Input · Files

JSON Reader

Reads a .json, .jsonl or .ndjson file as a table. A JSON array of objects and one-object-per-line files are both detected automatically.

Also known as: JSON Lines, NDJSON, API response

How it works

The node reads the file through a drone and unnests one row per record. With Records path blank it works out where the records are: a top-level array of objects, one object per line (.jsonl, .ndjson) or an object that wraps a single array of records. Name a nested array as data.items to read that one, or type $ to read the top level exactly as it is. Every key becomes a column, however late in the file it first appears, and a gzipped file (.json.gz) reads the same way. The path is typed in File path or bound to a column of the Loop's Current item.

Inputs and outputs

Settings

Example

An API dump saved as orders.json that looks like {"meta": {...}, "data": {"items": [...]}}. Set Records path to data.items and each order becomes a row; leave it blank and the reader would see one object with two keys.

More in Files

• CSV Reader — Reads a CSV or other delimited text file, such as a TSV. Column types are detected for you, and you can override them or read every column as text.
• Fixed-width Reader — Reads a text file whose columns sit at fixed character positions, such as a mainframe export or a legacy feed, slicing each line at the positions you set on a ruler over the file's first lines. Header row, start line, encoding and row limit work as in the CSV Reader.
• Parquet Reader — Reads a Parquet file and keeps the column types stored in it.
• Excel Reader — Reads one worksheet of an Excel workbook, the first sheet unless you pick another.
• Geo Reader — Reads a map file with its geometry: GeoJSON, Shapefile (also zipped), GeoPackage, GML, KML/KMZ, GPX, FlatGeobuf or MapInfo TAB. For a file with several layers, you pick which layer to read.
• XML Reader — Reads an XML file into a table. It finds the repeating record element for you, so each record becomes a row.
• SQLite Reader — Reads one table from a local SQLite database file (.sqlite, .sqlite3 or .db). You pick the table from the file's list of tables.
• Locra Table Reader — Reads a .ddtable file saved by Write Locra Table, in this project or another one. The column formats come back too, so everything prints as it did.