How to Choose Between `json.loads()` and `json.load()` for Reading JSON Files in Python?

Reading JSON from a File [Solution]

The task is to import a JSON file into a Python program for further data processing or analysis.

Understanding the Problem

When attempting to load JSON data from a file, two similar methods, json.loads() and json.load(), are available. However, they serve different purposes based on their input arguments.

Json.loads() vs Json.load()

• json.loads(): Expects a JSON string as its argument, and it returns a Python object representing the deserialized JSON data.
• json.load(): Can read the JSON content from a file object directly without converting it to a string first.

Solution Using json.load()

To read JSON data from a file, use json.load(). Here's an example:

import json

with open('strings.json') as f:
    d = json.load(f)
    print(d)

This code opens the JSON file and assigns the content to the Python dictionary d. The output of this code would be a dictionary containing the JSON data.

Understanding the Errors

• json.loads() Error: When attempting to use json.loads() on a file object instead of a JSON string, it throws a TypeError because it expects a string.
• json.load() Error (Extra Data): If there is invalid JSON in the file, such as unfinished quotes or unbalanced brackets, json.load() will throw a ValueError with the error message "Extra data."

Additional Considerations

• JSON Validation: Validating your JSON file against a validator can help identify and fix any invalid content.
• JSON Parsing: If you need to modify the JSON data before loading it, use a JSON parser library such as simplejson to handle the parsing and validation.

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