import json try: f = open('./config/config.json') data = json.load(f) except: data = { "database": { "ip": "localhost", "port": 3306, "user": "user", "password": "password" } } json_object = json.dumps(data, indent=4) with open("config/config.json", "w") as outfile: outfile.write(json_object) database = data.get("database");