Python 3.5: How to read a db of JSON objects
<p>so I'm new to working with JSON and I'm trying to work with the <a href="https://github.com/fictivekin/openrecipes" rel="nofollow">openrecipe database from here.</a>  The db dump you get looks like this...</p>

<pre><code>{ "_id" : { "$oid" : "5160756d96cc62079cc2db16" }, "name" : "Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches", "ingredients" : "12 whole Dinner Rolls Or Small Sandwich Buns (I Used Whole Wheat)\n1 pound Thinly Shaved Roast Beef Or Ham (or Both!)\n1 pound Cheese (Provolone, Swiss, Mozzarella, Even Cheez Whiz!)\n1/4 cup Mayonnaise\n3 Tablespoons Grated Onion (or 1 Tbsp Dried Onion Flakes))\n1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds\n1 Tablespoon Spicy Mustard\n1 Tablespoon Horseradish Mayo Or Straight Prepared Horseradish\n Dash Of Worcestershire\n Optional Dressing Ingredients: Sriracha, Hot Sauce, Dried Onion Flakes Instead Of Fresh, Garlic Powder, Pepper, Etc.)", "url" : "http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/hot-roast-beef-sandwiches/", "image" : "http://static.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/files/2013/03/sandwiches.jpg", "ts" : { "$date" : 1365276013902 }, "cookTime" : "PT20M", "source" : "thepioneerwoman", "recipeYield" : "12", "datePublished" : "2013-03-13", "prepTime" : "PT20M", "description" : "When I was growing up, I participated in my Episcopal church's youth group, and I have lots of memories of weekly meetings wh..." }
{ "_id" : { "$oid" : "5160756f96cc6207a37ff777" }, "name" : "Morrocan Carrot and Chickpea Salad", "ingredients" : "Dressing:\n1 tablespoon cumin seeds\n1/3 cup / 80 ml extra virgin olive oil\n2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice\n1 tablespoon honey\n1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste\n1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper\n10 ounces carrots, shredded on a box grater or sliced whisper thin on a mandolin\n2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15- ounce can, drained and rinsed)\n2/3 cup / 100 g  dried pluots, plums, or dates cut into chickpea-sized pieces\n1/3 cup / 30 g fresh mint, torn\nFor serving: lots of toasted almond slices, dried or fresh rose petals - all optional (but great additions!)", "url" : "http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/moroccan-carrot-and-chickpea-salad-recipe.html", "image" : "http://www.101cookbooks.com/mt-static/images/food/moroccan_carrot_salad_recipe.jpg", "ts" : { "$date" : 1365276015332 }, "datePublished" : "2013-01-07", "source" : "101cookbooks", "prepTime" : "PT15M", "description" : "A beauty of a carrot salad - tricked out with chickpeas, chunks of dried pluots, sliced almonds, and a toasted cumin dressing. Thank you Diane Morgan." }
{ "_id" : { "$oid" : "5160757096cc62079cc2db17" }, "name" : "Mixed Berry Shortcake", "ingredients" : "Biscuits\n3 cups All-purpose Flour\n2 Tablespoons Baking Powder\n3 Tablespoons Sugar\n1/2 teaspoon Salt\n1-1/2 stick (3/4 Cup) Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces\n1-1/4 cup Buttermilk\n1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract (optional)\n Berries\n2 pints Mixed Berries And/or Sliced Strawberries\n1/3 cup Sugar\n Zest And Juice Of 1 Small Orange\n SWEET YOGURT CREAM\n1 package (7 Ounces) Plain Greek Yogurt\n1 cup Cold Heavy Cream\n1/2 cup Sugar\n2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar", "url" : "http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/03/mixed-berry-shortcake/", "image" : "http://static.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/files/2013/03/shortcake.jpg", "ts" : { "$date" : 1365276016700 }, "cookTime" : "PT15M", "source" : "thepioneerwoman", "recipeYield" : "8", "datePublished" : "2013-03-18", "prepTime" : "PT15M", "description" : "It's Monday! It's a brand new week! The birds are chirping! The coffee's brewing! Everything has such hope and promise!     A..." }
</code></pre>

<p>I tried the following code to read in the database</p>

<pre><code>import json

f = r'&lt;file_path&gt;\recipeitems-latest.json'

with open(f) as dfile:
    data = json.load(dfile)

print(data)
</code></pre>

<p>With this I received the following Traceback</p>

<pre><code>Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Users/&lt;redacted&gt;/Documents/&lt;redacted&gt;/project/test_json.py", line 7, in &lt;module&gt;
    data = json.load(dfile)
  File "C:\Users\&lt;redacted&gt;\AppData\Local\Continuum\Anaconda3\Lib\json\__init__.py", line 265, in load
    return loads(fp.read(),
  File "C:\Users\&lt;redacted&gt;\AppData\Local\Continuum\Anaconda3\Lib\encodings\cp1252.py", line 23, in decode
    return codecs.charmap_decode(input,self.errors,decoding_table)[0]
UnicodeDecodeError: 'charmap' codec can't decode byte 0x9d in position 101915: character maps to &lt;undefined&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>The only way I could find around this error was to only have one entry in the json file.  Is the db formatted incorrectly or am I reading in the data wrong?</p>

<p>Thanks for any help!</p>

<p>The file is not a <code>json</code> array. <em>Each line of the file</em> is a <code>json</code> document, but the whole file is not in <code>json</code> format.</p>

<p>Read the file by lines, and use <code>json.loads</code>:</p>

<pre><code>with open('some_file') as f:
  for line in f:
     doc = json.loads(line)
</code></pre>

<p>You may also need to pass the <code>encoding</code> parameter to <code>open()</code>. <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#open" rel="nofollow">See here</a>.</p>

python json