + "]"

# now, load it into pandas
data_df = pd.read_json(data_json_str)

Answer 3

The following code helped me to load JSON content into a dataframe:

import json
import pandas as pd

with open('Appointment.json', encoding="utf8") as f:
    data = f.readlines()
    data = [json.loads(line) for line in data] #convert string to dict format
df = pd.read_json(data) # Load into dataframe

Answer 4

I've also faced same problem. It happens when your data is written in lines separated by endlines like '\n'; You need to first read them in lines, then convert each line to python built-in types. I solved it in this way:

with open("/path/to/file") as f:
    content = f.readlines()

data = [eval(c) for c in content]
data = pd.DataFrame(data)

Good luck!

Answer 5

I had a similar problem.

It turns out that pd.read_json(myfile.json) will search in the parent folder automatically, but it returns this 'trailing data' error if you're not in the same folder as the file.

I figured it out, because when I tried to do it with open('myfile.json', 'r'), and I got a FileNotFound error, so I checked the paths.

I had failed to move myfile.json into the same folder as my notebook.

Changing it to pd.read_json('../myfile.json') just worked.