Load json file in python

Question

I am trying to load a json file in python. My json file looks like this:

{'awesomeness': 2.5, 'party': 'Republican', 'Age': 50, 'State': 'California', 'Ideology': 0.5,  
'time': {'day': 20, 'mon': 2, 'sec': 3}, 'overall': 9.5, 'review': 'Best Senator ever\tPretty balanced 
view.\tNot sure if he can get reelected'}
{'awesomeness': 0.5, 'party': 'Republican', 'Age': 70, 'State': 'New York', 'Ideology': 0.8,  
'time': {'day': 25, 'mon': 8, 'sec': 31}, 'overall': 5.5, 'review': 'NA'}

This is my code.

with open("senator.json") as json_file:
  data = json.load(json_file)

But I got following error,

File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
File "<string>", line 2, in <module>
File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/__init__.py", line 290, in load
**kw)
 File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/__init__.py", line 338, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
 File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/decoder.py", line 365, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
 File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/json/decoder.py", line 381, in raw_decode
obj, end = self.scan_once(s, idx)
 ValueError: Expecting property name: line 1 column 2 (char 1)

Why do I get this error and how can I load this file? Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Your JSON is illegal, as the other folks already pointed out. This is why the Python JSON parser if falling flat out. Your JSON should look like this:

[
  {
    "awesomeness": 2.5,
    "party": "Republican",
    "Age": 50,
    "State": "California",
    "Ideology": 0.5,
    "time": {
        "day": 20,
        "mon": 2,
        "sec": 3
    },
    "overall": 9.5,
    "review": "Best Senator ever \t Pretty balanced view. \t Not sure if he can get reelected"
  },
  {
    "awesomeness": 0.5,
    "party": "Republican",
    "Age": 70,
    "State": "NewYork",
    "Ideology": 0.8,
    "time": {
        "day": 25,
        "mon": 8,
        "sec": 31
    },
    "overall": 5.5,
    "review": "NA"
  }
]

Notice the double quotes for strings instead of single quotes (which are illegal to denote a string inside JSON) and wrapping your two objects {...} in square brackets so they are inside of an array.

The latter is needed because JSON is hierarchical. Your posted JSON code simply has two objects side-by-side without any outer structure. In that case, if you thus leave the square brackets off (no array), then the JSON parser will suddenly encounter a comma , after your first object when it in fact expected an EOF.

Now if you try to run your code again:

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

You should be able to read out the file without any errors.

Answer 2

JSON strings are delimited by double quotes, not single. Your input isn't true JSON.