json_problem

json_problem.py

# I have a json file which looks something like this
#
# {
#     "a.a" : "hello",
#     "a.b" : "world",
#     "a.c.a" : 4,
#     "a.c.b" : 5.5,
#     "a.c.c.a" : "hi",
#     "a.c.c.b" : "again",
#     "b.a.a" : 6,
#     "b.a.b" : 7.0,
#     "c.a[0]" : 6,
#     "c.a[1]" : 7,
#     "c.a[2]" : 8,
#     "c.b.a" : 9,
#     "c.c[0].a" : 10,
#     "c.c[0].b" : 11,
#     "c.c[1].a" : 12,
#     "c.c[1].b" : 13,
#     "d.a[0][0].a" : 1,
#     "d.a[0][0].b" : 11,
#     "d.a[0][1].a" : 2,
#     "d.a[0][1].b" : 22,
#     "d.a[1][0].a" : 3,
#     "d.a[1][0].b" : 33,
#     "d.a[1][1].a" : 4,
#     "d.a[1][1].b" : 44,
#     "e[0][0]" : 1,
#     "e[0][1]" : 2,
#     "e[1][0]" : 3,
#     "e[1][1]" : 4
# } 

# you catch the drift
# I can read this in easily and deserialise it to a dict:

the_dict = {
    "a.a" : "hello",
    "a.b" : "world",
    "a.c.a" : 4,
    "a.c.b" : 5.5,
    "a.c.c.a" : "hi",
    "a.c.c.b" : "again",
    "b.a.a" : 6,
    "b.a.b" : 7.0,
    "c.a[0]" : 6,
    "c.a[1]" : 7,
    "c.a[2]" : 8,
    "c.b.a" : 9,
    "c.c[0].a" : 10,
    "c.c[0].b" : 11,
    "c.c[1].a" : 12,
    "c.c[1].b" : 13,
    "d.a[0][0].a" : 1,
    "d.a[0][0].b" : 11,
    "d.a[0][1].a" : 2,
    "d.a[0][1].b" : 22,
    "d.a[1][0].a" : 3,
    "d.a[1][0].b" : 33,
    "d.a[1][1].a" : 4,
    "d.a[1][1].b" : 44,
    "e[0][0]" : 1,
    "e[0][1]" : 2,
    "e[1][0]" : 3,
    "e[1][1]" : 4
}

# what i want to be able to do is have a function which will take this
# dict and convert it to a new dictionary which can then be easily
# serialised into a json file
# which looks more like this:

# {
#   "a": { 
#     "a" : "hello",
#     "b" : "world",
#     "c" : {
#       "a" : 4,
#       "b" : 5.5,
#       "c" : {
#         "a" : "hi",
#         "b" : "again"
#       }
#     }
#   },
#   "b" : {
#     "a" : {
#       "a" : 6,
#       "b" : 7.0
#     }
#   },
#   "c" : {
#     "a" : [6, 7, 8],
#     "b" : {
#       "a" : 9
#     },
#     "c" : [
#       {
#         "a" : 10,
#         "b" : 11
#       },
#       {
#         "a" : 12,
#         "b" : 13
#       }
#     ]   
#   }
#   "d" : {
#     "a" : [
#       [
#         {
#           "a" : 1,
#           "b" : 11
#         },
#         {
#           "a" : 2,
#           "b" : 22
#         }
#       ],
#       [
#         {
#           "a" : 3,
#           "b" : 33
#         },
#         {
#           "a" : 4,
#           "b" : 44
#         }
#       ]
#     ]
#   },
#   "e" : [[1,2], [3,4]] 
# }

def old_dict_to_new_dict(old_dict):
    # do magic
    new_dict = the_dict.copy()
    return new_dict


new_dict = old_dict_to_new_dict(the_dict)