From 118899d7de271494c60bffd6ee6c914623dcc0f1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Marco Rossi <marco.rossi@microsoft.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2018 22:00:54 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] When parsing dsjson, skip lines not starting with "{" (#1593)

---
 vowpalwabbit/parse_example_json.h | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/vowpalwabbit/parse_example_json.h b/vowpalwabbit/parse_example_json.h
index bb8582949a9..77a4ddd855d 100644
--- a/vowpalwabbit/parse_example_json.h
+++ b/vowpalwabbit/parse_example_json.h
@@ -1190,6 +1190,13 @@ int read_features_json(vw* all, v_array<example*>& examples)
     line[num_chars] = '\0';
     if (all->p->decision_service_json)
     {
+      // Skip lines that do not start with "{"
+      if (line[0] != '{')
+      {
+        reread = true;
+        continue;
+      }
+
       DecisionServiceInteraction interaction;
       VW::template read_line_decision_service_json<audit>(*all, examples, line, num_chars, false, reinterpret_cast<VW::example_factory_t>(&VW::get_unused_example), all, &interaction);