About the SQL INSERT to JSON Converter
A SQL dump is often the only export you have of a dataset. This converter reads every INSERT INTO table (columns) VALUES (...), (...) statement, including multi-row inserts and dumps with several tables, and produces JSON: for a single table, an array of row objects; for several, an object keyed by table name. Column names come from the column list; if it is absent, columns are named col1, col2 and so on.
Values are typed: unquoted numbers become numbers, TRUE and FALSE become booleans, NULL becomes null, and quoted strings have their doubled quotes unescaped. Comments are stripped before parsing so commented-out statements are ignored. Statements other than INSERT, such as CREATE TABLE or SET, are skipped.
For very large dumps the tool handles tens of thousands of rows; beyond that, load the dump into a database and export from there. To get a spreadsheet instead, SQL to CSV uses the same parser. The reverse tool generates INSERT statements from JSON.
How to use
- Paste the INSERT statements or upload the .sql file.
- Copy the JSON.
- Use the JSON tools to filter, sort or convert the data further.
Common questions
- Does it run the SQL?
- No. It parses the text of INSERT statements only; no database is involved.
- What if the INSERT has no column list?
- Columns are named col1, col2, and so on. Add the column list to the statement for real names.
- Are functions like NOW() in values handled?
- They are kept as the text "NOW()" since they cannot be evaluated.
- Can it read MySQL dumps with backticks?
- Yes. Backticks, double quotes and square brackets around identifiers are all removed.