Is there a quick way to convert a JavaScript object to valid JSON in the text editor?

Question

I have a big old config object. Something like:

var object = {
  item1: 'value1',
  item2: 1000,
  item3: ['a', 'b', 'c'],
  item4: [1, 2, 3],
  item5: {
    foo: 'bar'
  }
};

... and so on. I want to rewrite it as valid JSON so it can travel through the intertubes, but I don't want to go through every line in my file manually adding double quotes all over the place. Of course, I don't mind manually wrapping the whole thing in brackets and changing the initial assignment to be the first property, but beyond that I was hoping there's some resource that will do the grunt work.

Anyway, please help me out if know of a TextMate command, regex trick, online converter, friendly robot, or anything else that will make this less tedious.

`JSON.stringify(object)` to get the string. Then, ajax the string to your server and use your favorite server language to store the string inside a text file. — Šime Vidas, Apr 27 '11 at 21:17
Possible duplicate of [Convert JS object to JSON string](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4162749/convert-js-object-to-json-string) — mhatch, Jul 06 '16 at 14:32

Phrogz · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-16T15:26:21.880

Launch Firefox/Chrome/Safari
Open Firebug/developer tools
Copy/paste your code into the console.

Then type console.log(JSON.stringify(object)) and voila!

{"item1":"value1","item2":1000,"item3":["a","b","c"],
 "item4":[1,2,3],"item5":{"foo":"bar"}}

Copy/paste back into your text editor.

For more control over the formatting, I have a free online webpage:

http://phrogz.net/JS/NeatJSON

that lets you paste JSON or JS values in one box and see JSON at the bottom, with lots of knobs and sliders to adjust how it looks. For example, the JS value ["foo","bar",{dogs:42,piggies:0,cats:7},{jimmy:[1,2,3,4,5],jammy:3.14159265358979,hot:"pajammy"}] can be formatted like any of the following (and more):

[
    "foo",                            <- adjustable indentation
    "bar",
    {"dogs":42,"piggies":0,"cats":7}, <- small objects on one line!
    {
        "jimmy":[1,2,3,4,5],          <- small arrays on one line!
        "jammy":3.142,                <- decimal precision!
        "hot":"pajammy"
    }
]

[
  "foo",
  "bar",
  { "cats":7, "dogs":42, "piggies":0 }, <- spaces inside braces!
  {
    "hot":"pajammy",                    <- sort object keys!
    "jammy":3.14159265358979,
    "jimmy":[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]           <- spaces after commas!
  }
]

[ "foo",                           <- 'short' format puts first value
  "bar",                           <- on same line as opening bracket...
  { "dogs"    : 42,
    "piggies" : 0,                 
    "cats"    : 7 },               <- ...and close bracket with last value!
  { "jimmy" : [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ],
    "jammy" : 3.14159265358979,    <- spaces around colons!
    "hot"   : "pajammy" } ]        <- align object values!

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

6

Why wouldn't you just....

...send the result of JSON.stringify(). You don't need to type in the JSON, you need to generate it at runtime if I am not mistaken, so...

var mything = { .... } ; 
var jsonRep = JSON.stringify(mything);

See also, Serializing an object to JSON

edited May 23 '17 at 12:17

Community

1
1

answered Apr 27 '11 at 21:19

Cheeso

189,189
101
473
713

faboulaws · Answer 3 · 2019-02-15T17:38:02.450

3

Another JS to JSON online conversion tool with syntax highlighting.

edited Feb 15 '19 at 17:38

answered Feb 09 '19 at 07:16

faboulaws

1,909
16
16

1

Thanks. I really appreciate your feedback since this site is mine. – faboulaws Mar 23 '19 at 07:41

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 27 '11 at 21:18

You can use Google Chrome's console (or Firebug, probably):

> object
  Object
    item1: "value1"
    item2: 1000
    item3: Array[3]
    item4: Array[3]
    item5: Object
    __proto__: Object
> JSON.stringify(object);
"{"item1":"value1","item2":1000,"item3":["a","b","c"],"item4":[1,2,3],"item5":{"foo":"bar"}}"

If you want a bit of further documentation, check out Using native JSON on the MDC.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered May 04 '18 at 00:52

0

I made a tool for this: bit.ly/js2json. It takes JavaScript and outputs JSON.

answered May 04 '18 at 00:52

dominik

5,745
6
34
45

Is there a quick way to convert a JavaScript object to valid JSON in the text editor?

5 Answers5

http://phrogz.net/JS/NeatJSON