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Working with JSON APIs

What is JSON?

JSON is a text format for structured data.

  • objects → Python dict
  • arrays → Python list

Parse JSON

parse_json.py
import requests
 
r = requests.get("https://api.github.com", timeout=10)
obj = r.json()
 
print(type(obj))
print(obj.get("current_user_url"))
parse_json.py
import requests
 
r = requests.get("https://api.github.com", timeout=10)
obj = r.json()
 
print(type(obj))
print(obj.get("current_user_url"))

Validate fields safely

APIs may change or fields may be missing.

safe_access.py
data = {"user": {"name": "Ravi"}}
 
name = data.get("user", {}).get("name")
email = data.get("user", {}).get("email")  # might be None
 
print(name, email)
safe_access.py
data = {"user": {"name": "Ravi"}}
 
name = data.get("user", {}).get("name")
email = data.get("user", {}).get("email")  # might be None
 
print(name, email)

Convert JSON list to pandas

json_to_df.py
import requests
import pandas as pd
 
url = "https://api.github.com/search/repositories"
params = {"q": "data analytics", "per_page": 10}
 
r = requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=10)
r.raise_for_status()
 
items = r.json()["items"]
rows = [
    {
        "name": it["full_name"],
        "stars": it["stargazers_count"],
        "language": it.get("language"),
    }
    for it in items
]
 
df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
print(df.head())
json_to_df.py
import requests
import pandas as pd
 
url = "https://api.github.com/search/repositories"
params = {"q": "data analytics", "per_page": 10}
 
r = requests.get(url, params=params, timeout=10)
r.raise_for_status()
 
items = r.json()["items"]
rows = [
    {
        "name": it["full_name"],
        "stars": it["stargazers_count"],
        "language": it.get("language"),
    }
    for it in items
]
 
df = pd.DataFrame(rows)
print(df.head())

Common errors

  • KeyErrorKeyError: field missing → use .get().get()
  • JSONDecodeErrorJSONDecodeError: response not JSON → check status code/content

🧪 Try It Yourself

Exercise 1 – Parse JSON Response

Exercise 2 – Serialize Python to JSON

Exercise 3 – Parse JSON String

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