Python function for condensing JSON using replacement strings

Install this library using pip:

pip install condense-json

The condense_json function searches a JSON-like object for strings that contain specified replacement substrings. It replaces these substrings with a compact representation, making the JSON more concise. The uncondense_json function reverses this process.

condense_json(obj: Dict, replacements: Dict[str, str]) -> Any

• obj: The JSON-like object (nested dictionaries, lists, and strings) to condense.
• replacements: A dictionary where keys are replacement IDs (e.g., "1", "2") and values are the strings they represent.

The function returns a modified version of the input obj where matching substrings are replaced. If a string consists entirely of a replacement string, it's replaced with {"$": replacement_id}. If a string contains one or more replacement strings, it's replaced with {"$r": [ ...segments...]} where segments are the parts of the original string and replacement IDs.

Example:

from condense_json import condense_json

input_json = {
    "foo": {
        "bar": {
            "string": "This is a string with foxes in it",
            "nested": {
                "more": ["Here is a string", "another with foxes in it too"]
            },
        }
    }
}

replacements = {"1": "with foxes in it"}

condensed_output = condense_json(input_json, replacements)
print(condensed_output)
# Expected output:
# {
#     "foo": {
#         "bar": {
#             "string": {"$r": ["This is a string ", {"$": "1"}]},
#             "nested": {
#                 "more": [
#                     "Here is a string",
#                     {"$r": ["another ", {"$": "1"}, " too"]}
#                 ]
#             }
#         }
#     }
# }

uncondense_json(obj: Dict, replacements: Dict[str, str]) -> Any

• obj: The condensed JSON-like object.
• replacements: The same replacements dictionary used for condensing.

This function reverses the condense_json operation. It finds the {"$": replacement_id} and {"$r": [ ...segments...]} structures and replaces them with the original strings from the replacements dictionary.

Example:

from condense_json import uncondense_json, condense_json  # Import both

original = {
    "sentence": "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog",
    "nested": {"list": ["fast fox", "lazy dog", "just some text"]},
}
replacements = {"1": "quick brown fox", "2": "lazy dog"}
condensed = condense_json(original, replacements)
uncondensed = uncondense_json(condensed, replacements)
assert uncondensed == original

If the input obj to uncondense_json doesn't contain any condensed structures, it returns the input unchanged.

To contribute to this library, first checkout the code. Then create a new virtual environment:

cd condense-json
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Now install the dependencies and test dependencies:

python -m pip install -e '.[test]'

To run the tests:

python -m pytest