5 Best Ways to Format JSON in Python

💡 Problem Formulation: When working with JSON data in Python, developers often need to format JSON for readability or for meeting specific data exchange protocols. For example, you might have a Python dictionary that you want to convert into a JSON string with nicely indented elements for better legibility or for logging purposes. In this article, we explore five methods to achieve well-formatted JSON strings from Python data structures.

Method 1: Using the json.dumps() Method

Python’s built-in json module’s dumps() function is a straightforward method to serialize a Python object into a JSON formatted string. The function comes with various parameters like indent, separators, and sort_keys to control the formatting.

Here’s an example:

import json

data = {'name': 'John', 'age': 30, 'city': 'New York'}
formatted_json = json.dumps(data, indent=4, sort_keys=True)

print(formatted_json)

Output:

{
    "age": 30,
    "city": "New York",
    "name": "John"
}

This code snippet uses json.dumps() to convert the dictionary to a JSON string. It is formatted with a 4-space indentation and the keys are sorted alphabetically.

Method 2: Pretty-Printing with json.dump() Function

The json.dump() function is similar to json.dumps() but writes the JSON data to a file-like object. It’s useful for directly saving formatted JSON to a file.

Here’s an example:

import json

data = {'name': 'Jane', 'age': 25, 'city': 'London'}
with open('data.json', 'w') as outfile:
    json.dump(data, outfile, indent=4)

This code snippet opens a file named ‘data.json’ and uses the json.dump() function to write the formatted JSON. The output will be saved in ‘data.json’ with 4-space indentation.

Method 3: Formatting JSON using pprint Module

The pprint module provides a capability for pretty-printing Python data structures, which includes support for JSON-styled formatting.

Here’s an example:

import json
from pprint import pprint

data = {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 35, 'city': 'Paris'}
json_string = json.dumps(data)
pprint(json_string)

This code snippet first converts the dictionary to a JSON string and then uses the pprint module to print it in a formatted way. Note that pprint may not always format the JSON string with standard JSON indentations.

Method 4: Using pandas for JSON Formatting

For those working with large datasets or in data science, pandas provides powerful tools for formatting JSON. The to_json() method can be used to easily export a DataFrame in various JSON orientations.

Here’s an example:

import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({'name': ['Bob', 'Linda'], 'age': [40, 38]})
formatted_json = df.to_json(orient='records', lines=True, indent=2)
print(formatted_json)

Output:

{
  "name": "Bob",
  "age": 40
}
{
  "name": "Linda",
  "age": 38
}

This code snippet converts a pandas DataFrame into a JSON formatted string, organizing it by records with each record on a new line and a 2-space indentation.

Bonus One-Liner Method 5: Using List Comprehensions for Inline JSON Formatting

For simple inline formatting tasks, Python’s list comprehensions can be combined with the json.dumps() function for a compact approach.

Here’s an example:

import json

data = [{'name': 'Tina', 'age': 28}]
formatted_json = '[\n' + ',\n'.join(json.dumps(record, indent=4) for record in data) + '\n]'
print(formatted_json)

Output:

[
    {
        "name": "Tina",
        "age": 28
    }
]

This code combines a list comprehension with json.dumps() to format each item in a list and then joins them, preserving the array structure.

Summary/Discussion

• Method 1: json.dumps(). Straightforward and part of the standard library. Good control over formatting. May not be the best for writing to files.
• Method 2: json.dump(). Best for writing formatted JSON directly to a file. Has the same formatting options as dumps().
• Method 3: pprint Module. Useful for debugging. May not always provide valid JSON-specific formatting.
• Method 4: pandas to_json(). Powerful for handling complex and large data. Requires an external library and may be overkill for simple tasks.
• Method 5: One-Liner with List Comprehensions. Suitable for inline formatting of lists. Not as readable as other methods.