JSON object not working when you use require in Nodejs

Question

I have a JSON object in a server.js file as:

var stores = { 
              1: { "name": "a", "region": "vic" },
              2: { "name": "b", "region": "nsw" }
             };

But I want to put this into an external JSON file as it is a huge list and use:

var stores = require('./storeData.json');

so I can still have stores[1]["name"] = "a" But, I am getting an error of:

SyntaxError: /home/username/Documents/storeData.json: Unexpected token :
    at Object.parse (native)
    at Object.Module._extensions..json (module.js:486:27)
    at Module.load (module.js:355:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:310:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:365:17)
    at require (module.js:384:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/username/Documents/server.js:18:14)
    at Module._compile (module.js:460:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:478:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:355:32)

I can't figure out how the JSON should be structured for this to work.

Put your json body in "jsonprettyprint.com" and see if it returns a proper json response or if it is returning null. I tried and it is returning null. Amadan's solution works, missing those quotes — jmathewt
– jmathewt, Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 17:17

Amadan · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-25 04:48:26Z

2

JSON is more specific than JS object syntax. In a JSON object representation, each key needs to be a string (and quoted):

{ 
  "1": { "name": "a", "region": "vic" },
  "2": { "name": "b", "region": "nsw" }
}

answered Sep 25, 2015 at 4:48

Amadan

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Comments

Nir Levy · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-25 04:49:02Z

0

you are not allowed to use numbers as keys in json you can do something like this

var stores = { 
              "1": { "name": "a", "region": "vic" },
              "2": { "name": "b", "region": "nsw" }
             };

answered Sep 25, 2015 at 4:49

Nir Levy

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2 Comments

Amadan Over a year ago

That is not JSON, that is JavaScript. And invalid JavaScript at that (JS does not allow for quotes in keys).

user2864740 Over a year ago

var stores = .. isn't valid JSON either.

nur farazi · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-25 10:03:45Z

0

try to use json collection (widely used) . and you must quoted each key to be a string formate or it Will give error. or if you want to keep your formate too you can just go with this

{ 
"1": { "name": "a", "region": "vic" },
"2": { "name": "b", "region": "nsw" }
}

edited Sep 25, 2015 at 10:03

answered Sep 25, 2015 at 5:02

nur farazi

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2 Comments

Nir Levy Over a year ago

this is wrong- it's redundant to change it to an array and changes the meaning (array is not the same as json object)

user2864740 Over a year ago

Not only is it 'redundant'.. but the end-effect is that it is invalid JSON.

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