Reading and Writing JSON Files in Python: A Practical Guide

Effortlessly Manage JSON Data with Python’s Built-in Tools

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JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) has become a ubiquitous data format for exchanging information between web applications, APIs, and databases. In Python, working with JSON files is a breeze thanks to the built-in json module.

In this article, we'll explore how to read and write JSON files in Python, complete with up-to-date code examples.

Reading JSON Files

To read a JSON file in Python, we can use the json.load() function. Here's an example:

import json

# Open the JSON file
with open('data.json', 'r') as file:
    # Load the JSON data
    data = json.load(file)

# Access the data
print(data)

In this code snippet, we first import the json module. Then, we open the JSON file using the open() function in read mode ('r'). The with statement ensures that the file is properly closed after we're done with it.

Next, we use json.load(file) to load the JSON data from the file into a Python dictionary or list, depending on the structure of the JSON data.

Finally, we can access and manipulate the data as needed.

Writing JSON Files