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Json loads vs Json Dumps

json.loads and json.dumps are two functions in Python’s json library that serve opposite purposes when working with JSON data.

Here’s a breakdown of each:

1. json.loads

• Purpose: Converts a JSON-formatted string into a Python dictionary (or other Python objects like lists, depending on the JSON structure).

• Usage: Use json.loads when you receive JSON data as a string and want to work with it as a Python object.

  import json
  
  # JSON string
  json_string = '{"name": "Alice", "age": 25, "city": "New York"}'
  
  # Convert JSON string to Python dictionary
  data = json.loads(json_string)
  print(data)  # Output: {'name': 'Alice', 'age': 25, 'city': 'New York'}
  print(data['name'])  # Output: Alice
  
  

  • Here, json.loads takes the JSON string and converts it to a dictionary so that you can work with it in Python.

2. json.dumps

• Purpose: Converts a Python dictionary (or other serializable Python objects) into a JSON-formatted string.

• Usage: Use json.dumps when you want to convert Python data into a JSON string, often for saving to a file or sending over a network.

  	
  import json
  
  # Python dictionary
  data = {"name": "Alice", "age": 25, "city": "New York"}
  
  # Convert Python dictionary to JSON string
  json_string = json.dumps(data)
  print(json_string)  # Output: '{"name": "Alice", "age": 25, "city": "New York"}'
   

  • Here, json.dumps takes the Python dictionary and converts it to a JSON string for easy storage or transmission.

Key Differences

Function	Purpose	Input	Output
json.loads	Parse JSON string to Python object	JSON string	Python object (dict, list, etc.)
json.dumps	Convert Python object to JSON string	Python object	JSON string

Example Use Cases

• json.loads is useful when you receive JSON data from an API response or read JSON data from a file.
• json.dumps is useful when you need to serialize Python data for storage, transmission, or saving to a JSON file.

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