How to pretty print JSON using Gson

By mkyong | Updated: May 6, 2024

Viewed: 23,700 (+224 pv/w)

Tags: gson java json parse json pretty print json

This article shows how to pretty print JSON using Gson.

Table of contents:

• 1. Setup Google Gson
• 2. Default Compact Print JSON
• 3. Pretty Print JSON using Gson
• 4. Download Source Code
• 5. References

P.S Tested with Gson 2.10.1

1. Setup Google Gson

Declare gson in the pom.xml.

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
        <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
        <version>2.10.1</version>
    </dependency>

2. Default Compact Print JSON

By default, Gson prints the JSON output in compact mode.

package com.mkyong.json.gson;

import com.google.gson.Gson;

public class GsonPrettyPrintExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Gson gson = new Gson();

        String[] lang = {"Java", "Node", "Kotlin", "JavaScript"};

        String json = gson.toJson(lang);

        System.out.println(json);
        
    }
}

Output

["Java","Node","Kotlin","JavaScript"]

3. Pretty Print JSON using Gson

We can use the GsonBuilder to enable the pretty print JSON output.

package com.mkyong.json.gson;

import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;

public class GsonPrettyPrintExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Gson gson = new Gson();

        // Create a GsonBuilder and enable the pretty print
        Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();

        String[] lang = {"Java", "Node", "Kotlin", "JavaScript"};

        String json = gson.toJson(lang);

        System.out.println(json);

    }
}

Output

[
  "Java",
  "Node",
  "Kotlin",
  "JavaScript"
]

4. Download Source Code

5. References

• How to parse JSON using Gson
• How to enable pretty print JSON with Jackson
• Pretty print JSON using Moshi
• How to Pretty Print JSON output with cURL