# exception=\>#\<LogStash::Json::ParserError: Unexpected character (':' (code 58)): expected a valid value (number, String, array, object, 'true', 'false' or 'null')

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exception-logstash-unexpected-character-code-58-expected-a-valid-value-number-string-array-object-true-false-or-null/241198>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [July 14, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exception-logstash-unexpected-character-code-58-expected-a-valid-value-number-string-array-object-true-false-or-null/241198 "2020-07-14T21:30:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Badger](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/badger/32/25190_2.png) [@Badger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Badger)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exception-logstash-unexpected-character-code-58-expected-a-valid-value-number-string-array-object-true-false-or-null/241198/2 "2020-07-14T21:51:46Z")

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Your JSON appears to be pretty-printed in the source file. You would have to use a multiline codec to combine all the lines of one object into a single event.

If you want to consume the entire file as one event then you could use

```
codec => multiline { pattern => "^Spalanzani" negate => true what => "previous" auto_flush_interval => 2 }

```

If you have multiple pretty printed objects then you might be able to "^}" as the pattern. It really depends on your data.

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_[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/exception-logstash-unexpected-character-code-58-expected-a-valid-value-number-string-array-object-true-false-or-null/241198)._