PythoneasyPython

Read and Parse JSON File

Safely read and parse a JSON file with error handling.

The problem

You need to read a JSON file and handle potential errors gracefully.

The solution

Python

import json
from pathlib import Path

def read_json(filepath):
    """Read and parse a JSON file safely."""
    path = Path(filepath)
    
    if not path.exists():
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {filepath}")
    
    try:
        with open(path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            return json.load(f)
    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
        raise ValueError(f"Invalid JSON in {filepath}: {e}")

Parameters

filepathstr

Path to the JSON file

Put it to work

Example

# Read configuration
config = read_json('config.json')
print(config['database']['host'])

# With error handling
try:
    data = read_json('data.json')
except FileNotFoundError:
    print("Config file not found, using defaults")
    data = {}

Worth knowing

Uses pathlib for cross-platform path handling. UTF-8 encoding handles international characters.

Keep going

Related moves.

01PY↗

List Comprehension with Filter

Filter and transform lists in one elegant line using comprehensions.

# Basic filter
evens = [x for x in numbers if x % 2 == 0]

# Filter and transform

#list#comprehension

easy

02PY↗

Data Class for Models

Use Python dataclasses for clean, type-hinted data models.

from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import List, Optional
from datetime import datetime

#dataclass#typing

medium

03PY↗

Custom Context Manager

Create a context manager for resource cleanup using contextlib.

from contextlib import contextmanager
import time

@contextmanager

#context-manager#with

medium