How To Convert A .csv File Into A .json File

James Phoenix
James Phoenix

Depending upon your situation, you might need to change file formats to correctly upload your data into another platform. This can easily be achieved with Python with the pandas package.


!pip install pandas
import pandas as pd
import json

. . .

Firstly you can load .csv data in pandas with:

pd.read_csv('some_filename.csv')
df = pd.read_csv('ice-cream-example.csv')
df
Ice Cream TypeGBP Price
0Vanilla3.50
1Chocolate2.50
2Strawberry2.25

Then you can transform it into json:

.to_json()

json_data = df.to_json()

print(json_data)
{"Ice Cream Type":{"0":"Vanilla","1":"Chocolate","2":"Strawberry"},"GBP Price":{"0":3.5,"1":2.5,"2":2.25}}

It’s also possible to change the structure of the json data returned by modifying the orient parameter.

For Series objects the default is ‘index’ and the allowed values are:

  • ‘split’
  • ‘records’
  • ‘index’
  • ‘table’

For DataFrames, the default is ‘columns’ and the allowed values are:

  • ‘split’
  • ‘records’
  • ‘index’
  • ‘columns’
  • ‘values’
  • ‘table’
df.to_json(orient='records')
'[{"Ice Cream Type":"Vanilla","GBP Price":3.5},{"Ice Cream Type":"Chocolate","GBP Price":2.5},{"Ice Cream Type":"Strawberry","GBP Price":2.25}]'
df.to_json(orient='index')
'{"0":{"Ice Cream Type":"Vanilla","GBP Price":3.5},"1":{"Ice Cream Type":"Chocolate","GBP Price":2.5},"2":{"Ice Cream Type":"Strawberry","GBP Price":2.25}}'

By including a file name inside of the .to_json() method, the json will be automatically saved:

Leanpub Book

Read The Meta-Engineer

A practical book on building autonomous AI systems with Claude Code, context engineering, verification loops, and production harnesses.

Continuously updated
Claude Code + agentic systems
View Book
df.to_json(path_or_buf='saved_data.json' , orient='records')

Alternatively if we don’t include a file name in the path_or_buf parameter, then the result returned from to_json() is a string, which we can easily turn into a local json file with:

with open('json_example.json', 'w') as f:
    json.dump(json_data, f)
Topics
Python For SEO

Newsletter

Become a better AI engineer

Weekly deep dives on production AI systems, context engineering, and the patterns that compound. No fluff, no tutorials. Just what works.

Join 306K+ developers. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.


More Insights

Cover Image for How to Easily Translate High Fidelity Prototypes into Functional Apps

How to Easily Translate High Fidelity Prototypes into Functional Apps

Vague specs do not converge. Scalar loss functions do. If you can hand the agent a number that says “you are 0.66 wrong,” it will close the gap on its own.

James Phoenix
James Phoenix
Cover Image for The Four-Layer Wall Around Your Library’s Public API

The Four-Layer Wall Around Your Library’s Public API

When an agent loop writes most of your library, the largest risk is not a bug in a feature. It is the loop helpfully exporting an internal helper, an experimental type, or a half-finished module. Once that ships in a minor release, you own it forever. Four package-level layers stop the loop from doing this without anyone having to remember.

James Phoenix
James Phoenix