How can I convert JSON to CSV?

Question

I have a JSON file I want to convert to a CSV file. How can I do this with Python?

I tried:

import json
import c         


        

Answer 1

Use json_normalize from pandas:

• Given the data provided, in a file named test.json.
• encoding='utf-8' may not be necessary.
• The following code takes advantage of the pathlib library.
• .open is a method of pathlib.
• Works with non-Windows paths too.

import pandas as pd
# As of Pandas 1.01, json_normalize as pandas.io.json.json_normalize is deprecated and is now exposed in the top-level namespace.
# from pandas.io.json import json_normalize
from pathlib import Path
import json

# set path to file
p = Path(r'c:\some_path_to_file\test.json')

# read json
with p.open('r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    data = json.loads(f.read())

# create dataframe
df = pd.json_normalize(data)

# dataframe view
 pk            model  fields.codename           fields.name  fields.content_type
 22  auth.permission     add_logentry     Can add log entry                    8
 23  auth.permission  change_logentry  Can change log entry                    8
 24  auth.permission  delete_logentry  Can delete log entry                    8
  4  auth.permission        add_group         Can add group                    2
 10  auth.permission      add_message       Can add message                    4

# save to csv
df.to_csv('test.csv', index=False, encoding='utf-8')

CSV Output:

pk,model,fields.codename,fields.name,fields.content_type
22,auth.permission,add_logentry,Can add log entry,8
23,auth.permission,change_logentry,Can change log entry,8
24,auth.permission,delete_logentry,Can delete log entry,8
4,auth.permission,add_group,Can add group,2
10,auth.permission,add_message,Can add message,4

Other Resources for more heavily nested JSON objects:

• SO Answers:
  • Flatten a JSON array with python
  • How to flatten nested JSON recursively, with flatten_json?
  • How to json_normalize a column with NaNs