Pretty Printing JSON

By default, dumps() produces compact JSON on one line. That's efficient but hard to read. Use the indent parameter for pretty output.

import json

data = {"name": "Alice", "address": {"city": "NYC", "country": "USA"}}

# Compact (default)
print(json.dumps(data))
# {"name": "Alice", "address": {"city": "NYC", "country": "USA"}}

# Pretty
print(json.dumps(data, indent=2))

With indent=2, you get:

{
  "name": "Alice",
  "address": {
    "city": "NYC",
    "country": "USA"
  }
}

For sorted keys (helpful for diffs):

json.dumps(data, indent=2, sort_keys=True)

Pretty printing is great for debugging and config files. For API responses and storage, stick with compact format to save space.

I cover JSON formatting options in my JSON with Python course.