---
title: "system.util.jsonDecode"
description: "Takes a json String and converts it into a Python object such as a list or a dict."
---

# system.util.jsonDecode

> Takes a json String and converts it into a Python object such as a list or a dict.

This function is used in **Python Scripting**.

## Description
Takes a json String and converts it into a Python object such as a list or a dict. If the input is not valid json, a string is returned.

## Client Permission Restrictions
This scripting function has no [Client Permission](projects\project-properties\project-properties.md#client---permissions) restrictions.

## Syntax
`system.util.jsonDecode(jsonString)`

### Parameters

|Type|Parameter|Description|
|--|--|--|
|String| `jsonString` | The JSON string to decode into a Python object.|
### Returns
**PyObject** - The decoded Python object.
### Scope
All

## Code Examples
```python title="Example #1"
# The following example reads in a JSON string, and converts the string to a Python object.
# The example attempts to read the JSON string from a text file, but this could easily be modified to read data from a web server.
  
# Read the JSON string
jsonString = system.file.readFileAsString("C:\tmp\\json.txt")
  
# Decode the JSON string and store the results into a variable
obj = system.util.jsonDecode(jsonString)
  
# Do something with the results. The code below prints the datatype of the results to the console.
print type(obj)
```