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How can I safely parse a JSON string and handle errors if the format is incorrect?

Asked on Oct 09, 2025

Answer

To safely parse a JSON string in JavaScript and handle potential errors, you can use a try-catch block around the JSON.parse method. This ensures that if the JSON string is incorrectly formatted, the error is caught and handled gracefully.
<!-- BEGIN COPY / PASTE -->
        const jsonString = '{"name": "John", "age": 30}'; // Example JSON string

        try {
            const data = JSON.parse(jsonString);
            console.log("Parsed data:", data);
        } catch (error) {
            console.error("Error parsing JSON:", error.message);
        }
        <!-- END COPY / PASTE -->
Additional Comment:
  • The "try" block attempts to parse the JSON string using "JSON.parse".
  • If the JSON string is valid, the parsed object is logged to the console.
  • If the JSON string is invalid, the "catch" block catches the error and logs an error message.
  • This approach prevents your application from crashing due to unhandled exceptions.
✅ Answered with JavaScript best practices.
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