# How to adjust string into item in JSON structure

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** strings, json\
**Created:** [January 7, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988 "2021-01-07T13:27:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Laco\_Kovac](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/laco_kovac/32/20684_2.png) [@Laco\_Kovac](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Laco_Kovac)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988/1 "2021-01-07T13:27:50Z")

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My code is validating input json using JSONSchema.isvalid  
If it is not valid, code takes string returned by JSONSchema.diagnose and it should return that string as json containing error.  
The code looks like this:

```julia
diagnosis = JSONSchema.diagnose(dict, schema)
jsonToReturn = JSON3.read("""{"error":"$diagnosis"}""")

```

But diagnosis variable could contain string as below:

```julia
Validation failed:
path: [configuration][maxModelComplexity]
instance: 0
schema key: minimum
schema value: 1

```

In such case, JSON3.read throws error:

`ArgumentError: encountered unescaped control character in json: '\n'`

So I modified JSON3.read as:

`jsonToReturn = JSON3.read("""{"error":"$(replace(diagnosis, "\n" => "\\\\n"))"}""")`

That works well for the validation error described above, however, error string could be more complicated:

```julia
Validation failed:
path: [configuration][inSample]
instance: Any[Dict{String,Any}("to" => "2021-01-07T11:12:32.070Z","from" => "2021-01-07T11:12:32.070Z")]
schema key: type
schema value: object

```

In such case, code with replace(diagnosis, “\n” =\> “\\n”) is insufficient and I am getting error:

```julia
ArgumentError: invalid JSON at byte position 110 while parsing type JSON3.Object: ExpectedComma
       Any[Dict{String,Any}("to" => "2021-01-07T11:12:3

```

Is there some generic string function I could use to convert input string (validation failure explanation) into string I could use in JSON3.read (instead that simple replace call)?

Thank you.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tro3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tro3/32/12355_2.png) [@tro3](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tro3)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988/2 "2021-01-07T16:06:26Z")

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I think the issue is that you have quotes inside your converted string. So JSON looks like:

```julia
{"error":"Any[Dict{String,Any}("to" => "2021-01-07T11:12:32.070Z","from" => "2021-01-07T11:12:32.070Z")]"}
                               ^ ^ ^ ....etc

```

Maybe try a `replace(diagnosis, "\"" => "\\\"")`?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Laco\_Kovac](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/laco_kovac/32/20684_2.png) [@Laco\_Kovac](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Laco_Kovac)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 4:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988/3 "2021-01-07T16:39:12Z")

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Thank you, yes, that solves the situation. I need escaping both \n and " character.  
However, I still wonder whether there may be lurking some other characters I don’t see yet lurking validation testing.  
Isn’t there some generic JSON string function which would adjust this without me worrying about other escape cases?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tro3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tro3/32/12355_2.png) [@tro3](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/tro3)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/how-to-adjust-string-into-item-in-json-structure/52988/4 "2021-01-07T16:57:27Z")

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Not that I know of, but I don’t know the JSON utils very well, so I’m not a good source.