Serializing a Python namedtuple to json

Question

What is the recommended way of serializing a namedtuple to json with the field names retained?

Serializing a namedtuple to json results in only the values being serialized and the field names being lost in translation. I would like the fields also to be retained when json-ized and hence did the following:

class foobar(namedtuple('f', 'foo, bar')):
    __slots__ = ()
    def __iter__(self):
        yield self._asdict()

The above serializes to json as I expect and behaves as namedtuple in other places I use (attribute access etc.,) except with a non-tuple like results while iterating it (which fine for my use case).

What is the "correct way" of converting to json with the field names retained?

Answer 1

There is a more convenient solution is to use the decorator (it uses the protected field _fields).

Python 2.7+:

import json
from collections import namedtuple, OrderedDict

def json_serializable(cls):
    def as_dict(self):
        yield OrderedDict(
            (name, value) for name, value in zip(
                self._fields,
                iter(super(cls, self).__iter__())))
    cls.__iter__ = as_dict
    return cls

#Usage:

C = json_serializable(namedtuple('C', 'a b c'))
print json.dumps(C('abc', True, 3.14))

# or

@json_serializable
class D(namedtuple('D', 'a b c')):
    pass

print json.dumps(D('abc', True, 3.14))

Python 3.6.6+:

import json
from typing import TupleName

def json_serializable(cls):
    def as_dict(self):
        yield {name: value for name, value in zip(
            self._fields,
            iter(super(cls, self).__iter__()))}
    cls.__iter__ = as_dict
    return cls

# Usage:

@json_serializable
class C(NamedTuple):
    a: str
    b: bool
    c: float

print(json.dumps(C('abc', True, 3.14))