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I have a recursive function that examines a json object. It captures the data when I try to loop the data, it works for one but not the other. I need help determining what type of data the returned data is show I can loop the data.

targetType = 'equal'
def find_data(lookup_key, jsonData, search_result = []):
    if type(jsonData) == dict:
        for key, value in  jsonData.items():
            if targetType == 'equal' and key == lookup_key:
                search_result.append(value)
            elif targetType == 'regex' and pattern.search(key):
                search_result.append(value)
            find_data(lookup_key, value, search_result)
    elif type(jsonData) == list:
        for element in jsonData:
            find_data(lookup_key, element, search_result)
    return search_result

json_obj = {
"data": [
    {"stats":[{"num":1,"Count":[0,1,2]},{"num":2,"Count":[3,4,5]}, {"num":3,"Count":[6,7,8]},
            {"num":4,"Count":[9,10,11]}, {"num":5,"Count":[12,13,14]},
            {"num":6,"Count":[15,16,17]},{"num":7,"Count":[18,19,20]}]},
    {"settings":[{"num":8,"Channel1":[[21,22,23],[1,2,3],[4,5,6]]}]}]}
target_key = "Count"
#target_key = "Channel1"
data = find_data(target_key,json_obj, [])
for item in data:
    print(item)

When ran with target_key = "Count" a item (list) prints one per loop. When I use target_key = "Channel1" the loop fails I have to to use for item in data[0]. How can I determine which loop to use. I tried if all(isinstance(i, list) for i in data): to determine it is was a nested loop, but both return true.

Here is the return from Count [[0, 1, 2], [3, 4, 5], [6, 7, 8], [9, 10, 11], [12, 13, 14], [15, 16, 17], [18, 19, 20]]

here is the return from Channel1 [[[21, 22, 23], [1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]]

wwii
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newdeveloper
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  • Return `(type(search_result), search_result)`? (Though the caller could just call `type` on the value you already return itself.) By the way, [don't use `[]` as the default value for `search_result`.](https://stackoverflow.com/q/1132941/1126841) – chepner Mar 10 '23 at 14:57
  • @chepner they are both returning ``, which both are lists. but that's not helping resolve my issues. I have removed `[]` as well. – newdeveloper Mar 10 '23 at 15:08
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    They are both lists. Python doesn't have more specific runtime types like `list[int]` or `list[list[int]]`. You're going to need some sort of *a priori* information about the schema used, or the consumer will have to, for example, check if a value is iterable before trying to iterate over it. – chepner Mar 10 '23 at 15:16
  • Will the data format be consistent? Can you determine how to iterate based on the target_key? – wwii Mar 10 '23 at 15:35
  • The problem is not with the code, the problem is with the problem statement & requirements. How are Count and Channel1 different in nature? If the only thing is that Channel1 has a nested list, you could just flatten the results to level-1 nesting – Rodrigo Rodrigues Mar 10 '23 at 15:50
  • @RodrigoRodrigues you confirmed my suspicion. I assumed the code was all correct. It's just a data issue. @wwii the format should be consistent. So I can just target `Count` or `Channel1` – newdeveloper Mar 10 '23 at 17:32

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