Docs

How does JSON parser work?

A JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) parser is a program that reads a JSON-formatted text file and converts it into a more easily usable data structure, such as a dictionary or a list in Python or an object in JavaScript.

The parser works by tokenizing the input JSON text, breaking it up into individual elements such as keys, values, and punctuation. It then builds a data structure, such as a dictionary, a list, or an object, that corresponds to the structure of the input JSON.

For example, a JSON parser in Python will take the following file.json file and convert it into a Python dictionary:

{
    "name": "John Doe",
    "age": 32,
    "address": {
        "street": "123 Main St",
        "city": "Anytown",
        "state": "CA"
    },
}

import json

with open('file.json', 'r') as json_file:
    data = json.load(json_file)

print(data["address"]["street"])
# Output: 123 Main St

Likewise, a JavaScript-based JSON parser will convert the same JSON file into a JavaScript object instead.

Related JSON web scraping questions: