json.loads() in Python

JSON is a lightweight data format used for storing and exchanging data across systems. Python provides a built-in module called json to work with JSON data easily. The json.loads() method of JSON module is used to parse a valid JSON string and convert it into a Python dictionary. For example:

import json

s = '{"language": "Python", "version": 3.11}'

p = json.loads(s)

print(p)

{'language': 'Python', 'version': 3.11}

Explanation:

• The data variable contains a JSON-formatted string.
• json.loads(s) parses the string and returns a Python dictionary.
• Now we can access values like p['language'] or p['version'].

In this article, we'll learn about the json.loads() method, how it works and practical examples to parse JSON strings into Python objects:

Syntax

json.loads(s)

Parameters:

• s: A valid JSON string (can be of type str, bytes, or bytearray)

Return Type: An Python object (typically a dict, but can also be a list, int, float, str, etc., based on the JSON structure)

Examples of json.loads() method

Example 1: Basic JSON Parsing

Let’s assume, we have a JSON string containing personal information. The below code demonstrates how to convert it to a Python dictionary.

import json

x = """{
    "Name": "Prajjwal Vish",
    "Contact Number": 1111111111,
    "Email": "prajjwal@gmail.com",
    "Hobbies": ["Reading", "Sketching", "Playing Chess"]
}"""

y = json.loads(x)

print(y)

{'Name': 'Prajjwal Vish', 'Contact Number': 1111111111, 'Email': 'prajjwal@gmail.com', 'Hobbies': ['Reading', 'Sketching', 'Playing Chess']}

Explanation:

• The multi-line string x contains valid JSON.
• json.loads(x) converts it into a Python dictionary.

Example 2: Iterating Over Parsed Data

Once parsed, we can loop through the dictionary just like any other Python dict:

import json

e = '{"id": "09", "name": "Nitin", "department": "Finance"}'

e_dict = json.loads(e)

for key in e_dict:
    print(key, ":", e_dict[key])

id : 09
name : Nitin
department : Finance

Explanation:

• The JSON string employee is converted to a Python dictionary.
• We then loop through each key and print its corresponding value.

Related Article:

• json.load() in Python
• Difference Between json.load() and json.loads()