"SyntaxError: Unexpected token :" when inputting { "a": "", "b": "" } json in console
javascript, json, object-literal, syntax-error
Solution
You can't execute JSON in the console. The JavaScript engine thinks its a block statement, with a label.
So this:
{
"a": "", "b": ""
}
is interpreted as a block statement. The `"a":` part is interpreted as a label. The `"", "b"` part is interpreted as an expression (two string literals and a comma operator in-between). Now the second `:` character is invalid in that position... Next, the `"a"` is interpreted as a string literal, and the `:` is not valid at that position.
You work with JSON like so:
- You put it in a `.json` file,
- You retrieve it via Ajax as a string,
- You parse the string into an object with `JSON.parse()`.
(You can also keep JSON data as a string in a variable, for instance, or in the `localStorage` object. Either way, in regard to JavaScript, JSON data should always come as a string value.)
Problem
I'm getting errors, in both chrome and firefox developer tools, when trying to evaluate the following: ``` { "a": "", "b": "" } ``` jsonlint.com tells me it's valid. Putting this code in an actual javascript file and running it works fine. The strangeness shows up only when I run this in the console in chrome developer tools or firebug. What's going on here?