Convert JSON to dot notation with Python

There are many use cases for converting JSON to a dot notation. For example, my current company used Hue to query our log data. Our logs are stored in JSON, and Hue queries expect a dot notation.

For example, this JSON file

{
    "vehicle": {
        "car": {
            "bmw": true,
            "audi": 1,
            "ford": "also good"
        },
        "truck": {
            "all": "cool"
        }
    }
}
Code language: JSON / JSON with Comments (json)

Will look like this, when converted to dot notation:

$.vehicle.car.ford : also good
$.vehicle.car.bmw : True
$.vehicle.car.audi : 1
$.vehicle.truck.all : cool
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Note, I am starting everything with $. because this is how Hue expects it. This part may need to be modify for other use cases.

I wrote the following Python code to convert JSON to dot notation. It will:

1. Get data from clipboard
2. Convert it to dot notation
3. Print converted data

Here is the code:

#! /usr/bin/env python
import json
import pyperclip

def getKeys(val, old="$"):
    if isinstance(val, dict):
        for k in val.keys():
            getKeys(val[k], old + "." + str(k))
    elif isinstance(val, list):
        for i,k in enumerate(val):
            getKeys(k, old + "." + str(i))
    else:
        print("{} : {}".format(old,str(val)))

data = json.loads(pyperclip.paste())
getKeys(data)
Code language: PHP (php)

It has one external library dependency, which will need to be installed via pip install pyperclip. I use pyperclip, because it works consistently across different operating systems.

I saved the file as json-to-dot-notation in my local ~/bin directory, which is added to my linux PATH. Now I can just copy any JSON, run json-to-dot-notation and see the data outputted in dot notation.