SQLite json() Function

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the SQLite json() function to validate a JSON value and return a minified JSON value with unnecessary whitespace removed.

Introduction to SQLite json() function

The json() function validates a JSON value and returns its minified version with unnecessary whitespace removed.

json(json_value)Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this syntax:

• json_value is the JSON value that you want to validate.

If the json_value is valid, the json() function returns the minified version of the JSON value. Otherwise, it throws an error.

The json() function returns NULL if the json_value is NULL.

SQLite json() function examples

The following example uses the json() function to validate and return the minified version of a JSON value:

SELECT json('{"name": "Alice"     ,"age" : 25   }');Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Output:

{"name":"Alice","age":25}Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

In this example, the function returns the minified version of the input JSON value because the input JSON value is valid.

The following statement uses the json() function to validate a JSON but returns an error because the input JSON value is invalid:

SELECT json('{"name": "Alice"  "age" : 25}');Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The JSON in this example misses a comma between two properties "name" and "age".

Output:

Runtime error: malformed JSONCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

The following example uses the json() function with the NULL argument:

SELECT json(null);Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Output:

json(null)
----------
NULLCode language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Summary

• Use the json() function to validate and return the minified version of the input JSON value with unnecessary whitespace removed.