Python Json loads() returning string instead of dictionary?

Question

I'm trying to do some simple JSON parsing using Python 3's built in JSON module, and from reading a bunch of other questions on SO and googling, it seems this is supposed to be pretty straightforward. However, I think I'm getting a string returned instead of the expected dictionary.

Firstly, here is the JSON I am trying to get values from. It's just some output from Twitter's API

[{'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}] 

I assigned this String to a variable named json_string like so:

json_string = json.dumps(output) jason = json.loads(json_string) 

Then, when I try to get a specific key from the "jason" dictionary:

print(jason['hashtags']) 

I'm getting an error:

TypeError: string indices must be integers 

I want to be able to convert the json output to a dictionary, then use jason[key_name] call to get values using specified keys. Is there something obvious that I'm missing here?

This is my fist time working with Python, after coming from Java. I absolutely love the language and think it's very powerful. So, any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

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.