6 ms·

Pretty-printing JSON and XML on Mac OSX

32 points by rickette 15y ago

pamelafox 15y ago
My personal toolkit: JSONView Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chklaanhfefbnpoihckbnefhakgolnmc https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chklaanhfefbnpoihc... XML Tree Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbammbheopgpmaagmckhpjbfgdfkpadb https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbammbheopgpmaagmc... And JSONlint.com to copy/paste JSON from wherever: http://jsonlint.com/ http://jsonlint.com/ Also love that Chrome dev tools now pretty prints JSON returned from XHRs in the network response tab.
xerxes2001 15y ago
Hey! Why not use https://github.com/nicksieger/jsonpretty https://github.com/nicksieger/jsonpretty for pretty printing JSON?
- georgebashi 15y ago
  Because these work out-of-the-box on an installation of Snow Leopard or Lion - or in fact, any machine with python 2.6 and/or libxml2, which includes the latest Ubuntu LTS release. There's definitely better tools out there if you're willing to install something - but these are great when you're in a pinch.
forgotusername 15y ago
`tidy` also comes out of the box on OS X. It handles HTML too. tidy -xml -q -i < in.xml | less etc.
_djo_ 15y ago
Just be aware that xmllint cleans up XML as well as formatting it, which can in rare circumstances cause some confusion. So if the incoming XML had an empty tag specified as <tag></tag> xmllint will turn it into <tag/>. If you're specifically looking for <tag></tag> for some reason, then that could trip you up. Shouldn't matter 99% of the time though.
Groxx 15y ago
You could also just pipe it back into the clipboard with | pbcopy :) A neat set of tricks, hopefully they'll replace jsonlint.com in my brain, and soon :)
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  pbcopy/pbpaste are handy enough to point out on their own merit. Handy little timesavers.
npollock 15y ago
IMO, the best way to spend $50 is on a Charles license - http://www.charlesproxy.com/ http://www.charlesproxy.com/ It's saved me countless hours debugging web services, be it JSON, XML, AMF, you name it. There's a free 30 day trial, and it runs on Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux.
georgecalm 15y ago
Nice! You can set up the following aliases in ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc): alias json="python -mjson.tool" alias xml="xmllint --format -" then pipe into them like so: echo '{"one": 1}' | json echo "<one>1</one>" | xml
jgavris 15y ago
I like the jsonview firefox plugin :)

32 points by rickette 15y ago

My personal toolkit: JSONView Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chklaanhfefbnpoihckbnefhakgolnmc https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chklaanhfefbnpoihc... XML Tree Chrome Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbammbheopgpmaagmckhpjbfgdfkpadb https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gbammbheopgpmaagmc... And JSONlint.com to copy/paste JSON from wherever: http://jsonlint.com/ http://jsonlint.com/ Also love that Chrome dev tools now pretty prints JSON returned from XHRs in the network response tab.

xerxes2001 15y ago

Hey! Why not use https://github.com/nicksieger/jsonpretty https://github.com/nicksieger/jsonpretty for pretty printing JSON?

georgebashi 15y ago
Because these work out-of-the-box on an installation of Snow Leopard or Lion - or in fact, any machine with python 2.6 and/or libxml2, which includes the latest Ubuntu LTS release. There's definitely better tools out there if you're willing to install something - but these are great when you're in a pinch.

forgotusername 15y ago

`tidy` also comes out of the box on OS X. It handles HTML too. tidy -xml -q -i < in.xml | less etc.

_djo_ 15y ago

Just be aware that xmllint cleans up XML as well as formatting it, which can in rare circumstances cause some confusion. So if the incoming XML had an empty tag specified as <tag></tag> xmllint will turn it into <tag/>. If you're specifically looking for <tag></tag> for some reason, then that could trip you up. Shouldn't matter 99% of the time though.

Groxx 15y ago

You could also just pipe it back into the clipboard with | pbcopy :) A neat set of tricks, hopefully they'll replace jsonlint.com in my brain, and soon :)

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
pbcopy/pbpaste are handy enough to point out on their own merit. Handy little timesavers.

npollock 15y ago

IMO, the best way to spend $50 is on a Charles license - http://www.charlesproxy.com/ http://www.charlesproxy.com/ It's saved me countless hours debugging web services, be it JSON, XML, AMF, you name it. There's a free 30 day trial, and it runs on Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux.

georgecalm 15y ago

Nice! You can set up the following aliases in ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc): alias json="python -mjson.tool" alias xml="xmllint --format -" then pipe into them like so: echo '{"one": 1}' | json echo "<one>1</one>" | xml

jgavris 15y ago

I like the jsonview firefox plugin :)