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up vote 0 down vote favorite

I wrote my first Python script (note: I am new to Python) and I am trying to parse some JSON string in order to retrieve a value related to a particular JSON key but I am in trouble.

In my script.py file I have the following:

data = '{ "key1": "152", "key2": "da8fb07ace5512", "key3": "cfed379e13aebc" }'
data_decoded = json.load(data)
data["key1"]

When I run the above script with the command python script.py then I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/script.py", line 2, in <module>
    data_decoded = json.load(data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/json/__init__.py", line 274, in load
    return loads(fp.read(),
AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'read'

How can I solve the problem? I expect that the returned value is 152.

UPDATE (after commenting)

If I use loads() then I get:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/script.py", line 3, in <module>
    data["key1"]
TypeError: string indices must be integers, not str

I don't care if it is a string or a integer. I would like just to retrieve the value.

share|improve this question
    
Try using json.loads() instead of json.load() - parses a string instead of a file stream. – Dietrich Apr 12 '14 at 12:06
    
"I don't care if it is a string or a integer." - it's not a value that is a string or integer. You see the "indices" word in the error message? You are supposed to read and understand error messages, that's why they are here. They help you. – The Paramagnetic Croissant Apr 12 '14 at 12:20

3 Answers 3

up vote 0 down vote accepted

json.load expects a filename file-like object. You want to use json.loads which loads from a string.

See also: https://docs.python.org/2/library/json.html

Edit: Try data_decoded['152']. You're still trying to access data, the JSON string

share|improve this answer
    
json.load does not expect a filename. It takes a file object. – The Paramagnetic Croissant Apr 12 '14 at 12:07
    
I updated the question since I am still in trouble. – Backo Apr 12 '14 at 12:12
up vote 1 down vote

For strings, you have to use json.loads(), not json.load(), because load is for files and file-like objects.

share|improve this answer
    
I updated the question since I am still in trouble. – Backo Apr 12 '14 at 12:13
    
@Backo Now read your code carefully. What are you indexing? What should you be indexing instead? – The Paramagnetic Croissant Apr 12 '14 at 12:16
    
I don't understand your question. What do you mean exactly? – Backo Apr 12 '14 at 12:17
    
@Backo I mean you should read your code and think about what it is doing. data["key1"] doesn't make sense. data_decoded["key1"] does. Please show a bit of effort debugging your own code, especially since this is a trivial error. – The Paramagnetic Croissant Apr 12 '14 at 12:19
    
Ops!!! I was in fault! – Backo Apr 12 '14 at 12:22
up vote 0 down vote

You are already declaring your dictionary object, just take it out of quotation marks:

data = { "key1": "152", "key2": "da8fb07ace5512", "key3": "cfed379e13aebc" }

Because you already have a dictionary there is no need to do a json function, just simply reference the data:

data['key1']

However, if I am misunderstanding your question and you are passing in the data as a json, python will recognize it as a string and you need to use a json.loads function on the data:

Note that after you issue the data_decoded = json.loads(data), your dictionary object is no longer data, it is actually now data_decoded. Did you try:

data_decoded['key1']

???

Good luck!

share|improve this answer

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