XML to JSON

How this reads your output

The document is parsed into a tree, then converted with two conventions applied. Attributes become properties prefixed with an at sign, so they cannot collide with a child element sharing the name. Repeated sibling elements are collected into an array while a single occurrence stays an object, which is the standard approach and also the one that catches people out, since a list with one item converts differently from a list with two.

What the results mean

Attributes prefixed with @

The usual convention, and necessary because XML allows an attribute and a child element with the same name on the same node.

Repeated sibling names

Elements appearing more than once under the same parent become an array. Where this happens, the shape depends on the data rather than on the schema.

Maximum depth

How deeply nested the document is. Deep XML converts to deeply nested JSON, which is often worth flattening before use.

Common problems and fixes

Code broke on a response with only one item

This is the single-element array problem and it is inherent to the conversion rather than a bug here. With one item you get an object; with two you get an array. Any consumer should normalise by wrapping a non-array value in an array before iterating, which costs one line and saves the outage.

Namespaced element names look wrong

Prefixes are kept as part of the key, so an element written as soap:Body becomes a key with the colon in it. That is valid JSON but awkward to access in some languages. Strip prefixes before converting if you do not need them, and keep them if two namespaces genuinely use the same local name.

Frequently asked questions

More in DevTools

• YAML Validator & ConverterConvert YAML to JSON and back, with ambiguous strings quoted.
• JSON Tree ViewerExplore JSON as a collapsible tree, with the path of every value.