Unterminated string at line L column C path $…
This message comes from Gson on Java 21.0.12. In this registry it is produced by 1 distinct mistake. Positions in the real message vary with your input; the causes do not.
Causes
What produces this message
Unterminated string in JSON
Input
{"a": "hello}Exact message: Unterminated string at line 1 column 14 path $.a
Fix: Escape internal double quotes as `\"`, and check that every string has a matching closing quote.
Same bug, other languages
What other parsers say about the same input
If a colleague reports a different message for what looks like the same file, this is why.
| Parser | Message for the same inputs |
|---|---|
| CPython json.loads | Unterminated string starting at: line L column C (char N) |
| Gson JsonParser (lenient off) | Unterminated string at line L column C path $… |
| JSON5 | JSON5: invalid end of input at 1:14 |
| JSON::PP | unexpected end of string while parsing JSON string, at character offset N (before "…") |
| Jackson ObjectMapper | Unexpected end-of-input: was expecting closing quote for a string value |
| JavaScriptCore JSON.parse | JSON Parse error: Unterminated string |
| Newtonsoft.Json JsonConvert | Unterminated string. Expected delimiter: ". Path 'a', line L, position N. |
| Newtonsoft.Json JsonTextReader | Unterminated string. Expected delimiter: ". Path 'a', line L, position N. |
| Ruby JSON.parse | unexpected token at '…' |
| SpiderMonkey JSON.parse | JSON.parse: unterminated string at line L column C of the JSON data |
| System.Text.Json Deserialize | Expected end of string, but instead reached end of data. Path: $ | LineNumber: L | BytePositionInLine: C. |
| System.Text.Json JsonDocument | Expected end of string, but instead reached end of data. LineNumber: L | BytePositionInLine: C. |
| V8 JSON.parse | Unterminated string in JSON at position N (line L column C) |
| encoding/json Unmarshal | unexpected end of JSON input |
| hjson | Bad string at line L,13 |
| json-bigint | Bad string |
| json_decode | Control character error, possibly incorrectly encoded |
| orjson | unexpected end of data: line L column C (char N) |
| serde_json::from_str | EOF while parsing a string at line L column C |
| ujson | Unmatched '"' when decoding 'string' |
Sources
Standards this registry is checked against
- RFC 8259 (STD 90) — The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format, T. Bray, Ed., 2017. The IETF Internet Standard for JSON. Obsoletes RFC 7159 and RFC 4627.
- ECMA-404, 2nd edition — The JSON Data Interchange Syntax, Ecma International, 2017. Ecma’s grammar for JSON. A normative reference of RFC 8259; the two define the same syntax.
- The Unicode Standard — The Unicode Standard, Core Specification, The Unicode Consortium, current. Normatively referenced by RFC 8259 for the definition of a character.
- IEEE 754-2019 — IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic, IEEE, 2019. Referenced by RFC 8259 §6 as the basis for its interoperability guidance on numbers.
Only standards bodies and peer-reviewed venues are cited. Error strings on this site are observed by executing each parser; the standards above define what the parser is reacting to.