Getting Started

Introduction

JSON is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange.

  • JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation
  • JSON is easy to read and write.
  • JSON is language agnostic data-interchange format
  • JSON filename extension is .json
  • JSON Internet Media type is application/json

{.marker-round}

Examples 

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{
  "name": "Jason",
  "age": 39,
  "height": 1.92,
  "gender": "M",
  "salary": 70000,
  "married": true,
  "children": [
    { "name": "Tom", "age": 9, "gender": "M" },
    { "name": "Ava", "age": 7, "gender": "F" }
  ]
}

Types

Type Description
Number Double precision floating-point
String Series of characters
Boolean true or false
Array Ordered sequence of values
Value String, Number, Boolean, null etc
Object Unordered collection of key/value pairs
null Null or Empty

String

\" Double quote
\\ Backslash
\/ Forward slash
\b Backspace
\f Form feed
\n Newline
\r Carriage return
\t Tab
\u Trailed by four hex digits

Examples 

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{
  "url": "https://cheatsheets.zip",
  "msg": "Hi,\n\"CheatSheets.zip\"",
  "intro": "Share quick reference and cheat sheet for developers."
}

Invalid String 

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{ "foo": "bar" }

Have to be delimited by double quotes

Number

Type Description
Integer Digits 1-9, 0 and positive or negative
Fraction Fractions like 0.3, 3.9
Exponent Exponent like e, e+, e-, E, E+, E

Examples 

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{
  "positive": 12,
  "negative": -1,
  "fraction": 10.25,
  "exponent": 1.0e2,
  "zero": 0
}

Invalid Number 

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{ "foo": 0xff }

In JSON you can use only Decimal Literals

Objects 

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{
  "color": "Purple",
  "id": "210",
  "composition": {
    "R": 70,
    "G": 39,
    "B": 89
  },
  "empty_object": {}
}

Multiple key/value pairs separated by a comma

Arrays 

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[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Begins with [ and ends with ]

Array of objects 

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{
  "children": [
    { "name": "Jimmy Smith", "age": 15 },
    { "name": "Sammy Sosa", "age": 12 }
  ]
}

Object of arrays 

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{
  "attributes": ["a1", "a2"],
  "methods": ["getter", "setter"],
  "empty_array": []
}

2D Array 

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{
  "my_sequences": [
    [1, 2, 3],
    [4, 5, 6],
    [7, 8, 9, 0],
    [10, 11]
  ]
}

Object of objects 

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{
  "Mark McGwire": {
    "hr": 65,
    "avg": 0.278
  },
  "Sammy Sosa": {
    "hr": 63,
    "avg": 0.288
  }
}

Nested 

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{
  "Jack": {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Franc",
    "salary": 25000,
    "hobby": ["a", "b"],
    "location": {
      "country": "A",
      "city": "A-A"
    }
  }
}

Access JSON in JavaScript

Access Object 

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let myObject = {
  name: "Jason",
  last: "Doe",
  age: 39,
  gender: "M",
  salary: 70000,
  married: true,
};
myObject.name “Jason”
myObject["name"] “Jason”
myObject.age 39
myObject.other undefined
myObject[0] undefined

Access Nested 

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let myObject = {
  ref: {
    name: 0,
    last: 1,
    age: 2,
    gender: 3,
    salary: 4,
    married: 5,
  },
  jdoe: ["Jason", "Doe", 39, "M", 70000, true],
  jsmith: ["Tom", "Smith", 42, "F", 80000, true],
};
myObject.ref.age 2
myObject["ref"]["age"] 2
myObject.jdoe [“Jason”, “Doe”, 39 …]
myObject.jsmith[3] “F”
myObject[1] undefined

Access Array of Objects 

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let myArray = [
  {
    name: "Jason",
    last: "Doe",
    age: 39,
    gender: "M",
    salary: 70000,
    married: true,
  },
  {
    name: "Tom",
    last: "Smith",
    age: 42,
    gender: "F",
    salary: 80000,
    married: true,
  },
  {
    name: "Amy",
    last: "Burnquist",
    age: 29,
    gender: "F",
    salary: 60000,
    married: false,
  },
];
myArray[0] {“name”: “Jason”, …}
myArray[1].name “Tom”
myArray[1][2] 42
myArray[3] undefined
myArray[3].gender TypeError: Cannot read…

Access Array 

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let myArray = ["Jason", "Doe", 39, "M", 70000, true];
myArray[1] “Doe”
myArray[5] true
myArray[6] undefined

Also see