Last Updated: September 29, 2021

Convert JSON string to Pretty Print (Java, Gson)

This is the method to convert a JSON string to a pretty print version.

/**
 * Convert a JSON string to pretty print version
 * @param jsonString
 * @return
 */
 public static String toPrettyFormat(String jsonString) 
 {
 JsonParser parser = new JsonParser();
 JsonObject json = parser.parse(jsonString).getAsJsonObject();

 Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
 String prettyJson = gson.toJson(json);

 return prettyJson;
 }

The way to use it:

@Test
public void testPrettyPrint()
{
 String compactJson = "{\"playerID\":1234,\"name\":\"Test\",\"itemList\":[{\"itemID\":1,\"name\":\"Axe\",\"atk\":12,\"def\":0},{\"itemID\":2,\"name\":\"Sword\",\"atk\":5,\"def\":5},{\"itemID\":3,\"name\":\"Shield\",\"atk\":0,\"def\":10}]}";

 String prettyJson = toPrettyFormat(compactJson);

 System.out.println("Compact:\n" + compactJson);
 System.out.println("Pretty:\n" + prettyJson);
}

Sample Output:

Picture

#json

#java

#gson