Format and beautify your JSON data with proper indentation. Makes raw JSON readable with syntax highlighting and validation.
Format and beautify your JSON with this simple tool - formatting happens automatically as you type!
Formatted JSON will appear here automatically...
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that has become the standard for data exchange in web applications. Despite its simplicity, JSON data can become difficult to read when it's minified or lacks proper formatting. This tool helps you transform raw, unformatted JSON strings into a well-structured, indented format that's much easier to read and analyze.
JSON formatting (also known as "pretty printing") adds consistent indentation, line breaks, and spacing to make the hierarchical structure of JSON data visually apparent. This is particularly valuable when working with complex nested objects or large datasets where the relationships between elements might otherwise be difficult to discern.
Our JSON formatter tool provides a simple interface to beautify your JSON data with proper indentation and structure, making it more readable for humans while maintaining its validity for machines.
JSON is built on two primary structures:
{}. Each name is followed by a colon : and pairs are separated by commas ,.1 {"name": "John", "age": 30, "city": "New York"}
2 []. Values are separated by commas ,.1 ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]
2 JSON values can be:
"Hello World"42 or 3.14159true or falsenull{"key": "value"}[1, 2, 3]Proper JSON must follow these syntax rules:
Common syntax errors include:
JSON formatting transforms compact, minified JSON into a more readable form by:
Parsing: The JSON string is first parsed to ensure it's valid and to create an in-memory representation of the data structure.
Indentation: Each nested level of objects and arrays is indented (typically by 2 or 4 spaces) to visually represent the hierarchy.
Line Breaks: New lines are added after each property or array element to improve readability.
Spacing: Consistent spacing is added around colons and commas.
For example, this minified JSON:
1{"name":"John Doe","age":30,"address":{"street":"123 Main St","city":"Anytown","state":"CA"},"hobbies":["reading","hiking","photography"]}
2Becomes this formatted JSON:
1{
2 "name": "John Doe",
3 "age": 30,
4 "address": {
5 "street": "123 Main St",
6 "city": "Anytown",
7 "state": "CA"
8 },
9 "hobbies": [
10 "reading",
11 "hiking",
12 "photography"
13 ]
14}
15Our formatter uses a standard indentation of 2 spaces per level, which is a common convention in the development community and provides a good balance between compactness and readability.
A critical aspect of JSON formatting is validation. Before JSON can be formatted, it must be syntactically valid according to the JSON specification. Common validation errors include:
Syntax Errors:
Data Type Errors:
undefined or NaNWhen you encounter invalid JSON, the error message can help identify the issue. Most JSON parsers will indicate the position where the parsing failed, which can help locate the problem. Our tool provides clear error messages to help you identify and fix issues in your JSON data.
JSON formatting is valuable in numerous scenarios:
When working with RESTful APIs, formatted JSON makes it easier to:
Many modern applications use JSON for configuration:
Formatted JSON helps when:
Properly formatted JSON is essential when:
Clear JSON formatting is valuable for:
While our web-based JSON formatter is convenient for quick formatting tasks, several alternatives exist for different scenarios:
Modern browsers include JSON formatting capabilities:
Most development environments offer JSON formatting:
For terminal users or automation:
jq is a powerful command-line JSON processorjson_pp comes pre-installed on many Unix systemspython -m json.tool provides quick formatting using PythonWhen formatting JSON within applications:
1// JavaScript
2const formatted = JSON.stringify(jsonObject, null, 2);
31# Python
2import json
3formatted = json.dumps(json_object, indent=2)
41// Java with Gson
2Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
3String formatted = gson.toJson(jsonObject);
41# Ruby
2require 'json'
3formatted = JSON.pretty_generate(json_object)
41// PHP
2$formatted = json_encode($jsonObject, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
3JSON was created by Douglas Crockford in the early 2000s as a lightweight alternative to XML. The format was derived from JavaScript object literal syntax but designed to be language-independent. In 2006, JSON was formally specified in RFC 4627, and it quickly gained popularity due to its simplicity and compatibility with JavaScript.
Before JSON, XML was the dominant format for data interchange, but its verbosity and complexity made it cumbersome for many applications. JSON offered a more concise syntax that was easier to read and write, both for humans and machines. It also aligned perfectly with JavaScript's object model, making it the natural choice for web applications.
JSON's adoption accelerated with the rise of AJAX and RESTful APIs in the mid-2000s. By the 2010s, it had become the de facto standard for web APIs, configuration files, and data storage in NoSQL databases like MongoDB and CouchDB.
Today, JSON is supported by virtually every programming language and is used in countless applications across the web. Its simplicity, flexibility, and universal support have made it one of the most important data formats in modern computing.
Here are examples of how to format JSON in various programming languages:
1// JavaScript JSON formatting
2function formatJSON(jsonString) {
3 try {
4 const parsedData = JSON.parse(jsonString);
5 return JSON.stringify(parsedData, null, 2);
6 } catch (error) {
7 return `Error: ${error.message}`;
8 }
9}
10
11// Example usage
12const rawJSON = '{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}';
13console.log(formatJSON(rawJSON));
141# Python JSON formatting
2import json
3
4def format_json(json_string):
5 try:
6 parsed_data = json.loads(json_string)
7 return json.dumps(parsed_data, indent=2)
8 except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
9 return f"Error: {str(e)}"
10
11# Example usage
12raw_json = '{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}'
13print(format_json(raw_json))
141// Java JSON formatting with Gson
2import com.google.gson.Gson;
3import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
4import com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException;
5
6public class JSONFormatter {
7 public static String formatJSON(String jsonString) {
8 try {
9 Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
10 Object parsedJson = gson.fromJson(jsonString, Object.class);
11 return gson.toJson(parsedJson);
12 } catch (JsonSyntaxException e) {
13 return "Error: " + e.getMessage();
14 }
15 }
16
17 public static void main(String[] args) {
18 String rawJSON = "{\"name\":\"John\",\"age\":30,\"city\":\"New York\"}";
19 System.out.println(formatJSON(rawJSON));
20 }
21}
221// PHP JSON formatting
2function formatJSON($jsonString) {
3 $result = json_decode($jsonString);
4 if (json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {
5 return "Error: " . json_last_error_msg();
6 }
7 return json_encode($result, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
8}
9
10// Example usage
11$rawJSON = '{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}';
12echo formatJSON($rawJSON);
131# Ruby JSON formatting
2require 'json'
3
4def format_json(json_string)
5 begin
6 parsed_data = JSON.parse(json_string)
7 return JSON.pretty_generate(parsed_data)
8 rescue JSON::ParserError => e
9 return "Error: #{e.message}"
10 end
11end
12
13# Example usage
14raw_json = '{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}'
15puts format_json(raw_json)
161// C# JSON formatting with Newtonsoft.Json
2using Newtonsoft.Json;
3using System;
4
5class JSONFormatter
6{
7 public static string FormatJSON(string jsonString)
8 {
9 try
10 {
11 object parsedJson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonString);
12 return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(parsedJson, Formatting.Indented);
13 }
14 catch (JsonException e)
15 {
16 return $"Error: {e.Message}";
17 }
18 }
19
20 static void Main()
21 {
22 string rawJSON = "{\"name\":\"John\",\"age\":30,\"city\":\"New York\"}";
23 Console.WriteLine(FormatJSON(rawJSON));
24 }
25}
261// Go JSON formatting
2package main
3
4import (
5 "encoding/json"
6 "fmt"
7)
8
9func formatJSON(jsonString string) string {
10 var parsedData interface{}
11 err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(jsonString), &parsedData)
12 if err != nil {
13 return fmt.Sprintf("Error: %s", err.Error())
14 }
15
16 formattedBytes, err := json.MarshalIndent(parsedData, "", " ")
17 if err != nil {
18 return fmt.Sprintf("Error: %s", err.Error())
19 }
20
21 return string(formattedBytes)
22}
23
24func main() {
25 rawJSON := `{"name":"John","age":30,"city":"New York"}`
26 fmt.Println(formatJSON(rawJSON))
27}
28When working with JSON formatting, be aware of these potential challenges:
Very large JSON files (several megabytes or more) can cause performance issues in browser-based formatters. For such cases:
jqExtremely nested JSON (more than 10-20 levels deep) can become difficult to navigate even when formatted. In these cases:
JSON supports Unicode, but some formatters may have issues with certain characters:
JSON doesn't specify precision for numbers, which can lead to issues with very large integers or floating-point values:
Valid JSON includes empty objects {} and arrays [], which should be properly formatted:
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