title: PostgreSQL 9.2 - Convert TEXT json string to type json/hstore
body: <p>I have a <code>TEXT</code> column containing valid JSON string.</p>
  
  <pre><code>CREATE TABLE users(settings TEXT);
  
  INSERT INTO users VALUES ('{"language":"en","gender":"male"}');
  INSERT INTO users VALUES ('{"language":"fr","gender":"female"}');
  INSERT INTO users VALUES ('{"language":"es","gender":"female"}');
  INSERT INTO users VALUES ('{"language":"en","gender":"male"}');
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want to transform some fields into a query-able format.</p>
  
  <p>A <code>REGEXP_REPLACE</code> for each field would do (<code>language</code> field and <code>gender</code> field). But since it's valid JSON, is there way to:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Convert into JSON type</li>
  <li>Convert into hstore type</li>
  <li>Or any other feasible ways</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>SQLFiddle: <a href="http://sqlfiddle.com/#!12/54823">http://sqlfiddle.com/#!12/54823</a></p>