A parser often discovers a problem slightly after the human mistake. A missing comma becomes provable when the next value begins; an unfinished string becomes provable at a control character or end of input. JSONClear reports the first position where strict parsing cannot continue, using one-based line and column numbers. That position is evidence, not a promise that the offending character alone caused the issue. Read the current token and the punctuation immediately before it.
Fix one first error at a time
Later errors may be consequences of the first one. If an opening quote is missing, every following colon and comma can appear misplaced. Correct the smallest clear issue, run validation again and observe the next stable position. Avoid broad search-and-replace on quotes or commas because punctuation inside a JSON string is data. A short validate-correct-validate loop keeps each change attributable and reduces accidental edits to otherwise valid values.
Line and column count the source as pasted
Line breaks in the textarea determine the reported line. Column counts UTF-16 code units from the start of that line, matching browser string indexing. Tabs count as one column even if an editor displays them as several spaces. If another editor reports a different visual column, navigate first by line, then inspect the nearby characters. JSONClear never sends the error fragment to analytics; only a stable error code may be counted after consent.
A valid parse is only the syntax checkpoint
When validation succeeds, exactly one complete JSON value follows the strict grammar. The result also shows root type, total values, objects, arrays and duplicate names so the shape can be reviewed. Those counts do not validate required fields, types defined by a schema, date formats, identifiers or business rules. Keep syntax validation separate from schema and destination tests. If duplicate names exist, decide according to the consumer contract before copying the payload onward.