Convert string which is read from a file to json object in nodejs

Question

I am reading a string from a file and want to convert it into a json object File content: {name:"sda"}

Code:

var fs=require('fs');
var dir='./folder/';
fs.readdir(dir,function(err,files){
 if (err) throw err;
 files.forEach(function(file){
 fs.readFile(dir+file,'utf-8',function(err,jsonData){
 if (err) throw err;
 var content=jsonData;
 var data=JSON.stringify(content);
 console.log(data);
 });
 });

But I am getting this output: {name:\"sda\"}

Answer 1

Since your file is not a valid JSON, you can use eval (it's a dirty hack but it works), example :

data = '{name:"sda"}';
eval('foo = ' + data);
console.log(foo);

• bangali babu: can't use eval can u give me any other way
• Shanoor: I'm curious, why can't you use eval? It's the quickest way, the other way implies to parse your invalid "json" and build an object from it. Something like that: jsbin.com/xexohejuzu/edit?js,output

Answer 2

In addition to JSON.stringify() method which converts a JavaScript value to a JSON string, you can also use JSON.parse() method which parses a string as JSON:

fs.readFile(dir+file,'utf-8',function(err, jsonData){
 if (err) throw err; 
 var content = JSON.stringify(jsonData);
 console.log(content);
 var data = JSON.parse(content);
 console.log(data);
});

Check the demo below.

var jsonData = '{name:"sda"}',
 content = JSON.stringify(jsonData),
 data = JSON.parse(content);
pre.innerHTML = JSON.stringify(data, null, 4);

<pre id="pre"></pre>

• bangali babu: cant do JSON.parse because it is not in json format When i am doing that i am getting this error:- Unexpected token name
• chridam: In that case use a combination of the two methods, I've updated my answer to reflect this.