How to JSON dump multiple dictionaries without wrapping them in a list

Question

I'm trying to manipulate a JSON file and dump it back out.

Below is the JSON file - Note how there are two dictionaries wrapped together below...:

{"installed":
    {"client_id":"xxx",
    "project_id":"quickstart-1557411376659",
    "auth_uri":"xxx",
    "token_uri":"xxx",
    "auth_provider_x509_cert_url":"xxx",
    "client_secret":"xxx",
    "redirect_uris":["urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob","http://localhost"]
    }
}

I'm trying to use the following python code to read in the JSON file manipulate it, and write it back out.

with open('google_sheets_credentials.json', 'r+') as file:
    google_sheets_auth_dict = json.load(file)
    #Manipulate file contents here

with open('google_sheets_credentials.json', 'r+') as file:
    json.dump(google_sheets_auth_dict, file)

This code fails after a couple of runs because multiple dictionaries need to be wrapped in a list to be written out as JSON - like so:

The reasoning behind this requirement is explained here

with open('google_sheets_credentials.json', 'r+') as file:
    json.dump([google_sheets_auth_dict], file)

The problem is that I can't do that in this case because this JSON is ultimately being fed into google sheets' API where it does not expect the JSON to be wrapped in a list.

How might I read this file in, manipulate, and spit it back out in the format expected by google?

Why do you write multiple dicts to the same file in the first place? Why not use separate files? — MisterMiyagi, May 10 '19 at 04:55
Because it's a credentials file for google sheets' API. It expects to receive one file for authentication — Matt, May 10 '19 at 13:12
Can the google sheets' API handle multiple JSON objects in one file without wrapping? — MisterMiyagi, May 10 '19 at 13:24

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '19 at 04:46

This example case:

import json

example_json = '''{"installed":
    {"client_id":"xxx",
    "project_id":"quickstart-1557411376659",
    "auth_uri":"xxx",
    "token_uri":"xxx",
    "auth_provider_x509_cert_url":"xxx",
    "client_secret":"xxx",
    "redirect_uris":["urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob","http://localhost"]
    }
}'''

google_sheets_auth_dict = json.loads(example_json)

google_sheets_auth_dict['client_id'] = 'yyy'

print(json.dumps(google_sheets_auth_dict))

seems to work fine

I'm guessing that something is going wrong in the #Manipulate file contents here bit, which is not shown. Or, the example JSON does not look like the failure case.

How to JSON dump multiple dictionaries without wrapping them in a list

1 Answers1