CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptjsonstring
Ankur Marwaha
Ankur Marwaha

Reputation: 1885

Different behaviour of json.parse for same input?

This question is about

why the outputs are different

not how can i achieve the proper output.

I am unable to understand why the output of following two scenarios is not the same, even if I am giving the same argument to the JSON.parse() function.

FIRST scenario

obj = {a:"asdf"};
var newObj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj));     //newObj = {a:"asdf"}

Debugging Debugging view

SECOND scenario

var newObj = JSON.parse("{"a":"asdf"}");        //this gives an error

Upvotes: 1

Views: 307

Answers (3)

Marc Compte
Marc Compte

Reputation: 4819

why the outputs are different

Because the inputs are different.

FIRST scenario

obj = {a:"asdf"};
var newObj = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(obj));

Here the input parameter of JSON.parse is JSON.stringify(obj)and this is a string that reads {"a":"asdf"}.

SECOND scenario

var newObj = JSON.parse("{"a":"asdf"}");

Here the input parameter of JSON.parse is a string that reads { and the rest is broken code.

Confusion arises because the console debugger decides all strings should be shown on the console encapsulated with a ", but this is just a way for the console to tell you that this value is of type String. It does not check whether you have " inside and escape them.

The encapsulating " are not part of the string, only a way of telling it is a string.

If console.logging JSON.stringify(obj) gets you "{"a":"asdf"}" try doing alert instead, or document.write. These will not add extra " and you will see that the value of JSON.stringify(obj) is actually {"a":"asdf"}, not "{"a":"asdf"}".

<html><head></head><body>
<script>
function JSONparse(string) {
    document.write(string);
    alert(string);
    console.log(string);
    return JSON.parse(string);
}
var obj = {a:"asdf"};
result = JSONparse(JSON.stringify(obj));
</script>
</body></html>

Upvotes: 1

anshuVersatile
anshuVersatile

Reputation: 2068

var newObj = JSON.parse('{"a":"asdf"}');

Upvotes: 0

Ananth
Ananth

Reputation: 4397

The problem is with quotes.

var newObj = JSON.parse('{"a":"asdf"}');

should work correctly.

In Javascript, we use quotes (single or double) to represent a String. When you want to define a String that contains quotes, then you must use different quotes, or escape the quotes using backslash \ character.

var newObj = JSON.parse("{\"a\":\"asdf\"}");

also works fine.

You might think that

var newObj = JSON.parse("{'a':'asdf'}");

would work, but no. In JSON, strings are defined using Double quotes only.

Upvotes: 3

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