convert json to a list of key/values

straighten_json.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
    convert json to a flattened list of key/values
    example: data = {
                        "a": [
                            {
                                "key1": 1
                            },
                            {
                                "key2": 2
                            }
                        ]
                    }
            will be converted to a list of key/value pairs:
            [
                [data["a"][0]["key1"], 1],
                [data["a"][1]["key2"], 2]
            ]
    author: rpetrenko
"""
import json
from pprint import pprint
import argparse


def read_file(fname):
    print "Original json:"
    with open(fname) as json_data:
        data = json.load(json_data)
        json_data.close()
        pprint(data)
    return data

OUTPUT = []

# disable if no need in empty lists
SKIP_EMPTY_DATA = not True


def _x(s, d):
    if type(d) in [dict, list] and not SKIP_EMPTY_DATA and len(d) == 0:
        OUTPUT.append([s, d])
    if type(d) == dict:
        for k, v in d.items():
            _x("%s[\"%s\"]" % (s, k), v)
    elif type(d) == list:
        for i in range(len(d)):
            _x("%s[%s]" % (s, i), d[i])
    else:
        OUTPUT.append([s, d])


if __name__ == "__main__":
    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument('filename', help='file name with json data')
    args = parser.parse_args()
    out_js = read_file(args.filename)
    _x("out_js", out_js)
    print "Flattened json as a list of key/values:"
    for line in OUTPUT:
        k, v = line
        if eval(k) == v:
            print k, '=', v
        else:
            print "[%s][%s]" % (type(eval(k)), type(v))
            print "[%s][%s]" % (eval(k), v)
            assert eval(k) == v
    print "list size", len(OUTPUT)

cool