To correctly add data to the JSON file, you must first read the original content, merge the new data, and then write it back as a whole. Common operation steps are as follows: 1. Read the contents of the JSON file to memory; 2. Append new data to the existing data structure (such as lists or dictionaries); 3. Rewrite the updated data to the file to overwrite the original content. For cases where the file does not exist or is empty, the exception should be caught and the empty list should be initialized before processing. If the JSON structure is a dictionary, you need to locate the specific key before adding it to ensure the correct format and avoid errors.
When processing data, you often encounter situations where you need to append new data to a JSON file. But many people may be a little confused at the beginning, because JSON files are not directly append like normal text. Simply put: you need to read the original content first, then merge the new data, and finally write it back.

The following are several common situations to explain how to operate.
How to correctly add data to a JSON file
First, let’s confirm the structure of your JSON file. In most cases, what you want to deal with is a JSON array or dictionary. For example, if you want to record some user information, the file may look like this:

[ {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}, {"name": "Bob", "age": 30} ]
Now I want to add a new user, Charlie, age 28. The following methods are:
- Open and read the file content (using
json.load()
) - Add new data with
append()
- Rewrite the entire list back to the file
Sample code:

import json new_data = {"name": "Charlie", "age": 28} with open("data.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: data = json.load(f) data.append(new_data) f.seek(0) # Go back to the beginning of the file json.dump(data, f, indent=4)
Note: f.seek(0)
is to overwrite the original content, rather than appending it at the end to cause a format error.
What to do if the file does not exist or is empty
Sometimes you are not sure if the file exists or it may be empty. At this time, a direct reading will result in an error, such as json.decoder.JSONDecodeError
appears.
The solution is to initialize an empty list after the read failed:
import json import os new_data = {"name": "Dave", "age": 35} if os.path.exists("data.json"): with open("data.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: try: data = json.load(f) except json.JSONDecodeError: data = [] data.append(new_data) f.seek(0) json.dump(data, f, indent=4) else: with open("data.json", "w", encoding="utf-8") as f: json.dump([new_data], f, indent=4)
This way, regardless of whether the file has or not, it can be processed safely.
How to process data with different structures
The above examples are all about adding objects to the array. If your JSON file is a dictionary, like this:
{ "users": [ {"name": "Alice", "age": 25}, {"name": "Bob", "age": 30} ] }
Then you need to access the "users"
key and append
in:
new_user = {"name": "Eve", "age": 27} with open("data.json", "r", encoding="utf-8") as f: data = json.load(f) data["users"].append(new_user) f.seek(0) json.dump(data, f, indent=4)
This structure is clearer and easier to scale, and is suitable for saving data from multiple categories.
Basically these are the ways to operate. Although it doesn't seem complicated, it is easy to make mistakes if you are not careful, such as forgetting to clear the file, wrong structure, resulting in parsing failure, etc. Just remember: read out, modify the content, and write back to avoid most problems.
The above is the detailed content of Python append to JSON file. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

Hot AI Tools

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

Notepad++7.3.1
Easy-to-use and free code editor

SublimeText3 Chinese version
Chinese version, very easy to use

Zend Studio 13.0.1
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

Hot Topics

There are three common methods to traverse Map in Java: 1. Use entrySet to obtain keys and values at the same time, which is suitable for most scenarios; 2. Use keySet or values to traverse keys or values respectively; 3. Use Java8's forEach to simplify the code structure. entrySet returns a Set set containing all key-value pairs, and each loop gets the Map.Entry object, suitable for frequent access to keys and values; if only keys or values are required, you can call keySet() or values() respectively, or you can get the value through map.get(key) when traversing the keys; Java 8 can use forEach((key,value)->

Optional can clearly express intentions and reduce code noise for null judgments. 1. Optional.ofNullable is a common way to deal with null objects. For example, when taking values ??from maps, orElse can be used to provide default values, so that the logic is clearer and concise; 2. Use chain calls maps to achieve nested values ??to safely avoid NPE, and automatically terminate if any link is null and return the default value; 3. Filter can be used for conditional filtering, and subsequent operations will continue to be performed only if the conditions are met, otherwise it will jump directly to orElse, which is suitable for lightweight business judgment; 4. It is not recommended to overuse Optional, such as basic types or simple logic, which will increase complexity, and some scenarios will directly return to nu.

The core workaround for encountering java.io.NotSerializableException is to ensure that all classes that need to be serialized implement the Serializable interface and check the serialization support of nested objects. 1. Add implementsSerializable to the main class; 2. Ensure that the corresponding classes of custom fields in the class also implement Serializable; 3. Use transient to mark fields that do not need to be serialized; 4. Check the non-serialized types in collections or nested objects; 5. Check which class does not implement the interface; 6. Consider replacement design for classes that cannot be modified, such as saving key data or using serializable intermediate structures; 7. Consider modifying

JavaSocket programming is the basis of network communication, and data exchange between clients and servers is realized through Socket. 1. Socket in Java is divided into the Socket class used by the client and the ServerSocket class used by the server; 2. When writing a Socket program, you must first start the server listening port, and then initiate the connection by the client; 3. The communication process includes connection establishment, data reading and writing, and stream closure; 4. Precautions include avoiding port conflicts, correctly configuring IP addresses, reasonably closing resources, and supporting multiple clients. Mastering these can realize basic network communication functions.

In Java, Comparable is used to define default sorting rules internally, and Comparator is used to define multiple sorting logic externally. 1.Comparable is an interface implemented by the class itself. It defines the natural order by rewriting the compareTo() method. It is suitable for classes with fixed and most commonly used sorting methods, such as String or Integer. 2. Comparator is an externally defined functional interface, implemented through the compare() method, suitable for situations where multiple sorting methods are required for the same class, the class source code cannot be modified, or the sorting logic is often changed. The difference between the two is that Comparable can only define a sorting logic and needs to modify the class itself, while Compar

Method reference is a way to simplify the writing of Lambda expressions in Java, making the code more concise. It is not a new syntax, but a shortcut to Lambda expressions introduced by Java 8, suitable for the context of functional interfaces. The core is to use existing methods directly as implementations of functional interfaces. For example, System.out::println is equivalent to s->System.out.println(s). There are four main forms of method reference: 1. Static method reference (ClassName::staticMethodName); 2. Instance method reference (binding to a specific object, instance::methodName); 3.

To deal with character encoding problems in Java, the key is to clearly specify the encoding used at each step. 1. Always specify encoding when reading and writing text, use InputStreamReader and OutputStreamWriter and pass in an explicit character set to avoid relying on system default encoding. 2. Make sure both ends are consistent when processing strings on the network boundary, set the correct Content-Type header and explicitly specify the encoding with the library. 3. Use String.getBytes() and newString(byte[]) with caution, and always manually specify StandardCharsets.UTF_8 to avoid data corruption caused by platform differences. In short, by

There are three common ways to parse JSON in Java: use Jackson, Gson, or org.json. 1. Jackson is suitable for most projects, with good performance and comprehensive functions, and supports conversion and annotation mapping between objects and JSON strings; 2. Gson is more suitable for Android projects or lightweight needs, and is simple to use but slightly inferior in handling complex structures and high-performance scenarios; 3.org.json is suitable for simple tasks or small scripts, and is not recommended for large projects because of its lack of flexibility and type safety. The choice should be decided based on actual needs.
