SQL to JSON

From an INSERT statement to JSON records

The column list supplies property names; each VALUES tuple supplies one object. SQL NULL becomes JSON null, SQL booleans become JSON booleans, and quoted strings remain strings. Dates are kept as text because JSON has no native date type.

INSERT INTO accounts (id, name, balance) VALUES
(9007199254740993, 'O''Brien', 19.90),
(2, 'Grace', NULL);

[
  {"id": 9007199254740993, "name": "O'Brien", "balance": 19.90},
  {"id": 2, "name": "Grace", "balance": null}
]

Choose the string escaping rules

In standard SQL and PostgreSQL ordinary strings, a backslash is a literal backslash. MySQL commonly uses backslash escapes such as \n; choose the MySQL dialect to decode them. PostgreSQL E-prefixed strings also decode supported backslash escapes. If your MySQL server uses NO_BACKSLASH_ESCAPES, select Standard SQL instead.

Prepare a larger database export

This converter expects INSERT statements with column names. It does not infer a schema from CREATE TABLE or evaluate SQL expressions. Export with explicit columns, remove setup/transaction statements, and split files above 10 MB or 100,000 rows. For mixed SQL dumps, a database’s native export is the more complete route.

To reverse the process, use JSON to SQL. For a spreadsheet export, use SQL to CSV, then create an Excel workbook.

Frequently asked questions