python JSON array newlines

Question

I have a large dictionary that has some large array data in it:

d = {'something': {'else': 'x'}, 'longnumbers': [1,2,3,4,54,6,67,7,7,8,8,8,6,4,3,3,5,6,7,4,3,5,6,54]}

The real dictionary has many more keys and a nested structure. When I use json.dump without indent, I get a compact, single-line output which is not readable. When I set indent, it puts newlines after every separator, including the arrays.

The numerical arrays are long and end up like this:

  "longnumbers": [
    1, 
    2, 
    3, 
    4, 
    54, 
    6, 
    67, 
    7, 
    7, 
    8, 
    8, 
    8, 
    6, 
    4, 
    3, 
    3, 
    5, 
    6, 
    7, 
    4, 
    3, 
    5, 
    6, 
    54
  ], 

Is there any way to get pretty-printed JSON with an indent level, but without placing newlines after array elements? For the example above, I'd like something like this:

{
  "longnumbers": [1, 2, 3, 4, 54, 6, 67, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 6, 4, 3, 3, 5, 6, 7, 4, 3, 5, 6, 54],
  "something": {
    "else": "x"
  }
}

Answer 1

I ended up just writing my own JSON serializer:

import numpy

INDENT = 3
SPACE = " "
NEWLINE = "\n"

def to_json(o, level=0):
    ret = ""
    if isinstance(o, dict):
        ret += "{" + NEWLINE
        comma = ""
        for k,v in o.iteritems():
            ret += comma
            comma = ",\n"
            ret += SPACE * INDENT * (level+1)
            ret += '"' + str(k) + '":' + SPACE
            ret += to_json(v, level + 1)

        ret += NEWLINE + SPACE * INDENT * level + "}"
    elif isinstance(o, basestring):
        ret += '"' + o + '"'
    elif isinstance(o, list):
        ret += "[" + ",".join([to_json(e, level+1) for e in o]) + "]"
    elif isinstance(o, bool):
        ret += "true" if o else "false"
    elif isinstance(o, int):
        ret += str(o)
    elif isinstance(o, float):
        ret += '%.7g' % o
    elif isinstance(o, numpy.ndarray) and numpy.issubdtype(o.dtype, numpy.integer):
        ret += "[" + ','.join(map(str, o.flatten().tolist())) + "]"
    elif isinstance(o, numpy.ndarray) and numpy.issubdtype(o.dtype, numpy.inexact):
        ret += "[" + ','.join(map(lambda x: '%.7g' % x, o.flatten().tolist())) + "]"
    elif o is None:
        ret += 'null'
    else:
        raise TypeError("Unknown type '%s' for json serialization" % str(type(o)))
    return ret