# jQuery.parseJSON()

## jQuery.parseJSON ( json ) Returns: Object version added: 1.4.1

- json
  Type: String
  The JSON string to parse.

Description: Takes a well-formed JSON string and returns the resulting JavaScript object.

Passing in a malformed JSON string results in a JavaScript exception being thrown. For example, the following are all malformed JSON strings:

- `{test: 1}` (test does not have double quotes around it).
- `{'test': 1}` ('test' is using single quotes instead of double quotes).

The JSON standard does not permit "control characters" such as a tab or newline. An example like `$.parseJSON( '{ "testing":"1\t2\n3" }' )` will throw an error in most implementations because the JavaScript parser converts the string's tab and newline escapes into literal tab and newline; doubling the backslashes like `"1\\t2\\n3"` yields expected results. This problem is often seen when injecting JSON into a JavaScript file from a server-side language such as PHP.

Where the browser provides a native implementation of `JSON.parse`, jQuery uses it to parse the string. For details on the JSON format, see http://json.org/.

Prior to jQuery 1.9, `$.parseJSON` returned `null` instead of throwing an error if it was passed an empty string, `null`, or `undefined`, even though those are not valid JSON.

## Examples:

#### Example: Parse a JSON string.

    var obj = jQuery.parseJSON( '{ "name": "John" }' );
    alert( obj.name === "John" )
    ;