Accent character in path of JSON functions in MS SQL Server cause error

Question

We keep some JSON's in our database as NVARCHAR. Before inserting, we validate JSON with "IsJSON" function. The problem is we have a JSON with Accent character in the keys like "Malārd". IsJson returns 1 which means it is a valid JSON but when we try to use it in a path such as '$.Malārd' it will cause below error:

-- QUERY
SELECT JSON_VALUE(N'{"Malārd":1000}', N'$.Malārd')
-- OUTPUT
-- JSON path is not properly formatted. Unexpected character 'ā' is found at position 5

If I have to, I will prevent inserting accent characters in keys, but I hope to find a better solution for that.

I know that I can replace accent character and use trick like COLLATE LATIN1_GENERAL_CS_AI but we have some infrastructure tools and API's in our project which allowed client developer insert and grabs a variety of JSON models.

Answer 1

You need to surround path expression with quotes if the key name starts with a dollar sign or contains special characters:

SELECT JSON_VALUE(N'{"Malārd":1000}', N'$."Malārd"')