# Error in parsing Pretty Json Data

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-parsing-pretty-json-data/293103>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [December 29, 2021, 10:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-parsing-pretty-json-data/293103 "2021-12-29T10:46:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-parsing-pretty-json-data/293103/3 "2021-12-29T17:26:53Z")

</div>

Another possible approach is to simply turn your data into `ndjson` (new line delimited json) using `jq` found [here](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/) then you would not need to worry about the multiline etc.

It is a super powerful json tool...

Say your file looks like this ( I put 2 in but it will work with 1 to n)

```auto
$ cat json-pretty-sample.json 
[
  {
    "year": 2013,
    "title": "Rush",
    "info": {
      "directors": [
        "Ron Howard"
      ],
      "release_date": "2013-09-02T00:00:00Z",
      "rating": 8.3,
      "genres": [
        "Action",
        "Biography",
        "Drama",
        "Sport"
      ],
      "image_url": "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQyMDE0MTY0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjI2OTI0OQ@@._V1_SX400_.jpg",
      "plot": "A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda.",
      "rank": 2,
      "running_time_secs": 7380,
      "actors": [
        "Daniel Bruhl",
        "Chris Hemsworth",
        "Olivia Wilde"
      ]
    }
  },
  {
    "year": 2015,
    "title": "Other Movie",
    "info": {
      "directors": [
        "Ron Howard"
      ],
      "release_date": "2013-09-02T00:00:00Z",
      "rating": 8.3,
      "genres": [
        "Action",
        "Biography",
        "Drama",
        "Sport"
      ],
      "image_url": "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQyMDE0MTY0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjI2OTI0OQ@@._V1_SX400_.jpg",
      "plot": "A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda.",
      "rank": 2,
      "running_time_secs": 7380,
      "actors": [
        "Daniel Bruhl",
        "Chris Hemsworth",
        "Olivia Wilde"
      ]
    }
  }
]

```

I can simply run `jq` and tell it to write `ndjson`

This command says... `jq` output in compact form (ndjson) `-c` and write all the elements within the top array `.[]`

```auto
$ cat json-pretty-sample.json | jq -c .[] > sample.ndjson

```

and now the file will be ndjson which is what logstash can easily read without the multiline code

```auto
$ cat sample.ndjson 
{"year":2013,"title":"Rush","info":{"directors":["Ron Howard"],"release_date":"2013-09-02T00:00:00Z","rating":8.3,"genres":["Action","Biography","Drama","Sport"],"image_url":"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQyMDE0MTY0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjI2OTI0OQ@@._V1_SX400_.jpg","plot":"A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda.","rank":2,"running_time_secs":7380,"actors":["Daniel Bruhl","Chris Hemsworth","Olivia Wilde"]}}
{"year":2015,"title":"Other Movie","info":{"directors":["Ron Howard"],"release_date":"2013-09-02T00:00:00Z","rating":8.3,"genres":["Action","Biography","Drama","Sport"],"image_url":"http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQyMDE0MTY0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjI2OTI0OQ@@._V1_SX400_.jpg","plot":"A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda.","rank":2,"running_time_secs":7380,"actors":["Daniel Bruhl","Chris Hemsworth","Olivia Wilde"]}}

```

This conf read the ndjson file and parses everything just fine.  
Note I used the `json` codec to read the file.. I am often confused between the two `json` and `json_lines` but for reading from a file with ndjson ... `codec => "json"` gets the job done... you can also use the `filter` with `json` but this is pretty direct.

```auto
input {
  file {
    path => "/Users/sbrown/workspace/sample-data/discuss/logstash/sample.ndjson"
    start_position => "beginning"
    codec => "json"
    sincedb_path => "/dev/null"
  }
}

output {
	stdout { codec => rubydebug }
}

```

Output

```auto
{
          "year" => 2015,
         "title" => "Other Movie",
      "@version" => "1",
          "info" => {
                   "genres" => [
            [0] "Action",
            [1] "Biography",
            [2] "Drama",
            [3] "Sport"
        ],
                     "rank" => 2,
        "running_time_secs" => 7380,
                   "actors" => [
            [0] "Daniel Bruhl",
            [1] "Chris Hemsworth",
            [2] "Olivia Wilde"
        ],
             "release_date" => "2013-09-02T00:00:00Z",
                "image_url" => "http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQyMDE0MTY0OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjI2OTI0OQ@@._V1_SX400_.jpg",
                "directors" => [
            [0] "Ron Howard"
        ],
                   "rating" => 8.3,
                     "plot" => "A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One rivals James Hunt and Niki Lauda."
    },
    "@timestamp" => 2021-12-29T17:59:23.458Z,
          "host" => "hyperion",
          "path" => "/Users/sbrown/workspace/sample-data/discuss/logstash/sample.ndjson"
}
.......

```

---

_[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-in-parsing-pretty-json-data/293103)._