As we all know, a JSON file is a file that uses the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format to store data. It is a structured text format that uses key-value pairs to represent data. A JSON file usually contains a root object that can contain multiple nested objects, arrays, and primitive data types.
JSONL files (JSON Lines) are text file formats with an independent JSON object per line. Each line is a valid JSON object, which is different from json's "list dict". For jsonl, there is no "list", only one line of "dict", separated by line breaks. Compared to JSON files, JSONL files are lighter, with each behavior independent JSON object without commas or other separators. This advantage is that it is convenient for reading one line, and you don’t have to read all the "dicts" in the "list" at one time like json, which saves memory and increases readability. Ordinary json files will be messy after opening. For jsonl, you need to install a jsonlines package by pip.
Example of contents of JSON files:
[{"name": "John", "age": 30},
{"name": "Jane", "age": 25},
{"name": "Bob", "age": 40}]
Example of contents of JSONL files:
{"name": "John", "age": 30}
{"name": "Jane", "age": 25}
{"name": "Bob", "age": 40}
The main differences are as follows:
JSON file:
- Use braces {} to represent objects and square brackets [] to represent arrays.
- The entire file is a valid JSON object or array.
- Suitable for storing structured data, such as configuration files, API responses, etc.
- Read the entire file at once and parse it into a JSON object, and the data in it can be accessed randomly.
JSONL file:
- Each line is an independent valid JSON object.
- There are no commas or other separators between each line.
- Suitable for storing data recorded independently for each behavior, such as logs, sensor data, log lines, etc.
- Read the file line by line, parse the JSON object line by line, and process one line of data at a time.
JSONL files are suitable for:
- When data is stored independently in behavior units and there is no clear separator between each row of data.
- When data needs to be processed line by line to save memory and improve processing speed.
- When the amount of data is very large and cannot be loaded into memory at one time, the JSONL format provides a way to process data in a stream.
By comparison, JSON files are more suitable for structured data storage and transmission, while JSONL files are more suitable for data storage and processing independently recorded for each behavior.
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