Parsing JSON nested Dictionary using Python

Question

I have the following nested Dictionary in JSON. If I want to get "id", "self", "name", how should I parse it using a Python Program.

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "12345",
      "links": {
        "self": "https://www.google.com"
      },
      "name": "beast",
      "type": "Device"
    }
  ],
  "links": {
    "self": "https://www.google.com"
  },
  "paging": {
    "count": 1,
    "limit": 1,
    "offset": 0,
    "pages": 1
  }
}

Answer 1

To understand how your json is set up, it's easier to break it down. Let's look at the first dictionary's keys, and remove the values.

json = {"items": [], "links": {}}

You have a dictionary with two keys and two values. All three of the variables you are looking for (id, self, name) are in the first key, "items". So let's dive deeper.

json["items"] = [{'links': {'self': 'https://www.google.com'}, 'name': 'beast', 'type': 'Device', 'id': '12345'}]

Now you have a list containing a dictionary with the values you are looking for, so let's enter the first and only value of the list containing the next dictionary.

json["items"][0] = {'links': {'self': 'https://www.google.com'}, 'id': '12345', 'type': 'Device', 'name': 'beast'}

Finally we have the dictionary with the values are looking for, so you can use this code to find name and id.

json["items"][0]["name"] = beast

json["items"][0]["id"] = 12345

The self variable is hidden one dictionary deeper so we have to delve into the links key.

json["items"][0]["links"]["self"] = http://google.com

Now you have all of your values, you just need to follow through all the lists and dictionaries to get the value you want.