如何从 Python 中的 JSON 中删除额外的方括号？

Question

I have JSON of the following form:

{"blah":
 [
   [
     {"first":
     {"something":"that","something":"else","another":"thing","key":"value"}...[etc.]
     }
   ]
 ]
}

that I'm trying to parse in Python. I've imported json (or simplejson, depending on what version of Python you're using) and everything goes pretty well until I get to this block:

for result in page['blah']:
  that = result['first']
  a_list.append(that)

which throws the error "TypeError: list indices must be integers, not str".

I'm pretty sure this error is due to the extra pair of square-bracket that makes the JSON inside look like a list.

My question, assuming that's the case, is, How do I remove it and still have valid JSON to parse as dictionaries?

Other workarounds welcome. If I need to supply more info, let me know. Thanks!

(Added the missing curly bracket and changed a couple of confusing terms--I was trying to come up with generic terms on the fly, sorry for any confusion.)

Answer 1

If there's always exactly one "extra" set of array brackets:

for result in page['blah']:
    that = result[0]['this']
    list.append(that)

Answer 2

There is not need to remove the brackets from the JSON string. I think making sure to remove only the rights is not worth the effort. Just figure out the right way to access the values you want.

The "extra" brackets are not the only problem. this is a property of an object which is the value of first . So to access this , you'd have to write

that = result[0]['first']['this']

Whether this always works or not depends on the left-out JSON data.

Answer 3

First, you are right - your error is related to the incorrect use of the Python data types and JSON output.

Second, don't use list and all other Python reserved words when creating your variables.

Finally, if you simply want to get all results for 'this' inner key, you can try using the following code:

data = {"blah":
 [
   [
     {"first":
     {"this":"that",
     "something":"else","another":"thing","key":"value"}}
   ]
 ]
}
outres = []
for k,v in data.items():#iterate over top dictionary('blah',....)
    for sv in v: # iterate through first list
        for tv in sv: # iterate through second list
            for fk,fv in tv.iteritems(): # iterate through each dicionary from second list
                if 'this' in fv:
                    outres.append(fv['this'])
print outres

Please note that my sample is based on your data sample - so if there is any additional levels in your data structure, or if any other rules should be applied, then the code should be modified.