{"id":3564,"date":"2019-06-03T19:59:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T07:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/?p=3564"},"modified":"2024-01-04T19:58:39","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T06:58:39","slug":"date-problems-converting-a-dictionary-to-json","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/?p=3564","title":{"rendered":"Date Problems Converting A Dictionary To JSON"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you want to convert a dictionary object to JSON you would use something like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
myJSON = json.dumps(myDict, indent=4, sort_keys=True)<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
So if we have a simple script that looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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import<\/span> datetime<\/span><\/span>\nimport<\/span> json<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nJimStartTate = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 08:30'<\/span><\/span>\nJimLunchTime = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 12:00'<\/span><\/span>\nJimHomeTime = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 17:30'<\/span><\/span>\nFredStartTate = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 10:30'<\/span><\/span>\nFredLunchTime = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 13:00'<\/span><\/span>\nFredHomeTime = <\/span>'21\/12\/2019 15:30'<\/span><\/span>\nmyDict =    {<\/span>'jim'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:JimStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:JimLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:JimHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>31<\/span>},<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/span>'fred'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:FredStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:FredLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:FredHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>20<\/span>}<\/span><\/span>\n            }<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nprint<\/span>(json.dumps(myDict, <\/span>indent<\/span>=<\/span>4<\/span>, <\/span>sort_keys<\/span>=<\/span>True<\/span>))<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This produces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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C:\\<\/span>Projects\\Examples>python json_dump_std.py<\/span><\/span>\n{<\/span><\/span>\n    <\/span>"fred"<\/span>: {<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"age"<\/span>: <\/span>20<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"home_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 15:30"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"lunch_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 13:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"start_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 10:30"<\/span><\/span>\n    },<\/span><\/span>\n    <\/span>"jim"<\/span>: {<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"age"<\/span>: <\/span>31<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"home_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 17:30"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"lunch_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 12:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"start_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"21\/12\/2019 08:30"<\/span><\/span>\n    }<\/span><\/span>\n}<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
But things get complicated when we use dates rather than strings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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import<\/span> datetime<\/span><\/span>\nimport<\/span> json<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nJimStartTate = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 08:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nJimLunchTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 12:00'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nJimHomeTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 17:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredStartTate = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 10:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredLunchTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 13:00'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredHomeTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 15:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nmyDict =    {<\/span>'jim'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:JimStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:JimLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:JimHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>31<\/span>},<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/span>'fred'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:FredStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:FredLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:FredHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>20<\/span>}<\/span><\/span>\n            }<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nprint<\/span>(json.dumps(myDict, <\/span>indent<\/span>=<\/span>4<\/span>, <\/span>sort_keys<\/span>=<\/span>True<\/span>))<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Which instead produces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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C:\\<\/span>Projects\\Examples>python json_dump.py<\/span><\/span>\nTraceback (most recent call last):<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"json_dump.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>22<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> <module><\/span><\/span>\nprint<\/span>(json.dumps(myDict, <\/span>indent<\/span>=<\/span>4<\/span>, <\/span>sort_keys<\/span>=<\/span>True<\/span>))<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\__init__.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>238<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> dumps<\/span><\/span>\n**kw).encode(obj)<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>201<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> encode<\/span><\/span>\nchunks = <\/span>list<\/span>(chunks)<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>431<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> _iterencode<\/span><\/span>\nyield from<\/span> _iterencode_dict(o, _current_indent_level)<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>405<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> _iterencode_dict<\/span><\/span>\nyield from<\/span> chunks<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>405<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> _iterencode_dict<\/span><\/span>\nyield from<\/span> chunks<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>438<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> _iterencode<\/span><\/span>\no = _default(o)<\/span><\/span>\nFile <\/span>"C:\\Python\\lib\\json\\encoder.py"<\/span>, line <\/span>179<\/span>, <\/span>in<\/span> default<\/span><\/span>\nraise<\/span> <\/span>TypeError<\/span>(<\/span>f<\/span>'Object of type <\/span>{<\/span>o.<\/span>__class__<\/span>.<\/span>__name__<\/span>}<\/span> '<\/span><\/span>\nTypeError<\/span>: <span <\/span>style<\/span>=<\/span>"background-color: #ffff00;"<\/span>>Object of <\/span>type<\/span> datetime <\/span>is<\/span> <\/span>not<\/span> JSON serializable<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Simple answer provided by jjmontes in a stackoverflow post:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/stackoverflow.com\/questions\/11875770\/how-to-overcome-datetime-datetime-not-json-serializable<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is to change it to: json.dumps(myDict, indent=4, sort_keys=True, default=str<\/span>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus giving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
import<\/span> datetime<\/span><\/span>\nimport<\/span> json<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nJimStartTate = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 08:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nJimLunchTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 12:00'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nJimHomeTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 17:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredStartTate = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 10:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredLunchTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 13:00'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nFredHomeTime = datetime.datetime.strptime(<\/span>'21\/12\/2019 15:30'<\/span>, <\/span>'<\/span>%d<\/span>\/%m\/%Y %H:%M'<\/span>)<\/span><\/span>\nmyDict =    {<\/span>'jim'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:JimStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:JimLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:JimHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>31<\/span>},<\/span><\/span>\n            <\/span>'fred'<\/span>:<\/span><\/span>\n                {<\/span>'start_time'<\/span>:FredStartTate,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'lunch_time'<\/span>:FredLunchTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'home_time'<\/span>:FredHomeTime,<\/span><\/span>\n                 <\/span>'age'<\/span>:<\/span>20<\/span>}<\/span><\/span>\n            }<\/span><\/span>\n<\/span>\nprint<\/span>(json.dumps(myDict, <\/span>indent<\/span>=<\/span>4<\/span>, <\/span>sort_keys<\/span>=<\/span>True<\/span>, <\/span>default<\/span>=<\/span>str<\/span>))<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Which gives the desired result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/path><\/path><\/svg><\/span>
{<\/span><\/span>\n    <\/span>"fred"<\/span>: {<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"age"<\/span>: <\/span>20<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"home_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 15:30:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"lunch_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 13:00:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"start_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 10:30:00"<\/span><\/span>\n    },<\/span><\/span>\n    <\/span>"jim"<\/span>: {<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"age"<\/span>: <\/span>31<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"home_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 17:30:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"lunch_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 12:00:00"<\/span>,<\/span><\/span>\n        <\/span>"start_time"<\/span>: <\/span>"2019-12-21 08:30:00"<\/span><\/span>\n    }<\/span><\/span>\n}<\/span><\/span><\/code><\/pre><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you want to convert a dictionary object to JSON you would use something like:<\/p>\n
myJSON = json.dumps(myDict, indent=4, sort_keys=True)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[15,519,520,514,515,11,516,521,430,513,522,517,518],"class_list":["post-3564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-python","tag-convert","tag-date","tag-date-format","tag-dict","tag-dictionary","tag-format","tag-json","tag-programming","tag-python","tag-scripting","tag-serializable","tag-type-cast","tag-typecast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3564"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5826,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564\/revisions\/5826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zoyinc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}