"SyntaxError: Unexpected token :" when inputting { "a": "", "b": "" } json in console
You can't execute JSON in the console. The JavaScript engine thinks its a block statement, with a label.
So this:
{ "a": "", "b": ""}is interpreted as a block statement. The Next, the "a": part is interpreted as a label. The "", "b"part is interpreted as an expression (two string literals and a comma operator in-between). Now the second : character is invalid in that position..."a" is interpreted as a string literal, and the : is not valid at that position.
You work with JSON like so:
- You put it in a
.jsonfile, - You retrieve it via Ajax as a string,
- You parse the string into an object with
JSON.parse().
(You can also keep JSON data as a string in a variable, for instance, or in the localStorage object. Either way, in regard to JavaScript, JSON data should always come as a string value.)
Actually, for one-off testing (my main use of the debug console), you can enter JSON object syntax, but you have to assign it to a variable:
> var x ={ "a": "", "b": "" }undefined> xObject a: "" b: "" __proto__: Object