Tablizer

Convert JSON Lines to reStructuredText Online

Paste a JSON Lines table below, edit it if you need to, and get reStructuredText back. The conversion runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, there is no size limit and there is no signup.

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The output will appear here once there is a table to convert.

What JSON Lines is

JSON Lines is one complete JSON object per line, with no enclosing array and no commas between records. The file is not valid JSON as a whole, and that is the point.

Log pipelines, machine learning datasets and anything that appends records or reads them in a stream.

What reStructuredText is

reStructuredText simple tables underline the header with equals signs and align columns with spaces.

Python documentation, Sphinx projects and anything on Read the Docs.

What changes when you convert JSON Lines to reStructuredText

Each line is parsed on its own, so a corrupt record does not take the file with it. Keys are unioned across lines in first-seen order, so a record missing a field leaves that cell empty rather than shifting the columns.

The equals-sign rule under the header is what tells Sphinx the first row is a header. Without it the table renders as data with no heading.

What carries over from JSON Lines to reStructuredText

JSON Lines records 4 things about a table that reStructuredText has no way to hold.

JSON Lines distinguishes a number from the text of a number; reStructuredText does not, so every value arrives as text and has to be re-parsed by whatever reads it next.

An empty cell and a missing one are the same thing in reStructuredText, so a null and an empty string in the JSON Lines both come out blank and can no longer be told apart.

JSON Lines can hold a value that is itself a list or an object. reStructuredText has only flat cells, so nested values are flattened into one cell rather than being spread across columns.

reStructuredText marks header cells differently from data cells, so the keys are lifted out and written once as a marked header row rather than repeated on every row.

JSON Lines can be read one record at a time. reStructuredText has to be complete before it means anything, so the whole table is held in memory while it is written and a file that gets cut off part way through is not partly usable - it is unusable.

The identifier 007 comes out of the reStructuredText as 007. Reading it as a number would have made it 7, and an id that changes value is worse than one that stays text.

The role "Analyst, data" survives with its comma, in one cell rather than split across two. That is the first thing to check in any converted table, and the usual place a reStructuredText file goes wrong.

The quotes around Jonah "Jo" Pryce are left as a plain quote character in the reStructuredText.

A worked example

Three rows of staff data, with an identifier that has a leading zero, a value containing a comma, a value containing quotes and one blank cell. Those are the four places formats disagree, so they are the four places to look.

JSON Lines in
{"id":"007","name":"Halima Yusuf","role":"Analyst, data","started":"2024-03-15","hours":"38.5"}
{"id":"012","name":"Jonah \"Jo\" Pryce","role":"Engineer","started":"2025-11-02","hours":""}
{"id":"104","name":"Wei Chen","role":"Manager","started":"2023-06-30","hours":"40"}
reStructuredText out
===  ================  =============  ==========  =====
id   name              role           started     hours
===  ================  =============  ==========  =====
007  Halima Yusuf      Analyst, data  2024-03-15  38.5
012  Jonah "Jo" Pryce  Engineer       2025-11-02
104  Wei Chen          Manager        2023-06-30  40
===  ================  =============  ==========  =====

Questions

How do I convert JSON Lines to reStructuredText?

Paste your JSON Lines into the box above or drop the file onto it. Check the table in the grid, then copy or download the reStructuredText from the output panel. It takes one step and the data never leaves your browser.

What is the difference between JSON and JSON Lines?

JSON wraps records in an array, so a reader must load the whole document before it can use any of it, and appending means rewriting the file. JSON Lines has no wrapper, so records can be streamed and appended one at a time. Use JSON for a payload, JSON Lines for a log.

Will my numbers still be numbers?

They will read the same, but reStructuredText stores them as text. Anything that sorts or sums the result will need to parse them first, and a leading zero or a currency symbol is the usual place that goes wrong.

What happens to nested values?

reStructuredText has no nested cell, so a list or object inside a JSON Lines value is flattened into a single cell rather than expanded into extra columns. Split it before converting if the parts need to be separate.

Is there a limit on file size?

No. The work happens on your own machine, so the limit is your machine's memory rather than an upload cap. A file with tens of thousands of rows converts in a second or two.

Is my data uploaded anywhere?

No. The parsing and generating are done by JavaScript running on this page. You can watch the network tab while you convert and see that nothing is sent.

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