fMRIprep1.2.3. JSONDecode Error: Expecting Value

1

Hi all! New to fMRIprep here. I am using fMRIprep 1.2.3. on my universities computing cluster (Sherlock). I downloaded the image via Sherlock. Whenever we attempt to run the batch file, I receive this error:

ignore_aroma_err=ignore_aroma_err,
File "/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/site-packages/fmriprep/workflows/bas$
subject_data, layout = collect_data(bids_dir, subject_id, task_id)
File "/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/site-packages/fmriprep/utils/bids.py$
layout = BIDSLayout(dataset, exclude=[‘derivatives’, ‘sourcedata’])
File "/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/site-packages/bids/layout/bids_layou$
self.description = json.load(open(target, ‘r’))
File “/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/json/init.py”, line 299, in load
parse_constant=parse_constant, object_pairs_hook=object_pairs_hook, **kw)
File “/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/json/init.py”, line 354, in loads
return _default_decoder.decode(s)
File “/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/json/decoder.py”, line 339, in decode
obj, end = self.raw_decode(s, idx=_w(s, 0).end())
File “/usr/local/miniconda/lib/python3.6/json/decoder.py”, line 357, in raw_d$
raise JSONDecodeError(“Expecting value”, s, err.value) from None
json.decoder.JSONDecodeError: Expecting value: line 2 column 11 (char 12)

I have looked through the .json file and could not find anything that deviated from the specifications provided by fMRIprep or that could be missing/causing the error. Again, my knowledge is very little so please bare with me!

2

Hi, it looks like the failing file is probably dataset_description.json. Have you validated your BIDS directory? And in case a pure JSON validator would be more useful, you can paste the contents of dataset_description.json into many such.

3

Hi! Thank you so much. So when I do that, I get this error:

Error: Parse error on line 2:
[ “Name”: "Brain Chang
---------^
Expecting ‘EOF’, ‘}’, ‘,’, ‘]’, got ‘:’

EDIT: Think I fixed it - will keep posted!

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