155 – json CLI

The module json is your go-to tool when working with files or data in JSON format. In Python 3.14, the module got a new CLI that allows you to validate and pretty-print JSON data directly from the command line.

For example, if the file mydata.json contains the following data:

{
    "isActive": true,
    "balance": "$2,186.98",
    "age": 33
}

Then, the json CLI can be used to turn the JSON data into a more compact format by using its option --compact while also ordering keys:

$ python -m json mydata.json --compact --sort-keys

The output produced is the following:

{"age":33,"balance":"$2,186.98","isActive":true}

The prefix python -m json is the command you use to run the CLI of the module json; mydata.json specifies the input file; --compact is a flag that suppresses all whitespace separation; and --sort-keys sorts keys in dictionaries alphabetically.

Run python -m json --help to see all the options and flags that the CLI supports.