Valid JSON giving JSONDecodeError: Expecting , delimiter

Question

I'm trying to parse a json response data from youtube api but i keep getting an error.

Here is the snippet where it choking:

data = json.loads("""{ "entry":{ "etag":"W/\"A0UGRK47eCp7I9B9WiRrYU0.\"" } }""")

..and this happens:

JSONDecodeError: Expecting , delimiter: line 1 column 23 (char 23)

I've confirmed that it's valid json and I have no control over the formatting of it so how can I get past this error?

Jagannath

Also you might want to check your json if all lines end with commas except the last line – Disproof

Answer 1

You'll need a r before """, or replace all \ with \\. This is not something you should care about when read the json from somewhere else, but something in the string itself.

data = json.loads(r"""{ "entry":{ "etag":"W/\"A0UGRK47eCp7I9B9WiRrYU0.\"" } }""")

see here for more information

Plafker

Ok but you need to explain why. The input needs to be passed a rawstring to avoid the \" backslash-escape being misinterpreted. – Quechua

what's the solution if the string is stored in a variable? – Relaxation

Store in it a variable as a rawstring – Tarah

How to store json in a variable as a raw string? @JacobBayer – Morelli

@Morelli raw_json = r"""{ "entry":{...}}""" – Sulemasulf

raw_s = r'{}'.format(s), fr"{orignal_string}" convert-regular-python-string-to-raw-string, string-and-bytes-literals – Unveiling

Answer 2

You need to add r before your json string.

>>> st = r'{ "entry":{ "etag":"W/\"A0UGRK47eCp7I9B9WiRrYU0.\"" } }'
>>> data = json.loads(st)
>>>

Obsequies

I think it's better to use """ instead of ' to enclose the json because the data can have unescaped single quotes in it. Thanks for the answer. – Jagannath

@ofko: I know that I just wrote this for clarity. – Obsequies