How to check if a string is a valid JSON string in JavaScript without using Try/Catch

Question

Something like:

var jsonString = \'{ \"Id\": 1, \"Name\": \"Coke\" }\';

//should be true
IsJsonString(jsonString);

//should be false
IsJsonString(\"foo\");         


        

Answer 1

The function IsJsonString(str), that is using JSON.parse(str), doesn't work in my case.
I tried to validate json output from GraphiQL it always return false. Lucky me, isJSON works better:

var test = false;

$('body').on('DOMSubtreeModified', '.resultWrap', function() {

    if (!test) {   
        var resultWrap = "{" + $('#graphiql .resultWrap').text().split("{").pop();
        if isJSON(resultWrap) {test = !test;}
        console.log(resultWrap); 
        console.log(resultWrap.isJSON());
    }

});

Sample output:

THREE.WebGLRenderer 79
draw.js:170 {xxxxxxxxxx​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {xxxxxxxxxx ​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {xxxxxxxxxx ​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {xxxxxxxxxx ​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,  "fps": 41.666666666666664,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,  "fps": 41.666666666666664,  "width": 396.984,​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,  "fps": 41.666666666666664,  "width": 396.984,  "height": 327​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,  "fps": 41.666666666666664,  "width": 396.984,  "height": 327}​
draw.js:170 false
draw.js:170 {  "PI": 3.141592653589793,  "time": 1570751209006,  "tick": 156,  "tickr": 1.56,  "fps": 41.666666666666664,  "width": 396.984,  "height": 327}
draw.js:170 true

Answer 2

I know i'm 3 years late to this question, but I felt like chiming in.

While Gumbo's solution works great, it doesn't handle a few cases where no exception is raised for JSON.parse({something that isn't JSON})

I also prefer to return the parsed JSON at the same time, so the calling code doesn't have to call JSON.parse(jsonString) a second time.

This seems to work well for my needs:

function tryParseJSON (jsonString){
    try {
        var o = JSON.parse(jsonString);

        // Handle non-exception-throwing cases:
        // Neither JSON.parse(false) or JSON.parse(1234) throw errors, hence the type-checking,
        // but... JSON.parse(null) returns null, and typeof null === "object", 
        // so we must check for that, too. Thankfully, null is falsey, so this suffices:
        if (o && typeof o === "object") {
            return o;
        }
    }
    catch (e) { }

    return false;
};

Answer 3

You can use the javascript eval() function to verify if it's valid.

e.g.

var jsonString = '{ "Id": 1, "Name": "Coke" }';
var json;

try {
  json = eval(jsonString);
} catch (exception) {
  //It's advisable to always catch an exception since eval() is a javascript executor...
  json = null;
}

if (json) {
  //this is json
}

Alternatively, you can use JSON.parse function from json.org:

try {
  json = JSON.parse(jsonString);
} catch (exception) {
  json = null;
}

if (json) {
  //this is json
}

Hope this helps.

WARNING: eval() is dangerous if someone adds malicious JS code, since it will execute it. Make sure the JSON String is trustworthy, i.e. you got it from a trusted source.

Edit For my 1st solution, it's recommended to do this.

 try {
      json = eval("{" + jsonString + "}");
    } catch (exception) {
      //It's advisable to always catch an exception since eval() is a javascript executor...
      json = null;
    }

To guarantee json-ness. If the jsonString isn't pure JSON, the eval will throw an exception.

Answer 4

Use a JSON parser like JSON.parse:

function IsJsonString(str) {
    try {
        JSON.parse(str);
    } catch (e) {
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}

Answer 5

• isValidJsonString - check for valid json string

• JSON data types - string, number, object (JSON object), array, boolean, null (https://www.json.org/json-en.html)

• falsy values in javascript - false, 0, -0, 0n, ", null, undefined, NaN - (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Falsy)

• JSON.parse

  • works well for number , boolean, null and valid json String won't raise any error. please refer example below

    • JSON.parse(2) // 2
    • JSON.parse(null) // null
    • JSON.parse(true) // true
    • JSON.parse('{"name":"jhamman"}') // {name: "jhamman"}
    • JSON.parse('[1,2,3]') // [1, 2, 3]

  • break when you parse undefined , object, array etc

    • it gave Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected end of JSON input . please refer example below
    • JSON.parse({})
    • JSON.parse([])
    • JSON.parse(undefined)
    • JSON.parse("jack")

function isValidJsonString(jsonString){
    
    if(!(jsonString && typeof jsonString === "string")){
        return false;
    }

    try{
       JSON.parse(jsonString);
       return true;
    }catch(error){
        return false;
    }

}

Answer 6

If you're dealing with a response from an AJAX (or XMLHttpRequest) call, what worked for me is to check the response content type and parse or not the content accordingly.