json.loads python - Brave Search

Reading JSON from a file [duplicate]

stackoverflow.com › questions › 20199126 › reading-json-from-a-file

The json.load() method (without "s" in "load") can read a file directly:

import json

with open('strings.json') as f:
    d = json.load(f)
    print(d)

You were using the json.loads() method, which is used for string arguments only.

The error you get with json.loads is a totally different problem. In that case, there is some invalid JSON content in that file. For that, I would recommend running the file through a JSON validator.

There are also solutions for fixing JSON like for example How do I automatically fix an invalid JSON string?.

Answer from ubomb on Stack Overflow

docs.python.org › 3 › library › json.html

json — JSON encoder and decoder

As a result of this, if a dictionary is converted into JSON and then back into a dictionary, the dictionary may not equal the original one. That is, loads(dumps(x)) != x if x has non-string keys.

geeksforgeeks.org › python › json-loads-in-python

json.loads() in Python - GeeksforGeeks

json.loads() is a function from Python’s built-in json module that converts a JSON-formatted string into a corresponding Python object.

Published: January 13, 2026

Videos

Python JSON Module Tutorial: load, loads, dump, dumps & ...

December 22, 2025

How to Use json dumps and loads methods to write and read data ...

February 17, 2024

How to use JSON in Python - Part 1 | json.dumps() | json.loads() ...

December 15, 2023

How to Work with JSON Data in Python | Parse, Read & Write JSON ...

The Python JSON library .load() and .loads() Methods and Possible ...

[Practice Problems] JSON in Python - Visually Explained - YouTube

stackoverflow.com › questions › 20199126 › reading-json-from-a-file

python - Reading JSON from a file - Stack Overflow

The json.load() method (without "s" in "load") can read a file directly:

import json

with open('strings.json') as f:
    d = json.load(f)
    print(d)

You were using the json.loads() method, which is used for string arguments only.

The error you get with json.loads is a totally different problem. In that case, there is some invalid JSON content in that file. For that, I would recommend running the file through a JSON validator.

There are also solutions for fixing JSON like for example How do I automatically fix an invalid JSON string?.

Here is a copy of code which works fine for me,

import json

with open("test.json") as json_file:
    json_data = json.load(json_file)
    print(json_data)

with the data

{
    "a": [1,3,"asdf",true],
    "b": {
        "Hello": "world"
    }
}

You may want to wrap your json.load line with a try catch, because invalid JSON will cause a stacktrace error message.

python - how to read json file with json.load

Read json file from python

Read local JSON file with Python

Reading and Writing JSON through Python

Getting data from a json file in Python 3.4.4

More results from stackoverflow.com

coddy.tech › learn › courses › python json › json.loads()

json.loads() – Python JSON | Coddy

September 11, 2024 - The function takes a JSON-formatted string as input and returns a corresponding Python object. ... import json json_string = '{"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}' parsed_data = json.loads(json_string) print(type(parsed_data)) # Output: ...

Imperial College London

python.pages.doc.ic.ac.uk › java › lessons › java › 10-files › 03-load.html

Python for Java Programmers > Loading JSON files | Department of Computing | Imperial College London

To load your object directly from a JSON string rather than a file, use json.loads(string) (loads is short for ‘load string’).

w3schools.com › python › python_json.asp

Python has a built-in package called json, which can be used to work with JSON data. ... If you have a JSON string, you can parse it by using the json.loads() method.

Find elsewhere

Google Bing Mojeek

stackoverflow.com › questions › 39719689 › what-is-the-difference-between-json-load-and-json-loads-functions

What is the difference between json.load() and ...

Yes, s stands for string. The json.loads function does not take the file path, but the file contents as a string. Look at the documentation.

Simple example:

with open("file.json") as f:
  data = json.load(f)  # ok

  data = json.loads(f)  # not ok, f is not a string but a file

text = '{"a": 1, "b": 2}'  # a string with json encoded data
data = json.loads(text)

Just going to add a simple example to what everyone has explained,

json.load()

json.load can deserialize a file itself i.e. it accepts a file object, for example,

# open a json file for reading and print content using json.load
with open("/xyz/json_data.json", "r") as content:
  print(json.load(content))

will output,

{u'event': {u'id': u'5206c7e2-da67-42da-9341-6ea403c632c7', u'name': u'Sufiyan Ghori'}}

If I use json.loads to open a file instead,

# you cannot use json.loads on file object
with open("json_data.json", "r") as content:
  print(json.loads(content))

I would get this error:

TypeError: expected string or buffer

json.loads()

json.loads() deserialize string.

So in order to use json.loads I will have to pass the content of the file using read() function, for example,

using content.read() with json.loads() return content of the file,

with open("json_data.json", "r") as content:
  print(json.loads(content.read()))

Output,

{u'event': {u'id': u'5206c7e2-da67-42da-9341-6ea403c632c7', u'name': u'Sufiyan Ghori'}}

That's because type of content.read() is string, i.e. <type 'str'>

If I use json.load() with content.read(), I will get error,

with open("json_data.json", "r") as content:
  print(json.load(content.read()))

Gives,

AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'read'

So, now you know json.load deserialze file and json.loads deserialize a string.

Another example,

sys.stdin return file object, so if i do print(json.load(sys.stdin)), I will get actual json data,

cat json_data.json | ./test.py

{u'event': {u'id': u'5206c7e2-da67-42da-9341-6ea403c632c7', u'name': u'Sufiyan Ghori'}}

If I want to use json.loads(), I would do print(json.loads(sys.stdin.read())) instead.

medium.com › @gadallah.hatem › the-difference-between-json-loads-and-json-load-2dbd30065f26

The difference between json.loads() and json. ...

December 15, 2024 - Feature json.loads() json.load() Input JSON string (in memory). File object or stream (on disk or in memory). Output Python object (dict, list, etc.). Python object (dict, list, etc.). Use Case Parsing JSON strings (e.g., API responses). Parsing JSON files or streams.

oneuptime.com › home › blog › how to read and write json files in python

How to Read and Write JSON Files in Python

January 25, 2026 - Python's built-in json module makes it straightforward to parse JSON from files and strings, as well as serialize Python objects back to JSON. The simplest way to read a JSON file is with json.load():

geeksforgeeks.org › python › json-load-in-python

json.load() in Python - GeeksforGeeks

April 3, 2026 - json.load() is a function from Python's built-in json module.

reddit.com › r/learnpython › json load() vs loads()

r/learnpython on Reddit: JSON load() vs loads()

October 8, 2015 -

Can someone explain what the difference is between using either load() or loads() is with the JSON library? And which, if either, is the preferred method.

I'm writing a simple script where I want the JSON data from a URL parsed out into a list. Both of these options seem to work:

import json
import urllib2

url = "string to url"

response = urllib2.urlopen(url)
data = json.load(response)

or

import json
import urllib2

url = "string to url"

response = urllib2.urlopen(url)
data = json.loads(response.read())

I know that there are other libraries available for parsing out JSON data, but for the time being I'm working only with the json and urllib2 libraries.

Any insight into which one should be used?

Thanks

load() loads JSON from a file or file-like object

loads() loads JSON from a given string or unicode object

It's in the documentation

The "s" is an abbreviation for "string". "dump__s__" is read as "dump string". "load__s__" = "load string". Otherwise these methods want a file-like object. This convention is scattered throughout python and even 3rd-party packages.

datacamp.com › tutorial › json-data-python

Python JSON Data: A Guide With Examples | DataCamp

December 3, 2024 - This function is used to parse a JSON string into a Python object. The loads() function takes a single argument, the JSON string, and returns a Python object.

tedboy.github.io › python_stdlib › generated › generated › json.loads.html

json.loads() — Python Standard Library

json.loads(s, encoding=None, cls=None, object_hook=None, parse_float=None, parse_int=None, parse_constant=None, object_pairs_hook=None, **kw)[source]¶ · Deserialize s (a str or unicode instance containing a JSON document) to a Python object.

simplejson.readthedocs.io

simplejson — JSON encoder and decoder — simplejson 3.19.1 documentation

It does not stop at the end of the first valid JSON document it finds and it will raise an error if there is anything other than whitespace after the document. Except for files containing only one JSON document, it is recommended to use loads(). ... In Python 2, str is considered to be bytes and this is the default behavior of all file objects.

python.readthedocs.io › fr › latest › library › json.html

19.2. json — JSON encoder and decoder — documentation Python 3.7.0a0

When a dictionary is converted into JSON, all the keys of the dictionary are coerced to strings. As a result of this, if a dictionary is converted into JSON and then back into a dictionary, the dictionary may not equal the original one. That is, loads(dumps(x)) != x if x has non-string keys.

freecodecamp.org › news › how-to-use-the-json-module-in-python

How to Use the JSON Module in Python – A Beginner's Guide

June 5, 2023 - The json.load() function accepts a file object as an argument and returns deserialized JSON data in the form of Python objects such as dictionaries, lists, strings, numbers, booleans, and null values.

medium.com › @hemrajsaini1998 › python-advance-json-in-python-dump-dumps-load-and-loads-41ab0e7576fc

Python Advance: (JSON in Python) dump, dumps, load, and loads | by Hemraj Saini | Medium

July 27, 2025 - If you want to read a JSON file and convert it to a Python object, use json.load().

medium.com › snowflake › json-methods-load-vs-loads-and-dump-vs-dumps-21434a520b17

JSON Methods: load vs loads() and dump vs dumps() | by Sachin Mittal | Snowflake Builders Blog: Data Engineers, App Developers, AI, & Data Science | Medium

May 2, 2022 - Json.loads(): to convert JSON string to a dictionary. Sometimes we receive JSON response in string format. So to use it in our application, we need to convert JSON string into a Python dictionary.

networkacademy.io › learning path: ccna automation (200-901) ccnaauto › data formats and data models › parsing json with python

Parsing JSON with Python | NetworkAcademy.IO

Let's see what the loaded data looks like in Python: Note that the JSON object is loaded as dictionary in Python.

stackoverflow.com › questions › 25613565 › python-json-loads-returning-string-instead-of-dictionary

Python Json loads() returning string instead of dictionary? - Stack Overflow

I did json.loads(json.loads(string)) and was able to get the dictionary. You can check it out. The first time it doesn't just return the same string, but processes it (e.g. removes \\ characters).

Ok first you should print your object so that you can read it:

>>> from pprint import pprint
>>> output = [{'in_reply_to_status_id_str': None, 'in_reply_to_screen_name': None, 'retweeted':     False, 'in_reply_to_status_id': None, 'contributors': None, 'favorite_count': 0, 'in_reply_to_user_id': None, 'coordinates': None, 'source': '<a href="http://twitter.com" rel="nofollow">Twitter Web Client</a>', 'geo': None, 'retweet_count': 0, 'text': 'Tweeting a url \nhttp://t.co/QDVYv6bV90', 'created_at': 'Mon Sep 01 19:36:25 +0000 2014', 'entities': {'symbols': [], 'user_mentions': [], 'urls': [{'expanded_url': 'http://www.isthereanappthat.com', 'display_url': 'isthereanappthat.com', 'url': 'http://t.co/QDVYv6bV90', 'indices': [16, 38]}], 'hashtags': []}, 'id_str': '506526005943865344', 'in_reply_to_user_id_str': None, 'truncated': False, 'favorited': False, 'lang': 'en', 'possibly_sensitive': False, 'id': 506526005943865344, 'user': {'profile_text_color': '333333', 'time_zone': None, 'entities': {'description': {'urls': []}}, 'url': None, 'profile_background_image_url': 'http://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme1/bg.png', 'profile_background_image_url_https': 'https://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme1/bg.png', 'protected': False, 'default_profile_image': True, 'utc_offset': None, 'default_profile': True, 'screen_name': 'KickzWatch', 'follow_request_sent': False, 'following': False, 'profile_background_color': 'C0DEED', 'notifications': False, 'description': '', 'profile_sidebar_border_color': 'C0DEED', 'geo_enabled': False, 'verified': False, 'friends_count': 40, 'created_at': 'Mon Sep 01 16:29:18 +0000 2014', 'is_translator': False, 'profile_sidebar_fill_color': 'DDEEF6', 'statuses_count': 4, 'location': '', 'id_str': '2784389341', 'followers_count': 4, 'favourites_count': 0, 'contributors_enabled': False, 'is_translation_enabled': False, 'lang': 'en', 'profile_image_url': 'http://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_6_normal.png', 'profile_image_url_https': 'https://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_6_normal.png', 'id': 2784389341, 'profile_use_background_image': True, 'listed_count': 0, 'profile_background_tile': False, 'name': 'Maktub Destiny', 'profile_link_color': '0084B4'}, 'place': None}]
>>> pprint(output)
[{'contributors': None,
  'coordinates': None,
  'created_at': 'Mon Sep 01 19:36:25 +0000 2014',
  'entities': {'hashtags': [],
               'symbols': [],
               'urls': [{'display_url': 'isthereanappthat.com',
                         'expanded_url': 'http://www.isthereanappthat.com',
                         'indices': [16, 38],
                         'url': 'http://t.co/QDVYv6bV90'}],
               'user_mentions': []},
  'favorite_count': 0,
  'favorited': False,
  'geo': None,
  'id': 506526005943865344,
  'id_str': '506526005943865344',
  'in_reply_to_screen_name': None,
  'in_reply_to_status_id': None,
  'in_reply_to_status_id_str': None,
  'in_reply_to_user_id': None,
  'in_reply_to_user_id_str': None,
  'lang': 'en',
  'place': None,
  'possibly_sensitive': False,
  'retweet_count': 0,
  'retweeted': False,
  'source': '<a href="http://twitter.com" rel="nofollow">Twitter Web Client</a>',
  'text': 'Tweeting a url \nhttp://t.co/QDVYv6bV90',
  'truncated': False,
  'user': {'contributors_enabled': False,
           'created_at': 'Mon Sep 01 16:29:18 +0000 2014',
           'default_profile': True,
           'default_profile_image': True,
           'description': '',
           'entities': {'description': {'urls': []}},
           'favourites_count': 0,
           'follow_request_sent': False,
           'followers_count': 4,
           'following': False,
           'friends_count': 40,
           'geo_enabled': False,
           'id': 2784389341,
           'id_str': '2784389341',
           'is_translation_enabled': False,
           'is_translator': False,
           'lang': 'en',
           'listed_count': 0,
           'location': '',
           'name': 'Maktub Destiny',
           'notifications': False,
           'profile_background_color': 'C0DEED',
           'profile_background_image_url': 'http://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme1/bg.png',
           'profile_background_image_url_https': 'https://abs.twimg.com/images/themes/theme1/bg.png',
           'profile_background_tile': False,
           'profile_image_url': 'http://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_6_normal.png',
           'profile_image_url_https': 'https://abs.twimg.com/sticky/default_profile_images/default_profile_6_normal.png',
           'profile_link_color': '0084B4',
           'profile_sidebar_border_color': 'C0DEED',
           'profile_sidebar_fill_color': 'DDEEF6',
           'profile_text_color': '333333',
           'profile_use_background_image': True,
           'protected': False,
           'screen_name': 'KickzWatch',
           'statuses_count': 4,
           'time_zone': None,
           'url': None,
           'utc_offset': None,
           'verified': False}}]

From looking at this you can see that output is a list which contains a single dict. To access this you need:

>>> first_elem = output[0]

You will also see that the hashtags key in the first_elem is contained in a second level dict under the key entities:

>>> entities = first_elem['entities']
>>> pprint(entities)
{'hashtags': [],
 'symbols': [],
 'urls': [{'display_url': 'isthereanappthat.com',
           'expanded_url': 'http://www.isthereanappthat.com',
           'indices': [16, 38],
           'url': 'http://t.co/QDVYv6bV90'}],
 'user_mentions': []}

Now you are able to access hashtags:

>>> entities['hashtags']
[]

Which just happens to be the empty list.

To convert to JSON, note the comment:

>>> import json
>>> # Make sure output is the list object not a string representing the object
>>> json_string = json.dumps(output)
>>> jason = json.loads(output)
>>> jason[0]['entities']['hashtags']
[]

I think your problem is that you made output a string before you json.dumps it, meaning that json.loads will return a string, not a json object.

And @Dan's answer is correct, this is not valid JSON. It is however a valid python dict, and I'm assuming that you got it from Twitter using python then printed it.