嵌套数据到csv python

Question

I have a file of nested json data. I am trying to "get.some_object" and write a csv file with the objects (I think they are called objects: "some_object": "some_value"); I would like one row for each group of nested items. This is my code:

import csv
import json

path = 'E:/Uni Arbeit/Prof Hayo/Sascha/Bill data/97/bills/hr/hr4242'

outputfile = open('TaxLaw1981.csv', 'w', newline='')                            
outputwriter = csv.writer(outputfile)

with open(path + "/" + "/data.json", "r") as f:
    data = json.load(f)

    for act in data['actions']:
        a = act.get('acted_at')
        b = act.get('text')
        c = act.get('type')

        outputwriter.writerow([a, b, c])
outputfile.close()       

The problem I have is that it only writes the last group of data to csv; however when I run

with open(path + "/" + "/data.json", "r") as f:
data = json.load(f)

for act in data['actions']:

    a = act.get('acted_at')
    b = act.get('text')
    c = act.get('type')
    print (a) 

all of my "a" values print out.

Suggestions?

Answer 1

You need to flush your outputwriter to write the row to the file, else it will keep on replacing the one in the variable and eventually only write the last value. Writerow only works when you close the file unless you flush the data.

for act in data['actions']:
        a = act.get('acted_at')
        b = act.get('text')
        c = act.get('type')
        outputwriter.writerow([a, b, c])
        outputfile.flush()

Answer 2

The code you posted above works 100% with the file you have.

The file (for anyone interested) is available with rsync -avz --delete --delete-excluded --exclude **/text-versions/ govtrack.us::govtrackdata/congress/97/bills/hr/hr4242 . .

And the output to the csv file is (omitting some lines in the middle)

1981-07-23,Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means.,referral
1981-07-23,"Consideration and Mark-up Session Held by Committee on Ways and Means Prior to Introduction (Jun 10, 81 through Jul 23, 81).",action
1981-07-23,"Hearings Held by House Committee on Ways and Means Prior to Introduction (Feb 24, 25, Mar 3, 4, 5, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, Apr 1, 2, 3, 7, 81).",action
...
...
...
1981-08-12,Measure Signed in Senate.,action
1981-08-12,Presented to President.,topresident
1981-08-13,Signed by President.,signed
1981-08-13,Became Public Law No: 97-34.,enacted

You should post the full error code you get when you execute (probably due to an encoding error) to let someone understand why your code is failing.