Python list, tuple and dictionary to JSON?

Question

What's the best way of displaying this as JSON?

{'foo': 'bar'}
[1,2,3,4,5]

---

My partial solution:

import json

def json_tuple(*args, **kwargs):   
    if args:
        if kwargs:
            return json.dumps(args), json.dumps(kwargs)
        return json.dumps(args)

    return json.dumps(kwargs)

Provides:

>>> json_tuple(1,2,3,4,5, **{'foo': 'bar'})

('[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]', '{"foo": "bar"}')

---

Would putting the args list in kwargs—e.g.: under an args key—be the only solution?

Answer 1

If you're just looking for valid JSON, you can put those values into a top-level array:

import json

def jsonify(*args, **kwargs):
    return json.dumps((args, kwargs))  # Tuples are faster to create

Which yields:

'[[1, 2, 3, 4, 5], {"foo": "bar"}]'

Answer 2

My "ugly" solution:

import json

def jsonify(*args, **kwargs):   
    if args:
        kwargs.update({'args': args})

    return json.dumps(kwargs)

Provides:

>>> jsonify(1,2,3,4,5, **{'foo': 'bar'})

'{"foo": "bar", "args": [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}'