Cannot extract element from a scalar - postgresql error - json

Question

I'm getting this error when trying to access data in a JSON object, does anybody know what it is causing it?
This is the query:
SELECT id, data FROM cities WHERE data->'location'->>'population' = '270816'
This is the JSON object:
location": {
"population": 270816,
"type": "city"
}
Any help would be really appreciate it. Thanks

Answer 1

I was able to get this SELECT to work in Postgres 9.3.1. Here's an sqlfiddle which illustrates that.
Here is the DDL and INSERT statement I used in the sqlfiddle:
create table cities
(
id serial,
data json
);
insert into cities (data) VALUES
('{
"location": {
"population": 270816,
"type": "city"
}
}'
);
What version of Postgres are you using? How are you inserting the JSON? What's the DDL for your cities table?
It suspect it may be an issue with the way you are inserting the JSON data. Try inserting it similar to the way I am doing in the sqlfiddle above and see if that works for you. i.e. as a pure SQL string, but one with valid JSON inside, into a column defined as json.

Answer 2

Just had what sounds like the same issue on Postgres 9.6.6. Improper string escaping caused mysterious JSONB behavior. Using pgAdmin4,
CREATE TABLE json_test (json_data JSONB);
INSERT INTO json_test (json_data) VALUES ('"{\"id\": \"test1\"}"');
INSERT INTO json_test (json_data) VALUES ('{"id": "test2"}');
SELECT json_data, json_data->>'id' as id FROM json_test;
returns the following pgAdmin4 output showing baffling failure to find id test2. Turns out the pgAdmin4 display is misleading. Situation becomes clear using text display from PSQL:
db=> CREATE TABLE json_test (json_data JSONB);
CREATE TABLE
db=> INSERT INTO json_test (json_data) VALUES ('"{\"id\": \"test1\"}"');
INSERT 0 1
db=> INSERT INTO json_test (json_data) VALUES ('{"id": "test2"}');
INSERT 0 1
db=> SELECT json_data, json_data->>'id' as id FROM json_test;
json_data | id
-----------------------+-------
"{\"id\": \"test1\"}" |
{"id": "test2"} | test2
(2 rows)
Where it is obvious that the first row was inserted as a string which just looks like JSON, not as a nested JSON object.