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Storing Data in Python Using the JSON Module

Certain programs might require different types of data to be accepted by the user. Whatever the aim of the program is, you'll need data structures like lists and dictionaries to store them. You will always want to save the data that users enter before they close your program. The simplest way to do this is to use the JSON module to store your data.  In this tutorial, we'll look at how to store data in Python using the JSON module. We shall also learn how to use the json.dump() and json.dumps() methods, json.load() and json.loads() methods, and their differences. Finally, we shall look at how to serialize and deserialize JSON to Object in Python.

Prerequisites

Have some basic knowledge of Python programming language.

Why store data in Python using the JSON module?

Enables developers to dump simple data structures into a file and load them when needed
Data can be shared between Python programs using JSON
The JSON format is platform or language-independent. When you store data in JSON format, you can use them easily in other programming languages too
It's simple to learn and comes in a portable format

Using json.dump()

To use json.dump() function import the json module first. To import json module, use import json. The json.dump() helps writing data into a JSON file.

Syntax:

json.dump(data, file)

The json.dump() function takes in two arguments:

Data that needs to be written to a JSON file.
A file object that can be used to save the data

Let's develop a quick program to save a set of numbers in a JSON file. To save the set of numbers, we will use the json.dump() function:

import json

numbers = [10, 20, 30, 70, 191, 23]  #create a set of numbers
filename = 'numbers.json'          #use the file extension .json
with open(filename, 'w') as file_object:  #open the file in write mode
 json.dump(numbers, file_object)   # json.dump() function to stores the set of numbers in numbers.json file

In this program, we store the set of numbers in numbers.json. The extension .json shows that the file contains data in JSON format.

We then access the file in 'w' mode (write mode), to make enable data to be written into a JSON file. Finally, the json.dump() function stores the set of numbers in the file numbers.json file.

This program has no terminal output, but when we open the file numbers.json we see the following data:

[10, 20, 30, 70, 191, 23]

Using json.dumps()

The json.dumps() can be used for converting a Python object into a JSON string.

Syntax:

json.dumps(data)

The json.dumps() function takes one parameter, which is the data to be converted into JSON string.

Let's have a look at the example below:

import json
data = {
    'Name' : 'Felix',
    'Occupation' : 'Doctor'
}
dict_1 = json.dumps(data) # converting dictionary to JSON
print(dict_1)   # {'Name' : 'Felix','Occupation' : 'Doctor'}

Difference between json.dumps() and json.dump()

The dump() method takes two parameters (data and file), while the dumps() method takes only one parameter (data)
The dump() method is combined with file operations, unlike the dumps() method.

Using json.load()

We use the json.load function to read a JSON file.

The json.load() function takes one argument which is the file object.

Syntax:

json.load(file_object)

Suppose, we have a JSON file named student.json, which contains JSON objects.

{
    "name": "Felix",   
    "Subjects": ["English", "Political Science"]  
}

Let's write a code to read the data stored in student.json file using the json.load function.

import json  
  
with open(r,'student.json') as file_object:  
  data = json.load(file_object)  
print(data)   # {"name": "Felix", "Subjects": ["English", "Political Science"]}

The json.load() function parses the JSON file and returns a dictionary named data.

Using json.loads()

We use the json.loads() method to parse a JSON string and return a Python object such as a dictionary. The json.loads() method takes the file contents as a string.

Syntax:

json.loads(json_string)

Example:

import json
  
# JSON string:
dict_1 = {
    "Name": "Felix Maina",
    "Contact Number": 0712345678,
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    }
  
# parse dict_1:
y = json.loads(dict_1)
# the result is a Python dictionary:
print(y)   #{ "Name": "Felix Maina", "Contact Number": 0712345678,"Email": "[email protected]", }

Here, the string dict_1 is parsed using json.loads() method which returns a dictionary named y.

Note: The main difference between json.loads() and json.load() is that json.loads() reads strings while json.load() is used to read files.

Serializing JSON data in Python

Serialization is the process of converting a native data type to the JSON format.

The JSON module converts a Python dictionary object into a JSON object. The json.dump() and the json.dumps() methods are used to serialize Python data to JSON format.

Let's take a look at an example using the json.dump() method:

import json
# Data to be written
details = {
        "name": "Felix Maina",
        "years": 21,
        "school": "Makerere"
}
# Serializing JSON and writing JSON file
with open("details.json", "w") as file_object:
    json.dump(details, file_object)  # {"name": "Felix Maina", "years": 21, "school": "Makerere"}

Here, we convert a python dictionary to a JSON formatted file named details.json.

The json.dumps() method converts a Python object into a JSON string as illustrated below:

import json
# Data to be written
details = {
        "name": "Felix Maina",
        "years": 21,
        "school": "Makerere"
}
# Serializing JSON
json_string = json.dumps( details )
print( json_string )  #{"name": "Felix Maina", "years": 21, "school": "Makerere"}

Deserialize JSON to Object in Python

Deserialization is the process of converting JSON data into a native data type. Here, we convert JSON data back to a dictionary in Python.

We use the json.loads() method to deserialize JSON data to a Python object. The json.load() method is also used to deserialize a JSON formatted file to a Python object.

Example: Deserialization using the loads() # importing the module

# importing the module
import json
  
# creating the JSON data as a string
data = '{"Name" : "Felix", "status" : "married"}'
print("data before deserailizing")
print(data) #json string
   
# deserailizing the data
h = json.loads(data)
print("data after deserailizing")
print(h) #python dictionary

Output:

data before deserailizing
{"Name" : "Felix", "status" : "married"}
data after deserailizing
{'status': 'married', 'Name': 'Felix'}

Let create a file and name it cars.json. This file should have the following data:

 {
    "name": "Suzuki",
    "year": 2001,
    "model": "GDF10"
}

Now let's deserialize this file using the load() function:

import json
# opening the JSON file 
data = open('cars.json','r') 
print("Datatype before deserialization : ")
print(data) # prints the contents of the file
     
# deserailizing the data
h = json.load(data) 
print("Datatype after deserialization : ")
print(h)  # prints a python dictionary