JSON.parse string with quotes

Question

I have this:

JSON.parse('{"130.00000001":{"p_cod":"130.00000001","value":"130.00000001 HDD Upgrade to 2x 250GB HDD 2.5\" SATA2 7200rpm"}}');

JSONLint says it's perfectly valid json. But on execution I have a JSON.parse error.

But, if I change my code to:

    JSON.parse('{"130.00000001":{"p_cod":"130.00000001","value":"130.00000001 HDD Upgrade to 2x 250GB HDD 2.5\\" SATA2 7200rpm"}}');

(note the double backslash)

It works, but now JSONLint says invalid json.

Can someone help to understand this behavior?

Where is that input string coming from? is it generated by a JSON encoder? — paullb, Jun 18 '10 at 02:41
@paullb I was not clear, it comes from a JSON.stringify of an JS object — mjsilva, Jun 18 '10 at 02:51
What happens if you use another library like http://www.openjs.com/scripts/data/json_encode.php ? — paullb, Jun 18 '10 at 03:10
Why are you calling `JSON.parse` on a string literal instead of just including the JSON text as a normal object literal? — Matthew Crumley, Jun 18 '10 at 04:20

score 20 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 18 '10 at 02:41

20

It's a difference between the wire format, and what you have to write in your code to get the wire format. When you declare this in code you need the double-\ in your literal so the string gets a single backslash (otherwise it will interpret \" as an escape sequence for just declaring a " and put that in your string). If you print out the value of the literal you will see a single backslash.

answered Jun 18 '10 at 02:41

Dean Povey

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Tks Dean, I think I got to first escape the javascript and then the JSON. So assuming this is coming from PHP how can I "double" escaping it: I've tried this: str_replace('\"','\\"', $json) but it's not working. – mjsilva Jun 18 '10 at 02:54
11

Got it: str_replace('\\"','\\\\"', $json) Today I learn that there is also a escaping hell :) – mjsilva Jun 18 '10 at 02:58

JSON.parse string with quotes

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