How do i convert this json file to csv

Question

I have this JSON which I want to convert to CSV, I have to use online tools for converting it but its not converting in proper CSV format according to the JSON format , but my JSON format is not in one layer, here is what I'm saying

because after converting into proper CSV i have to add some data and want to convert back to JSON like the original but with additional data so I can upload it on firebase

Answer 1

I suppose the first layer in the JSON is the first header name. The second layer has the value from 1st header as key and the other headers/values as value. This format is probably called "Hashed CSV". The format is something like below in Typescript:

type HashedCsv = {
  [header1: string]: {
    [value1: string]: {
      [otherHeader: string]: string
    }
  }
}

So, to convert to CSV and from CSV you just need to have this type above in mind.

Below is a code snippet in JavaScript to convert the JSON to CSV. You can test it here on StackOverflow by clicking Run code snippet or with even with NodeJS.

function jsonToCsv (/** @type {{[header1: string]: {[value1: string]: {[otherHeader: string]: string}}}} */ json) {
    // The first layer is the first header name
    const header1 = Object.keys(json)[0]
    const values = json[header1]
    // In the 2nd layer are the other header names
    const otherHeaders = Object.keys(Object.values(values)[0])
    const headers = [header1, ...otherHeaders]

    /** @type {string[]} */
    const csvValues = []
    for (const [value1, otherValues] of Object.entries(values)) {
        csvValues.push([
            value1,
            // Escape commas and quotes
            ...otherHeaders.map(header => /[,"]/g.test(otherValues[header])
                ? `"${otherValues[header].replaceAll('"', '""')}"`
                : otherValues[header])
        ].join(','))
    }

    return [
        headers.join(','),
        ...csvValues
    ].join('\n')
}

const json = loadJson()
const csv = jsonToCsv(json)
console.log(csv)


// Loads the JSON. It could be a file or from memory like below
function loadJson () {
    return {
        "Quotes": {
            "q1": {
                "title": "The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates"
            },
            "q2": {
                "title": "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent – Ludwig Wittgenstein"
            },
            "q3": {
                "title": "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily – William of Ockham"
            },
            "q4": {
                "title": "The mind is furnished with ideas by experience alone – John Locke"
            },
            "q5": {
                "title": "We are too weak to discover the truth by reason alone – St. Augustine"
            },
            "q6": {
                "title": "Man is the measure of all things – Protagoras"
            },
            "q7": {
                "title": "Everything that exists is born for no reason, carries on living through weakness, and dies by accident – Jean-Paul Sartre"
            },
            "q8": {
                "title": "To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality – John Stuart Mill"
            },
            "q9": {
                "title": "Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature – John Locke"
            }
        }
    }
}

PS: Notice that I've stripped the JSON a bit.