I'm analysing the way a server of a search page works (by inspecting element) and I could conclude that the request is sent with a POST with JSON as parameters.
Then I simulated the same POST (with the same parameters) using Insomnia. It was successful, but the response JSON came as string and inside the JSON, variables that uses quotes now uses \" instead.
An example of the JSON response:
"{\"AudienceRefiner\":{\"ItemCount\":0}}"
How can I read this on Python?
It is just an escape character, Consider using the ast library in order to parse it into an object.
literal_eval:
Safely evaluate an expression node or a Unicode or Latin-1 encoded
string containing a Python literal or container display.
import ast
st = "{\"AudienceRefiner\":{\"ItemCount\":0}}"
obj = ast.literal_eval(st)
print (obj)
>>> {'AudienceRefiner': {'ItemCount': 0}}
For more information about it, read ast.literal_eval
I am not sure where you got "{\"AudienceRefiner\":{\"ItemCount\":0}}" I guess that its not is python but webbrowser. Anyhow just use json if the json is in a string object
import json
di = json.loads("{\"AudienceRefiner\":{\"ItemCount\":0}}")
I get formatted json string with all \ before " and \n for newlines.How to convert this string to regularly javascript dictionary ?
I thought to replace all \n with '' and \" with " but it is kinda bruteforce solution. Is there moreelegant way ?
It sounds like you're receiving JSON encoded data. To convert the raw data into an object, use the JSON.parse function:
var test = "{\"foo\":\"bar\"}";
var data = JSON.parse(test);
console.log(data);
I am not sure I understand what you mean by 'JavaScript dictionary' exactly but in my experience the easiest way to convert a JSON string to any kind of usable JavaScript object is to use JSON.parse, see Parse JSON in JavaScript? for some good information on this.
Also in future a small sample of what you are trying to do, your source data etc. would be helpful!
It's a escaped string, you should unescape it and using eval will return the object represented by the json string. A JSON string is simply a javascript serialized object, so you may eval'd with javascript and will return the "map" or object that represents.
Newlines are valid in json so you don't require to remove them.
var o = eval("o = {name:\"test\"}");
alert(o.name);
You're probably thinking of a dictionary implementation as you'd find in other languages such as Objective C or C# - JavaScript does not have a dictionary implementation. So is your question how to parse JSON so you can get some values into key value pairs? If so then it sounds like JSON.parse is going to work for you.
If your question is about how to implement something like a dictionary in JavaScript, with data populated from JSON - then you'll want to parse the JSON and set up some simple JavaScript objects to act like a dictionary:
var dictionary = {"key1":"hello", "key2":"hello2", "key3":"hello3"};
console.log(dictionary["key3"]); // gives the value "hello3"
I want to parse the following string (using Javascript):
color(alias(sumSeries(sys.mem.free.*),"memory (free)"),"#00AA88")
into an array of function names and arguments:
[["color", "#00AA88"],
["alias", "memory (free)"],
["sumSeries", ""]]
plus extract the innermost string
sys.mem.free.*
The string is actually the target parameter from graphite.
I don't want to write a parser myself (dealing with things like double quotes and brackets is hard to get right).
Is there a library which helps with basic parsing?
Since it's not JSON I cannot go for a JSON parser.
I've carefully read the JSON description http://json.org/ but I'm not sure I know the answer to the simple question. What strings are the minimum possible valid JSON?
"string" is the string valid JSON?
42 is the simple number valid JSON?
true is the boolean value a valid JSON?
{} is the empty object a valid JSON?
[] is the empty array a valid JSON?
At the time of writing, JSON was solely described in RFC4627. It describes (at the start of "2") a JSON text as being a serialized object or array.
This means that only {} and [] are valid, complete JSON strings in parsers and stringifiers which adhere to that standard.
However, the introduction of ECMA-404 changes that, and the updated advice can be read here. I've also written a blog post on the issue.
To confuse the matter further however, the JSON object (e.g. JSON.parse() and JSON.stringify()) available in web browsers is standardised in ES5, and that clearly defines the acceptable JSON texts like so:
The JSON interchange format used in this specification is exactly that described by RFC 4627 with two exceptions:
The top level JSONText production of the ECMAScript JSON grammar may consist of any JSONValue rather than being restricted to being a JSONObject or a JSONArray as specified by RFC 4627.
snipped
This would mean that all JSON values (including strings, nulls and numbers) are accepted by the JSON object, even though the JSON object technically adheres to RFC 4627.
Note that you could therefore stringify a number in a conformant browser via JSON.stringify(5), which would be rejected by another parser that adheres to RFC4627, but which doesn't have the specific exception listed above. Ruby, for example, would seem to be one such example which only accepts objects and arrays as the root. PHP, on the other hand, specifically adds the exception that "it will also encode and decode scalar types and NULL".
There are at least four documents which can be considered JSON standards on the Internet. The RFCs referenced all describe the mime type application/json. Here is what each has to say about the top-level values, and whether anything other than an object or array is allowed at the top:
RFC-4627: No.
A JSON text is a sequence of tokens. The set of tokens includes six
structural characters, strings, numbers, and three literal names.
A JSON text is a serialized object or array.
JSON-text = object / array
Note that RFC-4627 was marked "informational" as opposed to "proposed standard", and that it is obsoleted by RFC-7159, which in turn is obsoleted by RFC-8259.
RFC-8259: Yes.
A JSON text is a sequence of tokens. The set of tokens includes six
structural characters, strings, numbers, and three literal names.
A JSON text is a serialized value. Note that certain previous
specifications of JSON constrained a JSON text to be an object or an
array. Implementations that generate only objects or arrays where a
JSON text is called for will be interoperable in the sense that all
implementations will accept these as conforming JSON texts.
JSON-text = ws value ws
RFC-8259 is dated December 2017 and is marked "INTERNET STANDARD".
ECMA-262: Yes.
The JSON Syntactic Grammar defines a valid JSON text in terms of tokens defined by the JSON lexical
grammar. The goal symbol of the grammar is JSONText.
Syntax
JSONText :
JSONValue
JSONValue :
JSONNullLiteral
JSONBooleanLiteral
JSONObject
JSONArray
JSONString
JSONNumber
ECMA-404: Yes.
A JSON text is a sequence of tokens formed from Unicode code points that conforms to the JSON value
grammar. The set of tokens includes six structural tokens, strings, numbers, and three literal name tokens.
According to the old definition in RFC 4627 (which was obsoleted in March 2014 by RFC 7159), those were all valid "JSON values", but only the last two would constitute a complete "JSON text":
A JSON text is a serialized object or array.
Depending on the parser used, the lone "JSON values" might be accepted anyway. For example (sticking to the "JSON value" vs "JSON text" terminology):
the JSON.parse() function now standardised in modern browsers accepts any "JSON value"
the PHP function json_decode was introduced in version 5.2.0 only accepting a whole "JSON text", but was amended to accept any "JSON value" in version 5.2.1
Python's json.loads accepts any "JSON value" according to examples on this manual page
the validator at http://jsonlint.com expects a full "JSON text"
the Ruby JSON module will only accept a full "JSON text" (at least according to the comments on this manual page)
The distinction is a bit like the distinction between an "XML document" and an "XML fragment", although technically <foo /> is a well-formed XML document (it would be better written as <?xml version="1.0" ?><foo />, but as pointed out in comments, the <?xml declaration is technically optional).
JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. Only {} and [] define a Javascript object. The other examples are value literals. There are object types in Javascript for working with those values, but the expression "string" is a source code representation of a literal value and not an object.
Keep in mind that JSON is not Javascript. It is a notation that represents data. It has a very simple and limited structure. JSON data is structured using {},:[] characters. You can only use literal values inside that structure.
It is perfectly valid for a server to respond with either an object description or a literal value. All JSON parsers should be handle to handle just a literal value, but only one value. JSON can only represent a single object at a time. So for a server to return more than one value it would have to structure it as an object or an array.
The ecma specification might be useful for reference:
http://www.ecma-international.org/ecma-262/5.1/
The parse function parses a JSON text (a JSON-formatted String) and produces an ECMAScript value. The
JSON format is a restricted form of ECMAScript literal. JSON objects are realized as ECMAScript objects.
JSON arrays are realized as ECMAScript arrays. JSON strings, numbers, booleans, and null are realized as
ECMAScript Strings, Numbers, Booleans, and null. JSON uses a more limited set of white space characters
than WhiteSpace and allows Unicode code points U+2028 and U+2029 to directly appear in JSONString literals
without using an escape sequence. The process of parsing is similar to 11.1.4 and 11.1.5 as constrained by
the JSON grammar.
JSON.parse("string"); // SyntaxError: Unexpected token s
JSON.parse(43); // 43
JSON.parse("43"); // 43
JSON.parse(true); // true
JSON.parse("true"); // true
JSON.parse(false);
JSON.parse("false");
JSON.parse("trueee"); // SyntaxError: Unexpected token e
JSON.parse("{}"); // {}
JSON.parse("[]"); // []
Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. All of them are valid JSON value literals.
However, the official RFC 4627 states:
A JSON text is a serialized object or array.
So a whole "file" should consist of an object or array as the outermost structure, which of course can be empty. Yet, many JSON parsers accept primitive values as well for input.
Just follow the railroad diagrams given on the json.org page. [] and {} are the minimum possible valid JSON objects. So the answer is [] and {}.
var x;
console.log(JSON.stringify(x)); // will output "{}"
So your answer is "{}" which denotes an empty object.
In my web application, why do JSON.stringify serialize my Activity's Trackpoints array as a string? Notice in the JSON representation on top that the trackpoints array is enclosed in quotes, rendering it as a string. The javascript object representation in the bottom shows clearly that trackpoints is an array.
When this serialized activity is passed as JSON in a POST to my Sinatra back-end, Ruby parses its trackpoints as a string instead of an array of Trackpoint objects. The end result is a 500 server error, which is not what I expect.
Precision for people unable to see the included image: "The trackpoints array is a property of a complex object. JSON.stringify encloses it in quotes while doing its job. When Ruby parses the whole serialized object, it interprets my array as a string instead of an array. That's why I want to avoid those quotes."