Sometimes I query a REST interface directly on the server and get back an unformatted JSON. Depending on how much data is returned, this can quickly become confusing.
curl https://randomuser.me/api/
{"results":[{"gender":"male","name":{"title":"Mr","first":"Carter","last":"Williams"},"location":{"street":{"number":1635,"name":"Dufferin St"},"city":"Hudson","state":"Ontario","country":"Canada","postcode":"H2F 5L3","coordinates":{"latitude":"-68.5900","longitude":"-38.5204"},"timezone":{"offset":"-1:00","description":"Azores, Cape Verde Islands"}},"email":"carter.williams@example.com","login":{"uuid":"3f6266a7-2a5f-4ed5-b337-a1bbc59758ed","username":"brownkoala677","password":"carnage","salt":"iNv04YwD","md5":"d6b23b66b183fca53934955f4bf0231c","sha1":"1db40ee7b1fa190f4a52ac31b4c49d6c2649fe5c","sha256":"a697835fa4480a6b34ba7824f8fbbc923e3099e83bdc850f6005da3398a2a57e"},"dob":{"date":"1950-06-04T14:00:22.760Z","age":72},"registered":{"date":"2016-11-04T21:42:53.080Z","age":5},"phone":"U35 M35-9817","cell":"R62 H80-0869","id":{"name":"SIN","value":"087936068"},"picture":{"large":"https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/men/74.jpg","medium":"https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/med/men/74.jpg","thumbnail":"https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/thumb/men/74.jpg"},"nat":"CA"}],"info":{"seed":"d54490113ba47447","results":1,"page":1,"version":"1.4"}}
The solution
In most Linux distributions Python3 is already included and exactly this helps to format the JSON pretty. To do this, simply pass the JSON as text into the python3 module 'json.tool'.
curl -s https://randomuser.me/api/ | python3 -m json.tool
{
"results": [
{
"gender": "female",
"name": {
"title": "Mrs",
"first": "Romena",
"last": "Nikitenko"
},
"location": {
"street": {
"number": 4480,
"name": "Ievgena Grebinki"
},
"city": "Blagovishchenske",
"state": "Zaporizka",
"country": "Ukraine",
"postcode": 14660,
"coordinates": {
"latitude": "75.6031",
"longitude": "18.2593"
},
"timezone": {
"offset": "+9:30",
"description": "Adelaide, Darwin"
}
},
"email": "romena.nikitenko@example.com",
"login": {
"uuid": "b95e7514-0623-4e0e-877a-ceb5c6c33379",
"username": "redsnake895",
"password": "interacial",
"salt": "zlp6c7HD",
"md5": "0781a4fddd13bc0dae3a3ad5ad65a8a3",
"sha1": "79b681e40452c58979fcadcdf7a65699dd75372e",
"sha256": "50211d3441249352e7ea5c2b69e05620981ac4ce5eaf9514da162c6808de420c"
},
"dob": {
"date": "1987-01-12T13:16:02.912Z",
"age": 35
},
"registered": {
"date": "2009-09-23T09:50:21.873Z",
"age": 13
},
"phone": "(068) T21-2459",
"cell": "(097) T89-0021",
"id": {
"name": "",
"value": null
},
"picture": {
"large": "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/women/73.jpg",
"medium": "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/med/women/73.jpg",
"thumbnail": "https://randomuser.me/api/portraits/thumb/women/73.jpg"
},
"nat": "UA"
}
],
"info": {
"seed": "2f740ac58da5a06a",
"results": 1,
"page": 1,
"version": "1.4"
}
}
