[SOLVED] Python dpath.util.get Empty string keys Error

Python dpath.util.get Empty string keys Error

I read in a simple JSON text file and it parses to a dict just fine.

>>> data.keys()
dict_keys(['metadata', 'value'])

I want to get specific elements and I typically use the dpath package. However, in this case i get an error which seems to imply that I

dpath.util.get(data, 'metadata', separator='..')
InvalidKeyName: Empty string keys not allowed without dpath.options.ALLOW_EMPTY_STRING_KEYS=True

I don't see any empty string keys, only the two above. I can reproduce with some other seemingly random JSON text files but for others it works just fine. Any idea what is going on here?

Solution

Searching this error message in the library's codebase finds dpath/path.py:88:

    for (k, v) in iteritems:
        if issubclass(k.__class__, (string_class)):
            if (not k) and (not dpath.options.ALLOW_EMPTY_STRING_KEYS):
                raise dpath.exceptions.InvalidKeyName("Empty string keys not allowed without "
                                                      "dpath.options.ALLOW_EMPTY_STRING_KEYS=True")

So, this error is raised when your data structure has empty keys.