Convert Python Dict to JSON on the Command Line With Sed

Plenty of times I’ve run into logging Python dict and needing to convert them to JSON for whatever reason. Have run into this across numerous projects and working with a variety of people who have stumbled into the same issue.

What needs to change exactly?

" -> \"
' -> "
True -> true
False -> false
None -> null

Convert Python dict to JSON with sed 🔗︎

1. Save your data into file.txt.

2. sed it up.

   echo -e "\n" && sed 's/"/\\"/g;  s/'\''/\"/g; s/True/true/g; s/False/false/g; s/None/null/g' file.txt && echo -e "\n"
   

If you’d prefer to have the json in a file: sed 's/"/\\"/g; s/'\''/\"/g; s/True/true/g; s/False/false/g; s/None/null/g' file.txt > file.json

A common question after this would be “Can I have it automatically get filled without copying?” - yes you can! A thread on how to send stdout to clipboard . Takeway:

• Linux - you’ll need to install a utility for it.
• Mac - you have pbcopy and pbpaste built in.

In the future it would be nice to be able to paste directly and pipe through sed and have the output end up back in my clipboard, but that will have to wait for another day.