Convert csv to JSON tree structure?

Question

I read these questions:

• csv data to nested json tree in d3
• Create a json tree from csv list in python
• How to Create a JSON Tree from a Tabula

Answer 1

Using defaultdict from the collections standard library is making a lot of problems with hierarchical structures easy and solvable. So I've developed a sample solution for your problem. But before running the script, please, make sure you have comma separated csv file (named test.csv) or you can change the csv reader logic down there.

Here's the csv file I've tested the script on.

condition, target, sub, dub
oxygen,tree,G1,T1
oxygen,tree,G2,T1
oxygen,tree,G2,T2
water,car,G3,T1
water,tree,GZ,T1
water,tree,GZ,T2
fire,car,GTD,T3
oxygen,bomb,GYYS,T1

Technically the script should work for any kind of csv file, with various dimensions. But you need to test it by yourself to be sure.

import csv
from collections import defaultdict


def ctree():
    """ One of the python gems. Making possible to have dynamic tree structure.

    """
    return defaultdict(ctree)


def build_leaf(name, leaf):
    """ Recursive function to build desired custom tree structure

    """
    res = {"name": name}

    # add children node if the leaf actually has any children
    if len(leaf.keys()) > 0:
        res["children"] = [build_leaf(k, v) for k, v in leaf.items()]

    return res


def main():
    """ The main thread composed from two parts.

    First it's parsing the csv file and builds a tree hierarchy from it.
    Second it's recursively iterating over the tree and building custom
    json-like structure (via dict).

    And the last part is just printing the result.

    """
    tree = ctree()
    # NOTE: you need to have test.csv file as neighbor to this file
    with open('test.csv') as csvfile:
        reader = csv.reader(csvfile)
        for rid, row in enumerate(reader):

            # skipping first header row. remove this logic if your csv is
            # headerless
            if rid == 0:
                continue

            # usage of python magic to construct dynamic tree structure and
            # basically grouping csv values under their parents
            leaf = tree[row[0]]
            for cid in range(1, len(row)):
                leaf = leaf[row[cid]]

    # building a custom tree structure
    res = []
    for name, leaf in tree.items():
        res.append(build_leaf(name, leaf))

    # printing results into the terminal
    import json
    print(json.dumps(res))


# so let's roll
main()

And here's the json segment from the result:

{
    "name": "oxygen",
    "children": [
      {
        "name": "tree",
        "children": [
          {
            "name": "G2",
            "children": [
              {
                "name": "T2"
              },
              {
                "name": "T1"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "name": "G1",
            "children": [
              {
                "name": "T1"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "bomb",
        "children": [
          {
            "name": "GYYS",
            "children": [
              {
                "name": "T1"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }

Please, let me know if you have any further questions and issues. Happy pythonning ;)