Python JSON encoding

Python lists translate to JSON arrays. What it is giving you is a perfectly valid JSON string that could be used in a Javascript application. To get what you expected, you would need to use a dict:

>>> json.dumps({'apple': 'cat', 'banana':'dog', 'pear':'fish'})'{"pear": "fish", "apple": "cat", "banana": "dog"}'

I think you are simply exchanging dumps and loads.

>>> import json>>> data = [['apple', 'cat'], ['banana', 'dog'], ['pear', 'fish']]

The first returns as a (JSON encoded) string its data argument:

>>> encoded_str = json.dumps( data )>>> encoded_str'[["apple", "cat"], ["banana", "dog"], ["pear", "fish"]]'

The second does the opposite, returning the data corresponding to its (JSON encoded) string argument:

>>> decoded_data = json.loads( encoded_str )>>> decoded_data[[u'apple', u'cat'], [u'banana', u'dog'], [u'pear', u'fish']]>>> decoded_data == dataTrue

In simplejson (or the library json in Python 2.6 and later), loads takes a JSON string and returns a Python data structure, dumps takes a Python data structure and returns a JSON string. JSON string can encode Javascript arrays, not just objects, and a Python list corresponds to a JSON string encoding an array. To get a JSON string such as

{"apple":"cat", "banana":"dog"}

the Python object you pass to json.dumps could be:

dict(apple="cat", banana="dog")

though the JSON string is also valid Python syntax for the same dict. I believe the specific string you say you expect is simply invalid JSON syntax, however.