Python decode nested JSON in JSON

Question

I\'m dealing with an API that unfortunately is returning malformed (or \"weirdly formed,\" rather -- thanks @fjarri) JSON, but on the positive side I think it may be an opportun

Answer 1

Your main issue is that your object_hook function should not be recursing. json.loads() takes care of the recursing itself and calls your function every time it finds a dictionary (aka obj will always be a dictionary). So instead you just want to modify the problematic keys and return the dict -- this should do what you are looking for:

def flatten_hook(obj):
    for key, value in obj.iteritems():
        if isinstance(value, basestring):
            try:
                obj[key] = json.loads(value, object_hook=flatten_hook)
            except ValueError:
                pass
    return obj

pprint(json.loads(my_input, object_hook=flatten_hook))

However, if you know the problematic (double-encoded) entry always take on a specific form (e.g. key == 'timezone_id') it is probably safer to just call json.loads() on those keys only, as Matt Anderson suggests in his answer.