how to extract non-nested columns from a json file in python pandas?

Question

Error I need to extract these two columns 'asin' and 'title' from below json. But the nested structure is not allowing to use read_json function in order to read this json file into a pandas dataframe.

  {
  "asin": "0000031852",
  "title": "Girls Ballet Tutu Zebra Hot Pink",
  "price": 3.17,
  "imUrl": "http://ecx.images-sigma.com/images/I/51fAmVkTbyL._SY300_.jpg",
  "related":
  {
    "also_bought": ["B00JHONN1S", "B002BZX8Z6", "B00D2K1M3O", "0000031909", "B00613WDTQ", "B00D0WDS9A", "B00D0GCI8S", "0000031895", "B003AVKOP2", "B003AVEU6G", "B003IEDM9Q", "B002R0FA24", "B00D23MC6W", "B00D2K0PA0", "B00538F5OK", "B00CEV86I6", "B002R0FABA", "B00D10CLVW", "B003AVNY6I", "B002GZGI4E", "B001T9NUFS", "B002R0F7FE", "B00E1YRI4C", "B008UBQZKU", "B00D103F8U", "B007R2RM8W"],
    "also_viewed": ["B002BZX8Z6", "B00JHONN1S", "B008F0SU0Y", "B00D23MC6W", "B00AFDOPDA", "B00E1YRI4C", "B002GZGI4E", "B003AVKOP2", "B00D9C1WBM", "B00CEV8366", "B00CEUX0D8", "B0079ME3KU", "B00CEUWY8K", "B004FOEEHC", "0000031895", "B00BC4GY9Y", "B003XRKA7A", "B00K18LKX2", "B00EM7KAG6", "B00AMQ17JA", "B00D9C32NI", "B002C3Y6WG", "B00JLL4L5Y", "B003AVNY6I", "B008UBQZKU", "B00D0WDS9A", "B00613WDTQ", "B00538F5OK", "B005C4Y4F6", "B004LHZ1NY", "B00CPHX76U", "B00CEUWUZC", "B00IJVASUE", "B00GOR07RE", "B00J2GTM0W", "B00JHNSNSM", "B003IEDM9Q", "B00CYBU84G", "B008VV8NSQ", "B00CYBULSO", "B00I2UHSZA", "B005F50FXC", "B007LCQI3S", "B00DP68AVW", "B009RXWNSI", "B003AVEU6G", "B00HSOJB9M", "B00EHAGZNA", "B0046W9T8C", "B00E79VW6Q", "B00D10CLVW", "B00B0AVO54", "B00E95LC8Q", "B00GOR92SO", "B007ZN5Y56", "B00AL2569W", "B00B608000", "B008F0SMUC", "B00BFXLZ8M"],
    "bought_together": ["B002BZX8Z6"]
  },
  "salesRank": {"Toys & Games": 211836},
  "brand": "Coxlures",
  "categories": [["Sports & Outdoors", "Other Sports", "Dance"]]
}

Answer 1

You can easily load the asin and title values from this JSON into a dataframe.

import pandas as pd
import json

j = json.loads("""{
  "asin": "0000031852",
  "title": "Girls Ballet Tutu Zebra Hot Pink",
  "price": 3.17,
  "imUrl": "http://ecx.images-sigma.com/images/I/51fAmVkTbyL._SY300_.jpg",
  "related":
  {
    "also_bought": ["B00JHONN1S", "B002BZX8Z6", "B00D2K1M3O", "0000031909", "B00613WDTQ", "B00D0WDS9A", "B00D0GCI8S", "0000031895", "B003AVKOP2", "B003AVEU6G", "B003IEDM9Q", "B002R0FA24", "B00D23MC6W", "B00D2K0PA0", "B00538F5OK", "B00CEV86I6", "B002R0FABA", "B00D10CLVW", "B003AVNY6I", "B002GZGI4E", "B001T9NUFS", "B002R0F7FE", "B00E1YRI4C", "B008UBQZKU", "B00D103F8U", "B007R2RM8W"],
    "also_viewed": ["B002BZX8Z6", "B00JHONN1S", "B008F0SU0Y", "B00D23MC6W", "B00AFDOPDA", "B00E1YRI4C", "B002GZGI4E", "B003AVKOP2", "B00D9C1WBM", "B00CEV8366", "B00CEUX0D8", "B0079ME3KU", "B00CEUWY8K", "B004FOEEHC", "0000031895", "B00BC4GY9Y", "B003XRKA7A", "B00K18LKX2", "B00EM7KAG6", "B00AMQ17JA", "B00D9C32NI", "B002C3Y6WG", "B00JLL4L5Y", "B003AVNY6I", "B008UBQZKU", "B00D0WDS9A", "B00613WDTQ", "B00538F5OK", "B005C4Y4F6", "B004LHZ1NY", "B00CPHX76U", "B00CEUWUZC", "B00IJVASUE", "B00GOR07RE", "B00J2GTM0W", "B00JHNSNSM", "B003IEDM9Q", "B00CYBU84G", "B008VV8NSQ", "B00CYBULSO", "B00I2UHSZA", "B005F50FXC", "B007LCQI3S", "B00DP68AVW", "B009RXWNSI", "B003AVEU6G", "B00HSOJB9M", "B00EHAGZNA", "B0046W9T8C", "B00E79VW6Q", "B00D10CLVW", "B00B0AVO54", "B00E95LC8Q", "B00GOR92SO", "B007ZN5Y56", "B00AL2569W", "B00B608000", "B008F0SMUC", "B00BFXLZ8M"],
    "bought_together": ["B002BZX8Z6"]
  },
  "salesRank": {"Toys & Games": 211836},
  "brand": "Coxlures",
  "categories": [["Sports & Outdoors", "Other Sports", "Dance"]]
}""")
df = pd.DataFrame({"asin":[j["asin"]],"title":[j["title"]],})

Note that there is only one value of each so we wrap it in a list. If you had an array of JSON objects like the one you provided as an example, you can extract just those values:

asins = [x["asin"] for x in j]
titles = [x["title"] for x in j]
df = pd.DataFrame({"asin":asins,"title":titles,})

Note that there is almost certainly a faster way to extract titles and asins based on how the data is structured.