If you try to insert a JSON structure into MongoDB, and some of its keys contain a "." (dot), insertion will fail (see http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/reference/limits/#Restrictions%20on%20Database%20Names) You'll need to replace the dot by something else to make insertion possible.

remove_dots_in_json_keys.py

# Regex finding all dots in all keys of a JSON structure
DOT_IN_DICT_KEY = re.compile(r"""[,{] # opening bracket for first keys, or previous comma
\s* # spaces until first key quote
['"]([^.'"]+\.[^'"]+)['"] # key name in bewteen quotes
\s*:""", # : after key name ,
                                flags=re.UNICODE | re.VERBOSE)


def dotrepl(matchobj):
    """Replace all . by _ in the match"""
    return matchobj.group().replace('.', '_')


def clean_google_result(json_struct):
    """ Sanitize google API results.

    Some dict keys contain a "." character, which prevents
    insertion into MongoDB.
    
    """
    fixed_json_struct = re.sub(DOT_IN_DICT_KEY, dotrepl,
                               json.dumps(json_struct))
    return json.loads(fixed_json_struct)