JSON.parse unexpected character error

Question

I get this error:

JSON.parse: unexpected character

when I run this statement in firebug:

JSON.parse({"balance":0,"count":0,"time":1323973673061,"firstname":"howard","userId":5383,"localid":1,"freeExpiration":0,"status":false});

Why is it so? The JSON string seems correct to me and I also tested it using JSHint. The passed object in the above case is a server response with content type set to application/json

score 227 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 15 '11 at 18:37

227

You're not parsing a string, you're parsing an already-parsed object :)

var obj1 = JSON.parse('{"creditBalance":0,...,"starStatus":false}');
//                    ^                                          ^
//                    if you want to parse, the input should be a string 

var obj2 = {"creditBalance":0,...,"starStatus":false};
// or just use it directly.

answered Dec 15 '11 at 18:37

kennytm

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I want to upvote for the first sentence, but why would you re-parse? – Evan Davis Dec 15 '11 at 18:39
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@MarcelKorpel, Mathletics: Right. Updated. – kennytm Dec 15 '11 at 18:42
@Mathletics By all accounts JSON.parse does some security check. N.T. – B.F. Apr 15 '14 at 09:33
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That's hilarious. Love it. <3 – Darth Egregious May 21 '15 at 13:19
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I am getting undefined on data.results (data is a JSON object). Stack is telling me to make it a js object by data = JSON.parse(data). But I am getting JSON.parse unexpected character error. – KasparTr Feb 09 '16 at 16:08

score 40 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 19 '18 at 08:45

40

You can make sure that the object in question is stringified before passing it to parse function by simply using JSON.stringify() .

Updated your line below,

JSON.parse(JSON.stringify({"balance":0,"count":0,"time":1323973673061,"firstname":"howard","userId":5383,"localid":1,"freeExpiration":0,"status":false}));

or if you have JSON stored in some variable:

JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(yourJSONobject));

edited Feb 19 '18 at 08:45

June7

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answered Feb 19 '15 at 10:30

ScrapCode

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JSON.stringify is the boss. – Kenmeister Oct 31 '16 at 05:55
Thanks a lot, saves a lot of time. – Ananta Raha Apr 30 '22 at 17:50

Lee · Answer 3 · 2020-01-15T10:24:56.420

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Not true for the OP, but this error can be caused by using single quotation marks (') instead of double (") for strings.

The JSON spec requires double quotation marks for strings.

E.g:

JSON.parse(`{"myparam": 'myString'}`)

gives the error, whereas

JSON.parse(`{"myparam": "myString"}`)

does not. Note the quotation marks around myString.

Related: https://stackoverflow.com/a/14355724/1461850

edited Jan 15 '20 at 10:24

answered Jan 15 '20 at 10:17

Lee

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JSON.parse unexpected character error

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