Formats a JSON document according to a specified indentation.

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Syntax

JSON_FORMAT
(<json> [, <indentation>])

TRY_JSON_FORMAT
(<json> [, <indentation>])

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Aliases

JSON_PRETTY(<json>)
->
JSON_FORMAT(<json>, 4)

TRY_JSON_PRETTY(<json>)
->
TRY_JSON_FORMAT(<json>, 4)

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Parameters

ParameterDescriptionSupported input types
<json>The JSON document.TEXT
<indentation>The indentation to use for formatting.TEXT or INT
<indentation> defaults to 4 if omitted. <indentation> must be a literal value and cannot be NULL.

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Return Type

TEXT
  • If <json> is NULL, the function will return NULL.
  • If <json> is malformed, the TRY_ variants return NULL whereas the non-TRY_ variants fail with an error message.

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Behavior

The function operates in the three modes minify, newlines, and pretty-print, depending on <indentation> as explained below:
Value of <indentation>ModeDescription
-1 or 'mini'minifyProduces the most compact representation, omitting any white spaces.
0 or 'newline'newlinesOnly insert newlines but no spaces for indentation.
one of 1, 2, 4, 8, or 'pretty'pretty-printPretty-print with newlines and specified indentation.
Specifying an <indentation> of 'pretty' is identical to 4.

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Examples

For the JSON document indicated by <json_common_example> below, see our JSON common example. The returned results are based on the following example.

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Example

The following code minifies the JSON document, omitting any white spaces. 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, 'mini')
or 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, -1)
Returns 
{"key":123,"value":{"dyid":987,"uid":"987654","keywords":["insanely","fast","analytics"],"tagIdToHits":{"map":{"1737729":32,"1775582":35}},"events":[{"EventId":547,"EventProperties":{"UserName":"John Doe","Successful":true}},{"EventId":548,"EventProperties":{"ProductID":"xy123","items":2}}]}}

​
Example

The following code formats the JSON document with only newlines and without indentation. 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, 'newline')
or 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, 0)
Returns 
{
"key":123,
"value":{
"dyid":987,
"uid":"987654",
"keywords":[
"insanely",
"fast",
"analytics"
],
"tagIdToHits":{
"map":{
"1737729":32,
"1775582":35
}
},
"events":[
{
"EventId":547,
"EventProperties":{
"UserName":"John Doe",
"Successful":true
}
},
{
"EventId":548,
"EventProperties":{
"ProductID":"xy123",
"items":2
}
}
]
}
}

​
Example

The following code pretty-prints the JSON document with a default indentation of 4 spaces. 
SELECT JSON_PRETTY(<json_common_example>)
or 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, 'pretty')
or 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT(<json_common_example>, 4)
Returns 
{
    "key": 123,
    "value": {
        "dyid": 987,
        "uid": "987654",
        "keywords": [
            "insanely",
            "fast",
            "analytics"
        ],
        "tagIdToHits": {
            "map": {
                "1737729": 32,
                "1775582": 35
            }
        },
        "events": [
            {
                "EventId": 547,
                "EventProperties": {
                    "UserName": "John Doe",
                    "Successful": true
                }
            },
            {
                "EventId": 548,
                "EventProperties": {
                    "ProductID": "xy123",
                    "items": 2
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

​
Example

The following code attempts to format a malformed JSON document and fails with an error. 
SELECT JSON_FORMAT('{')
Returns 
ERROR: Line 1, Column 8: ERROR: Failed to parse JSON: TAPE_ERROR: The JSON document has an improper structure: missing or superfluous commas, braces, missing keys, etc.
The precise error message depends on the error detected in the JSON document.

​
Example

The following code attempts to format a malformed JSON document and returns NULL for the malformed JSON document. 
SELECT TRY_JSON_FORMAT('{', 4)
Returns 
NULL