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The jq Linux command manual page and help. The jq command is a utility for parsing, processing, and manipulating JSON files.
To use this command on Debian/Ubuntu a jq package installation required:
sudo apt-get install jq
Man page output
man jqJQ(1) JQ(1)
NAME
jq - Command-line JSON processor
SYNOPSIS
jq [options...] filter [files...]
jq can transform JSON in various ways, by selecting, iterating, reducing and otherwise mangling JSON documents. For in‐
stance, running the command jq ´map(.price) | add´ will take an array of JSON objects as input and return the sum of their
"price" fields.
jq can accept text input as well, but by default, jq reads a stream of JSON entities (including numbers and other literals)
from stdin. Whitespace is only needed to separate entities such as 1 and 2, and true and false. One or more files may be
specified, in which case jq will read input from those instead.
The options are described in the INVOKING JQ section; they mostly concern input and output formatting. The filter is written
in the jq language and specifies how to transform the input file or document.
FILTERS
A jq program is a "filter": it takes an input, and produces an output. There are a lot of builtin filters for extracting a
particular field of an object, or converting a number to a string, or various other standard tasks.
Filters can be combined in various ways - you can pipe the output of one filter into another filter, or collect the output
of a filter into an array.
Some filters produce multiple results, for instance there´s one that produces all the elements of its input array. Piping
that filter into a second runs the second filter for each element of the array. Generally, things that would be done with
loops and iteration in other languages are just done by gluing filters together in jq.
It´s important to remember that every filter has an input and an output. Even literals like "hello" or 42 are filters - they
take an input but always produce the same literal as output. Operations that combine two filters, like addition, generally
feed the same input to both and combine the results. So, you can implement an averaging filter as add / length - feeding the
input array both to the add filter and the length filter and then performing the division.
But that´s getting ahead of ourselves. :) Let´s start with something simpler:
INVOKING JQ
jq filters run on a stream of JSON data. The input to jq is parsed as a sequence of whitespace-separated JSON values which
are passed through the provided filter one at a time. The output(s) of the filter are written to standard out, again as a
sequence of whitespace-separated JSON data.
Note: it is important to mind the shell´s quoting rules. As a general rule it´s best to always quote (with single-quote
characters) the jq program, as too many characters with special meaning to jq are also shell meta-characters. For example,
jq "foo" will fail on most Unix shells because that will be the same as jq foo, which will generally fail because foo is not
defined. When using the Windows command shell (cmd.exe) it´s best to use double quotes around your jq program when given on
the command-line (instead of the -f program-file option), but then double-quotes in the jq program need backslash escaping.
You can affect how jq reads and writes its input and output using some command-line options:
• --version:
Output the jq version and exit with zero.
• --seq:
Use the application/json-seq MIME type scheme for separating JSON texts in jq´s input and output. This means that an
ASCII RS (record separator) character is printed before each value on output and an ASCII LF (line feed) is printed af‐
ter every output. Input JSON texts that fail to parse are ignored (but warned about), discarding all subsequent input
until the next RS. This more also parses the output of jq without the --seq option.
• --stream:
Parse the input in streaming fashion, outputing arrays of path and leaf values (scalars and empty arrays or empty ob‐
jects). For example, "a" becomes [[],"a"], and [[],"a",["b"]] becomes [[0],[]], [[1],"a"], and [[1,0],"b"].
This is useful for processing very large inputs. Use this in conjunction with filtering and the reduce and foreach syn‐
tax to reduce large inputs incrementally.
• --slurp/-s:
Instead of running the filter for each JSON object in the input, read the entire input stream into a large array and run
the filter just once.
• --raw-input/-R:
Don´t parse the input as JSON. Instead, each line of text is passed to the filter as a string. If combined with --slurp,
then the entire input is passed to the filter as a single long string.
• --null-input/-n:
Don´t read any input at all! Instead, the filter is run once using null as the input. This is useful when using jq as a
simple calculator or to construct JSON data from scratch.
• --compact-output / -c:
By default, jq pretty-prints JSON output. Using this option will result in more compact output by instead putting each
JSON object on a single line.
• --tab:
Use a tab for each indentation level instead of two spaces.
• --indent n:
Use the given number of spaces (no more than 8) for indentation.
• --color-output / -C and --monochrome-output / -M:
By default, jq outputs colored JSON if writing to a terminal. You can force it to produce color even if writing to a
pipe or a file using -C, and disable color with -M.
• --ascii-output / -a:
jq usually outputs non-ASCII Unicode codepoints as UTF-8, even if the input specified them as escape sequences (like
"\u03bc"). Using this option, you can force jq to produce pure ASCII output with every non-ASCII character replaced with
the equivalent escape sequence.
• --unbuffered
Flush the output after each JSON object is printed (useful if you´re piping a slow data source into jq and piping jq´s
output elsewhere).
• --sort-keys / -S:
Output the fields of each object with the keys in sorted order.
• --raw-output / -r:
With this option, if the filter´s result is a string then it will be written directly to standard output rather than be‐
ing formatted as a JSON string with quotes. This can be useful for making jq filters talk to non-JSON-based systems.
• --join-output / -j:
Like -r but jq won´t print a newline after each output.
• -f filename / --from-file filename:
Read filter from the file rather than from a command line, like awk´s -f option. You can also use ´#´ to make comments.
• -Ldirectory / -L directory:
Prepend directory to the search list for modules. If this option is used then no builtin search list is used. See the
section on modules below.
• -e / --exit-status:
Sets the exit status of jq to 0 if the last output values was neither false nor null, 1 if the last output value was ei‐
ther false or null, or 4 if no valid result was ever produced. Normally jq exits with 2 if there was any usage problem
or system error, 3 if there was a jq program compile error, or 0 if the jq program ran.
• --arg name value:
This option passes a value to the jq program as a predefined variable. If you run jq with --arg foo bar, then $foo is
available in the program and has the value "bar". Note that value will be treated as a string, so --arg foo 123 will
bind $foo to "123".
• --argjson name JSON-text:
This option passes a JSON-encoded value to the jq program as a predefined variable. If you run jq with --argjson foo
123, then $foo is available in the program and has the value 123.
• --slurpfile variable-name filename:
This option reads all the JSON texts in the named file and binds an array of the parsed JSON values to the given global
variable. If you run jq with --argfile foo bar, then $foo is available in the program and has an array whose elements
correspond to the texts in the file named bar.
• --argfile variable-name filename:
Do not use. Use --slurpfile instead.
(This option is like --slurpfile, but when the file has just one text, then that is used, else an array of texts is used
as in --slurpfile.)
• --run-tests [filename]:
Runs the tests in the given file or standard input. This must be the last option given and does not honor all preceding
options. The input consists of comment lines, empty lines, and program lines followed by one input line, as many lines
of output as are expected (one per output), and a terminating empty line. Compilation failure tests start with a line
containing only "%%FAIL", then a line containing the program to compile, then a line containing an error message to com‐
pare to the actual.
Be warned that this option can change backwards-incompatibly.
BASIC FILTERS
.
The absolute simplest (and least interesting) filter is .. This is a filter that takes its input and produces it unchanged
as output.
Since jq by default pretty-prints all output, this trivial program can be a useful way of formatting JSON output from, say,
curl.
jq ´.´
"Hello, world!"
=> "Hello, world!"
.foo, .foo.bar
The simplest useful filter is .foo. When given a JSON object (aka dictionary or hash) as input, it produces the value at the
key "foo", or null if there´s none present.
If the key contains special characters, you need to surround it with double quotes like this: ."foo$".
A filter of the form .foo.bar is equivalent to .foo|.bar.
jq ´.foo´
{"foo": 42, "bar": "less interesting data"}
=> 42
jq ´.foo´
{"notfoo": true, "alsonotfoo": false}
=> null
jq ´.["foo"]´
{"foo": 42}
=> 42
.foo?
Just like .foo, but does not output even an error when . is not an array or an object.
jq ´.foo?´
{"foo": 42, "bar": "less interesting data"}
=> 42
jq ´.foo?´
{"notfoo": true, "alsonotfoo": false}
=> null
jq ´.["foo"]?´
{"foo": 42}
=> 42
jq ´[.foo?]´
[1,2]
=> []
.[<string>], .[2], .[10:15]
You can also look up fields of an object using syntax like .["foo"] (.foo above is a shorthand version of this). This one
works for arrays as well, if the key is an integer. Arrays are zero-based (like javascript), so .[2] returns the third ele‐
ment of the array.
The .[10:15] syntax can be used to return a subarray of an array or substring of a string. The array returned by .[10:15]
will be of length 5, containing the elements from index 10 (inclusive) to index 15 (exclusive). Either index may be negative
(in which case it counts backwards from the end of the array), or omitted (in which case it refers to the start or end of
the array).
The .[2] syntax can be used to return the element at the given index. Negative indices are allowed, with -1 referring to the
last element, -2 referring to the next to last element, and so on.
The .foo syntax only works for simply keys i.e. keys that are all alphanumeric characters. .[<string>] works with keys that
contain special characters such as colons and dots. For example .["foo::bar"] and .["foo.bar"] work while .foo::bar and
.foo.bar would not.
The ? "operator" can also be used with the slice operator, as in .[10:15]?, which outputs values where the inputs are
slice-able.
jq ´.[0]´
[{"name":"JSON", "good":true}, {"name":"XML", "good":false}]
=> {"name":"JSON", "good":true}
jq ´.[2]´
[{"name":"JSON", "good":true}, {"name":"XML", "good":false}]
=> null
jq ´.[2:4]´
["a","b","c","d","e"]
=> ["c", "d"]
jq ´.[2:4]´
"abcdefghi"
=> "cd"
jq ´.[:3]´
["a","b","c","d","e"]
=> ["a", "b", "c"]
jq ´.[-2:]´
["a","b","c","d","e"]
=> ["d", "e"]
jq ´.[-2]´
[1,2,3]
=> 2
.[]
If you use the .[index] syntax, but omit the index entirely, it will return all of the elements of an array. Running .[]
with the input [1,2,3] will produce the numbers as three separate results, rather than as a single array.
You can also use this on an object, and it will return all the values of the object.
jq ´.[]´
[{"name":"JSON", "good":true}, {"name":"XML", "good":false}]
=> {"name":"JSON", "good":true}, {"name":"XML", "good":false}
jq ´.[]´
[]
=>
jq ´.[]´
{"a": 1, "b": 1}
=> 1, 1
.[]?
Like .[], but no errors will be output if . is not an array or object.
,
If two filters are separated by a comma, then the input will be fed into both and there will be multiple outputs: first, all
of the outputs produced by the left expression, and then all of the outputs produced by the right. For instance, filter
.foo, .bar, produces both the "foo" fields and "bar" fields as separate outputs.
jq ´.foo, .bar´
{"foo": 42, "bar": "something else", "baz": true}
=> 42, "something else"
jq ´.user, .projects[]´
{"user":"stedolan", "projects": ["jq", "wikiflow"]}
=> "stedolan", "jq", "wikiflow"
jq ´.[4,2]´
["a","b","c","d","e"]
=> "e", "c"
|
The | operator combines two filters by feeding the output(s) of the one on the left into the input of the one on the right.
It´s pretty much the same as the Unix shell´s pipe, if you´re used to that.
If the one on the left produces multiple results, the one on the right will be run for each of those results. So, the ex‐
pression .[] | .foo retrieves the "foo" field of each element of the input array.
jq ´.[] | .name´
[{"name":"JSON", "good":true}, {"name":"XML", "good":false}]
=> "JSON", "XML"
TYPES AND VALUES
jq supports the same set of datatypes as JSON - numbers, strings, booleans, arrays, objects (which in JSON-speak are hashes
with only string keys), and "null".
Booleans, null, strings and numbers are written the same way as in javascript. Just like everything else in jq, these simple
values take an input and produce an output - 42 is a valid jq expression that takes an input, ignores it, and returns 42 in‐
stead.
Array construction - []
As in JSON, [] is used to construct arrays, as in [1,2,3]. The elements of the arrays can be any jq expression. All of the
results produced by all of the expressions are collected into one big array. You can use it to construct an array out of a
known quantity of values (as in [.foo, .bar, .baz]) or to "collect" all the results of a filter into an array (as in
[.items[].name])
Once you understand the "," operator, you can look at jq´s array syntax in a different light: the expression [1,2,3] is not
using a built-in syntax for comma-separated arrays, but is instead applying the [] operator (collect results) to the expres‐
sion 1,2,3 (which produces three different results).
If you have a filter X that produces four results, then the expression [X] will produce a single result, an array of four
elements.
jq ´[.user, .projects[]]´
{"user":"stedolan", "projects": ["jq", "wikiflow"]}
=> ["stedolan", "jq", "wikiflow"]
Objects - {}
Like JSON, {} is for constructing objects (aka dictionaries or hashes), as in: {"a": 42, "b": 17}.
If the keys are "sensible" (all alphabetic characters), then the quotes can be left off. The value can be any expression
(although you may need to wrap it in parentheses if it´s a complicated one), which gets applied to the {} expression´s input
(remember, all filters have an input and an output).
{foo: .bar}
will produce the JSON object {"foo": 42} if given the JSON object {"bar":42, "baz":43}. You can use this to select particu‐
lar fields of an object: if the input is an object with "user", "title", "id", and "content" fields and you just want "user"
and "title", you can write
{user: .user, title: .title}
Because that´s so common, there´s a shortcut syntax: {user, title}.
If one of the expressions produces multiple results, multiple dictionaries will be produced. If the input´s
{"user":"stedolan","titles":["JQ Primer", "More JQ"]}
then the expression
{user, title: .titles[]}
will produce two outputs:
{"user":"stedolan", "title": "JQ Primer"}
{"user":"stedolan", "title": "More JQ"}
Putting parentheses around the key means it will be evaluated as an expression. With the same input as above,
{(.user): .titles}
produces
{"stedolan": ["JQ Primer", "More JQ"]}
jq ´{user, title: .titles[]}´
{"user":"stedolan","titles":["JQ Primer", "More JQ"]}
=> {"user":"stedolan", "title": "JQ Primer"}, {"user":"stedolan", "title": "More JQ"}
jq ´{(.user): .titles}´
{"user":"stedolan","titles":["JQ Primer", "More JQ"]}
=> {"stedolan": ["JQ Primer", "More JQ"]}
BUILTIN OPERATORS AND FUNCTIONS
Some jq operator (for instance, +) do different things depending on the type of their arguments (arrays, numbers, etc.).
However, jq never does implicit type conversions. If you try to add a string to an object you´ll get an error message and no
result.
Addition - +
The operator + takes two filters, applies them both to the same input, and adds the results together. What "adding" means
depends on the types involved:
• Numbers are added by normal arithmetic.
• Arrays are added by being concatenated into a larger array.
• Strings are added by being joined into a larger string.
• Objects are added by merging, that is, inserting all the key-value pairs from both objects into a single combined ob‐
ject. If both objects contain a value for the same key, the object on the right of the + wins. (For recursive merge use
the * operator.)
null can be added to any value, and returns the other value unchanged.
jq ´.a + 1´
{"a": 7}
=> 8
jq ´.a + .b´
{"a": [1,2], "b": [3,4]}
=> [1,2,3,4]
jq ´.a + null´
{"a": 1}
=> 1
jq ´.a + 1´
{}
=> 1
jq ´{a: 1} + {b: 2} + {c: 3} + {a: 42}´
null
=> {"a": 42, "b": 2, "c": 3}
Subtraction - -
As well as normal arithmetic subtraction on numbers, the - operator can be used on arrays to remove all occurrences of the
second array´s elements from the first array.
jq ´4 - .a´
{"a":3}
=> 1
jq ´. - ["xml", "yaml"]´
["xml", "yaml", "json"]
=> ["json"]
Multiplication, division, modulo - *, /, and %
These infix operators behave as expected when given two numbers. Division by zero raises an error. x % y computes x modulo
y.
Multiplying a string by a number produces the concatenation of that string that many times. "x" * 0 produces null.
Dividing a string by another splits the first using the second as separators.
Multiplying two objects will merge them recursively: this works like addition but if both objects contain a value for the
same key, and the values are objects, the two are merged with the same strategy.
jq ´10 / . * 3´
5
=> 6
jq ´. / ", "´
"a, b,c,d, e"
=> ["a","b,c,d","e"]
jq ´{"k": {"a": 1, "b": 2}} * {"k": {"a": 0,"c": 3}}´
null
=> {"k": {"a": 0, "b": 2, "c": 3}}
jq ´.[] | (1 / .)?´
[1,0,-1]
=> 1, -1
length
The builtin function length gets the length of various different types of value:
• The length of a string is the number of Unicode codepoints it contains (which will be the same as its JSON-encoded
length in bytes if it´s pure ASCII).
• The length of an array is the number of elements.
• The length of an object is the number of key-value pairs.
• The length of null is zero.
jq ´.[] | length´ [[1,2], "string", {"a":2}, null] => 2, 6, 1, 0
keys, keys_unsorted
The builtin function keys, when given an object, returns its keys in an array.
The keys are sorted "alphabetically", by unicode codepoint order. This is not an order that makes particular sense in any
particular language, but you can count on it being the same for any two objects with the same set of keys, regardless of lo‐
cale settings.
When keys is given an array, it returns the valid indices for that array: the integers from 0 to length-1.
The keys_unsorted function is just like keys, but if the input is an object then the keys will not be sorted, instead the
keys will roughly be in insertion order.
jq ´keys´
{"abc": 1, "abcd": 2, "Foo": 3}
=> ["Foo", "abc", "abcd"]
jq ´keys´
[42,3,35]
=> [0,1,2]
has(key)
The builtin function has returns whether the input object has the given key, or the input array has an element at the given
index.
has($key) has the same effect as checking whether $key is a member of the array returned by keys, although has will be
faster.
jq ´map(has("foo"))´
[{"foo": 42}, {}]
=> [true, false]
jq ´map(has(2))´
[[0,1], ["a","b","c"]]
=> [false, true]
in
The builtin function in returns the input key is in the given object, or the input index corresponds to an element in the
given array. It is, essentially, an inversed version of has.
jq ´.[] | in({"foo": 42})´
["foo", "bar"]
=> true, false
jq ´map(in([0,1]))´
[2, 0]
=> [false, true]
path(path_expression)
Outputs array representations of the given path expression in .. The outputs are arrays of strings (keys in objects0 and/or
numbers (array indices.
Path expressions are jq expressions like .a, but also .[]. There are two types of path expressions: ones that can match ex‐
actly, and ones that cannot. For example, .a.b.c is an exact match path expression, while .a[].b is not.
path(exact_path_expression) will produce the array representation of the path expression even if it does not exist in ., if
. is null or an array or an object.
path(pattern) will produce array representations of the paths matching pattern if the paths exist in ..
Note that the path expressions are not different from normal expressions. The expression path(..|select(type=="boolean"))
outputs all the paths to boolean values in ., and only those paths.
jq ´path(.a[0].b)´
null
=> ["a",0,"b"]
jq ´[path(..)]´
{"a":[{"b":1}]}
=> [[],["a"],["a",0],["a",0,"b"]]
del(path_expression)
The builtin function del removes a key and its corresponding value from an object.
jq ´del(.foo)´
{"foo": 42, "bar": 9001, "baz": 42}
=> {"bar": 9001, "baz": 42}
jq ´del(.[1, 2])´
["foo", "bar", "baz"]
=> ["foo"]
to_entries, from_entries, with_entries
These functions convert between an object and an array of key-value pairs. If to_entries is passed an object, then for each
k: v entry in the input, the output array includes {"key": k, "value": v}.
from_entries does the opposite conversion, and with_entries(foo) is a shorthand for to_entries | map(foo) | from_entries,
useful for doing some operation to all keys and values of an object. from_entries accepts key, Key, Name, value and Value as
keys.
jq ´to_entries´
{"a": 1, "b": 2}
=> [{"key":"a", "value":1}, {"key":"b", "value":2}]
jq ´from_entries´
[{"key":"a", "value":1}, {"key":"b", "value":2}]
=> {"a": 1, "b": 2}
jq ´with_entries(.key |= "KEY_" + .)´
{"a": 1, "b": 2}
=> {"KEY_a": 1, "KEY_b": 2}
select(boolean_expression)
The function select(foo) produces its input unchanged if foo returns true for that input, and produces no output otherwise.
It´s useful for filtering lists: [1,2,3] | map(select(. >= 2)) will give you [2,3].
jq ´map(select(. >= 2))´
[1,5,3,0,7]
=> [5,3,7]
jq ´.[] | select(.id == "second")´
[{"id": "first", "val": 1}, {"id": "second", "val": 2}]
=> {"id": "second", "val": 2}
arrays, objects, iterables, booleans, numbers, normals, finites, strings, nulls, values, scalars
These built-ins select only inputs that are arrays, objects, iterables (arrays or objects), booleans, numbers, normal num‐
bers, finite numbers, strings, null, non-null values, and non-iterables, respectively.
jq ´.[]|numbers´
[[],{},1,"foo",null,true,false]
=> 1
empty
empty returns no results. None at all. Not even null.
It´s useful on occasion. You´ll know if you need it :)
jq ´1, empty, 2´
null
=> 1, 2
jq ´[1,2,empty,3]´
null
=> [1,2,3]
error(message)
Produces an error, just like .a applied to values other than null and objects would, but with the given message as the er‐
ror´s value.
$__loc__
Produces an object with a "file" key and a "line" key, with the filename and line number where $__loc__ occurs, as values.
jq ´try error("\($__loc__)") catch .´
null
=> "{\"file\":\"<top-level>\",\"line\":1}"
map(x), map_values(x)
For any filter x, map(x) will run that filter for each element of the input array, and produce the outputs a new array.
map(.+1) will increment each element of an array of numbers.
Similarly, map_values(x) will run that filter for each element, but it will return an object when an object is passed.
map(x) is equivalent to [.[] | x]. In fact, this is how it´s defined. Similarly, map_values(x) is defined as .[] |= x.
jq ´map(.+1)´
[1,2,3]
=> [2,3,4]
jq ´map_values(.+1)´
{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}
=> {"a": 2, "b": 3, "c": 4}
paths, paths(node_filter), leaf_paths
paths outputs the paths to all the elements in its input (except it does not output the empty list, representing . itself).
paths(f) outputs the paths to any values for which f is true. That is, paths(numbers) outputs the paths to all numeric val‐
ues.
leaf_paths is an alias of paths(scalars); leaf_paths is deprecated and will be removed in the next major release.
jq ´[paths]´
[1,[[],{"a":2}]]
=> [[0],[1],[1,0],[1,1],[1,1,"a"]]
jq ´[paths(scalars)]´
[1,[[],{"a":2}]]
=> [[0],[1,1,"a"]]
add
The filter add takes as input an array, and produces as output the elements of the array added together. This might mean
summed, concatenated or merged depending on the types of the elements of the input array - the rules are the same as those
for the + operator (described above).
If the input is an empty array, add returns null.
jq ´add´
["a","b","c"]
=> "abc"
jq ´add´
[1, 2, 3]
=> 6
jq ´add´
[]
=> null
any, any(condition), any(generator; condition)
The filter any takes as input an array of boolean values, and produces true as output if any of the the elements of the ar‐
ray is true.
If the input is an empty array, any returns false.
The any(condition) form applies the given condition to the elements of the input array.
The any(generator; condition) form applies the given condition to all the outputs of the given generator.
jq ´any´
[true, false]
=> true
jq ´any´
[false, false]
=> false
jq ´any´
[]
=> false
all, all(condition), all(generator; condition)
The filter all takes as input an array of boolean values, and produces true as output if all of the the elements of the ar‐
ray are true.
The all(condition) form applies the given condition to the elements of the input array.
The all(generator; condition) form applies the given condition to all the outputs of the given generator.
If the input is an empty array, all returns true.
jq ´all´
[true, false]
=> false
jq ´all´
[true, true]
=> true
jq ´all´
[]
=> true
[Requires 1.5] flatten, flatten(depth)
The filter flatten takes as input an array of nested arrays, and produces a flat array in which all arrays inside the origi‐
nal array have been recursively replaced by their values. You can pass an argument to it to specify how many levels of nest‐
ing to flatten.
flatten(2) is like flatten, but going only up to two levels deep.
jq ´flatten´
[1, [2], [[3]]]
=> [1, 2, 3]
jq ´flatten(1)´
[1, [2], [[3]]]
=> [1, 2, [3]]
jq ´flatten´
[[]]
=> []
jq ´flatten´
[{"foo": "bar"}, [{"foo": "baz"}]]
=> [{"foo": "bar"}, {"foo": "baz"}]
range(upto), range(from;upto) range(from;upto;by)
The range function produces a range of numbers. range(4;10) produces 6 numbers, from 4 (inclusive) to 10 (exclusive). The
numbers are produced as separate outputs. Use [range(4;10)] to get a range as an array.
The one argument form generates numbers from 0 to the given number, with an increment of 1.
The two argument form generates numbers from from to upto with an increment of 1.
The three argument form generates numbers from to upto with an increment of by.
jq ´range(2;4)´
null
=> 2, 3
jq ´[range(2;4)]´
null
=> [2,3]
jq ´[range(4)]´
null
=> [0,1,2,3]
jq ´[range(0;10;3)]´
null
=> [0,3,6,9]
jq ´[range(0;10;-1)]´
null
=> []
jq ´[range(0;-5;-1)]´
null
=> [0,-1,-2,-3,-4]
floor
The floor function returns the floor of its numeric input.
jq ´floor´
3.14159
=> 3
sqrt
The sqrt function returns the square root of its numeric input.
jq ´sqrt´
9
=> 3
tonumber
The tonumber function parses its input as a number. It will convert correctly-formatted strings to their numeric equivalent,
leave numbers alone, and give an error on all other input.
jq ´.[] | tonumber´
[1, "1"]
=> 1, 1
tostring
The tostring function prints its input as a string. Strings are left unchanged, and all other values are JSON-encoded.
jq ´.[] | tostring´
[1, "1", [1]]
=> "1", "1", "[1]"
type
The type function returns the type of its argument as a string, which is one of null, boolean, number, string, array or ob‐
ject.
jq ´map(type)´
[0, false, [], {}, null, "hello"]
=> ["number", "boolean", "array", "object", "null", "string"]
infinite, nan, isinfinite, isnan, isfinite, isnormal
Some arithmetic operations can yield infinities and "not a number" (NaN) values. The isinfinite builtin returns true if its
input is infinite. The isnan builtin returns true if its input is a NaN. The infinite builtin returns a positive infinite
value. The nan builtin returns a NaN. The isnormal builtin returns true if its input is a normal number.
Note that division by zero raises an error.
Currently most arithmetic operations operating on infinities, NaNs, and sub-normals do not raise errors.
jq ´.[] | (infinite * .) < 0´
[-1, 1]
=> true, false
jq ´infinite, nan | type´
null
=> "number", "number"
sort, sort_by(path_expression)
The sort functions sorts its input, which must be an array. Values are sorted in the following order:
• null
• false
• true
• numbers
• strings, in alphabetical order (by unicode codepoint value)
• arrays, in lexical order
• objects
The ordering for objects is a little complex: first they´re compared by comparing their sets of keys (as arrays in sorted
order), and if their keys are equal then the values are compared key by key.
sort may be used to sort by a particular field of an object, or by applying any jq filter.
sort_by(foo) compares two elements by comparing the result of foo on each element.
jq ´sort´
[8,3,null,6]
=> [null,3,6,8]
jq ´sort_by(.foo)´
[{"foo":4, "bar":10}, {"foo":3, "bar":100}, {"foo":2, "bar":1}]
=> [{"foo":2, "bar":1}, {"foo":3, "bar":100}, {"foo":4, "bar":10}]
group_by(path_expression)
group_by(.foo) takes as input an array, groups the elements having the same .foo field into separate arrays, and produces
all of these arrays as elements of a larger array, sorted by the value of the .foo field.
Any jq expression, not just a field access, may be used in place of .foo. The sorting order is the same as described in the
sort function above.
jq ´group_by(.foo)´
[{"foo":1, "bar":10}, {"foo":3, "bar":100}, {"foo":1, "bar":1}]
=> [[{"foo":1, "bar":10}, {"foo":1, "bar":1}], [{"foo":3, "bar":100}]]
min, max, min_by(path_exp), max_by(path_exp)
Find the minimum or maximum element of the input array.
The min_by(path_exp) and max_by(path_exp) functions allow you to specify a particular field or property to examine, e.g.
min_by(.foo) finds the object with the smallest foo field.
jq ´min´
[5,4,2,7]
=> 2
jq ´max_by(.foo)´
[{"foo":1, "bar":14}, {"foo":2, "bar":3}]
=> {"foo":2, "bar":3}
unique, unique_by(path_exp)
The unique function takes as input an array and produces an array of the same elements, in sorted order, with duplicates re‐
moved.
The unique_by(path_exp) function will keep only one element for each value obtained by applying the argument. Think of it as
making an array by taking one element out of every group produced by group.
jq ´unique´
[1,2,5,3,5,3,1,3]
=> [1,2,3,5]
jq ´unique_by(.foo)´
[{"foo": 1, "bar": 2}, {"foo": 1, "bar": 3}, {"foo": 4, "bar": 5}]
=> [{"foo": 1, "bar": 2}, {"foo": 4, "bar": 5}]
jq ´unique_by(length)´
["chunky", "bacon", "kitten", "cicada", "asparagus"]
=> ["bacon", "chunky", "asparagus"]
reverse
This function reverses an array.
jq ´reverse´
[1,2,3,4]
=> [4,3,2,1]
contains(element)
The filter contains(b) will produce true if b is completely contained within the input. A string B is contained in a string
A if B is a substring of A. An array B is contained in an array A if all elements in B are contained in any element in A. An
object B is contained in object A if all of the values in B are contained in the value in A with the same key. All other
types are assumed to be contained in each other if they are equal.
jq ´contains("bar")´
"foobar"
=> true
jq ´contains(["baz", "bar"])´
["foobar", "foobaz", "blarp"]
=> true
jq ´contains(["bazzzzz", "bar"])´
["foobar", "foobaz", "blarp"]
=> false
jq ´contains({foo: 12, bar: [{barp: 12}]})´
{"foo": 12, "bar":[1,2,{"barp":12, "blip":13}]}
=> true
jq ´contains({foo: 12, bar: [{barp: 15}]})´
{"foo": 12, "bar":[1,2,{"barp":12, "blip":13}]}
=> false
indices(s)
Outputs an array containing the indices in . where s occurs. The input may be an array, in which case if s is an array then
the indices output will be those where all elements in . match those of s.
jq ´indices(", ")´
"a,b, cd, efg, hijk"
=> [3,7,12]
jq ´indices(1)´
[0,1,2,1,3,1,4]
=> [1,3,5]
jq ´indices([1,2])´
[0,1,2,3,1,4,2,5,1,2,6,7]
=> [1,8]
index(s), rindex(s)
Outputs the index of the first (index) or last (rindex) occurrence of s in the input.
jq ´index(", ")´
"a,b, cd, efg, hijk"
=> 3
jq ´rindex(", ")´
"a,b, cd, efg, hijk"
=> 12
inside
The filter inside(b) will produce true if the input is completely contained within b. It is, essentially, an inversed ver‐
sion of contains.
jq ´inside("foobar")´
"bar"
=> true
jq ´inside(["foobar", "foobaz", "blarp"])´
["baz", "bar"]
=> true
jq ´inside(["foobar", "foobaz", "blarp"])´
["bazzzzz", "bar"]
=> false
jq ´inside({"foo": 12, "bar":[1,2,{"barp":12, "blip":13}]})´
{"foo": 12, "bar": [{"barp": 12}]}
=> true
jq ´inside({"foo": 12, "bar":[1,2,{"barp":12, "blip":13}]})´
{"foo": 12, "bar": [{"barp": 15}]}
=> false
startswith(str)
Outputs true if . starts with the given string argument.
jq ´[.[]|startswith("foo")]´
["fo", "foo", "barfoo", "foobar", "barfoob"]
=> [false, true, false, true, false]
endswith(str)
Outputs true if . ends with the given string argument.
jq ´[.[]|endswith("foo")]´
["foobar", "barfoo"]
=> [false, true]
combinations, combinations(n)
Outputs all combinations of the elements of the arrays in the input array. If given an argument n, it outputs all combina‐
tions of n repetitions of the input array.
jq ´combinations´
[[1,2], [3, 4]]
=> [1, 3], [1, 4], [2, 3], [2, 4]
jq ´combinations(2)´
[0, 1]
=> [0, 0], [0, 1], [1, 0], [1, 1]
ltrimstr(str)
Outputs its input with the given prefix string removed, if it starts with it.
jq ´[.[]|ltrimstr("foo")]´
["fo", "foo", "barfoo", "foobar", "afoo"]
=> ["fo","","barfoo","bar","afoo"]
rtrimstr(str)
Outputs its input with the given suffix string removed, if it ends with it.
jq ´[.[]|rtrimstr("foo")]´
["fo", "foo", "barfoo", "foobar", "foob"]
=> ["fo","","bar","foobar","foob"]
explode
Converts an input string into an array of the string´s codepoint numbers.
jq ´explode´
"foobar"
=> [102,111,111,98,97,114]
implode
The inverse of explode.
jq ´implode´
[65, 66, 67]
=> "ABC"
split
Splits an input string on the separator argument.
jq ´split(", ")´
"a, b,c,d, e, "
=> ["a","b,c,d","e",""]
join(str)
Joins the array of elements given as input, using the argument as separator. It is the inverse of split: that is, running
split("foo") | join("foo") over any input string returns said input string.
jq ´join(", ")´
["a","b,c,d","e"]
=> "a, b,c,d, e"
ascii_downcase, ascii_upcase
Emit a copy of the input string with its alphabetic characters (a-z and A-Z) converted to the specified case.
while(cond; update)
The while(cond; update) function allows you to repeatedly apply an update to . until cond is false.
Note that while(cond; update) is internally defined as a recursive jq function. Recursive calls within while will not con‐
sume additional memory if update produces at most one output for each input. See advanced topics below.
jq ´[while(.<100; .*2)]´
1
=> [1,2,4,8,16,32,64]
until(cond; next)
The until(cond; next) function allows you to repeatedly apply the expression next, initially to . then to its own output,
until cond is true. For example, this can be used to implement a factorial function (see below).
Note that until(cond; next) is internally defined as a recursive jq function. Recursive calls within until() will not con‐
sume additional memory if next produces at most one output for each input. See advanced topics below.
jq ´[.,1]|until(.[0] < 1; [.[0] - 1, .[1] * .[0]])|.[1]´
4
=> 24
recurse(f), recurse, recurse(f; condition), recurse_down
The recurse(f) function allows you to search through a recursive structure, and extract interesting data from all levels.
Suppose your input represents a filesystem:
{"name": "/", "children": [
{"name": "/bin", "children": [
{"name": "/bin/ls", "children": []},
{"name": "/bin/sh", "children": []}]},
{"name": "/home", "children": [
{"name": "/home/stephen", "children": [
{"name": "/home/stephen/jq", "children": []}]}]}]}
Now suppose you want to extract all of the filenames present. You need to retrieve .name, .children[].name, .chil‐
dren[].children[].name, and so on. You can do this with:
recurse(.children[]) | .name
When called without an argument, recurse is equivalent to recurse(.[]?).
recurse(f) is identical to recurse(f; . != null) and can be used without concerns about recursion depth.
recurse(f; condition) is a generator which begins by emitting . and then emits in turn .|f, .|f|f, .|f|f|f, ... so long as
the computed value satisfies the condition. For example, to generate all the integers, at least in principle, one could
write recurse(.+1; true).
For legacy reasons, recurse_down exists as an alias to calling recurse without arguments. This alias is considered depre‐
cated and will be removed in the next major release.
The recursive calls in recurse will not consume additional memory whenever f produces at most a single output for each in‐
put.
jq ´recurse(.foo[])´
{"foo":[{"foo": []}, {"foo":[{"foo":[]}]}]}
=> {"foo":[{"foo":[]},{"foo":[{"foo":[]}]}]}, {"foo":[]}, {"foo":[{"foo":[]}]}, {"foo":[]}
jq ´recurse´
{"a":0,"b":[1]}
=> {"a":0,"b":[1]}, 0, [1], 1
jq ´recurse(. * .; . < 20)´
2
=> 2, 4, 16
..
Short-hand for recurse without arguments. This is intended to resemble the XPath // operator. Note that ..a does not work;
use ..|a instead. In the example below we use ..|.a? to find all the values of object keys "a" in any object found "below"
..
jq ´..|.a?´
[[{"a":1}]]
=> 1
env
Outputs an object representing jq´s environment.
jq ´env.PAGER´
null
=> "less"
transpose
Transpose a possibly jagged matrix (an array of arrays). Rows are padded with nulls so the result is always rectangular.
jq ´transpose´
[[1], [2,3]]
=> [[1,2],[null,3]]
bsearch(x)
bsearch(x) conducts a binary search for x in the input array. If the input is sorted and contains x, then bsearch(x) will
return its index in the array; otherwise, if the array is sorted, it will return (-1 - ix) where ix is an insertion point
such that the array would still be sorted after the insertion of x at ix. If the array is not sorted, bsearch(x) will return
an integer that is probably of no interest.
jq ´bsearch(0)´
[0,1]
=> 0
jq ´bsearch(0)´
[1,2,3]
=> -1
jq ´bsearch(4) as $ix | if $ix < 0 then .[-(1+$ix)] = 4 else . end´
[1,2,3]
=> [1,2,3,4]
String interpolation - \(foo)
Inside a string, you can put an expression inside parens after a backslash. Whatever the expression returns will be interpo‐
lated into the string.
jq ´"The input was \(.), which is one less than \(.+1)"´
42
=> "The input was 42, which is one less than 43"
Convert to/from JSON
The tojson and fromjson builtins dump values as JSON texts or parse JSON texts into values, respectively. The tojson builtin
differs from tostring in that tostring returns strings unmodified, while tojson encodes strings as JSON strings.
jq ´[.[]|tostring]´
[1, "foo", ["foo"]]
=> ["1","foo","[\"foo\"]"]
jq ´[.[]|tojson]´
[1, "foo", ["foo"]]
=> ["1","\"foo\"","[\"foo\"]"]
jq ´[.[]|tojson|fromjson]´
[1, "foo", ["foo"]]
=> [1,"foo",["foo"]]
Format strings and escaping
The @foo syntax is used to format and escape strings, which is useful for building URLs, documents in a language like HTML
or XML, and so forth. @foo can be used as a filter on its own, the possible escapings are:
@text:
Calls tostring, see that function for details.
@json:
Serializes the input as JSON.
@html:
Applies HTML/XML escaping, by mapping the characters <>&´" to their entity equivalents <, >, &, ',
".
@uri:
Applies percent-encoding, by mapping all reserved URI characters to a %XX sequence.
@csv:
The input must be an array, and it is rendered as CSV with double quotes for strings, and quotes escaped by repeti‐
tion.
@tsv:
The input must be an array, and it is rendered as TSV (tab-separated values). Each input array will be printed as a
single line. Fields are separated by a single tab (ascii 0x09). Input characters line-feed (ascii 0x0a), carriage-re‐
turn (ascii 0x0d), tab (ascii 0x09) and backslash (ascii 0x5c) will be output as escape sequences \n, \r, \t, \\ re‐
spectively.
@sh:
The input is escaped suitable for use in a command-line for a POSIX shell. If the input is an array, the output will
be a series of space-separated strings.
@base64:
The input is converted to base64 as specified by RFC 4648.
This syntax can be combined with string interpolation in a useful way. You can follow a @foo token with a string literal.
The contents of the string literal will not be escaped. However, all interpolations made inside that string literal will be
escaped. For instance,
@uri "https://www.google.com/search?q=\(.search)"
will produce the following output for the input {"search":"what is jq?"}:
"https://www.google.com/search?q=what%20is%20jq%3F"
Note that the slashes, question mark, etc. in the URL are not escaped, as they were part of the string literal.
jq ´@html´
"This works if x < y"
=> "This works if x < y"
jq ´@sh "echo \(.)"´
"O´Hara´s Ale"
=> "echo ´O´\\´´Hara´\\´´s Ale´"
Dates
jq provides some basic date handling functionality, with some high-level and low-level builtins. In all cases these builtins
deal exclusively with time in UTC.
The fromdateiso8601 builtin parses datetimes in the ISO 8601 format to a number of seconds since the Unix epoch
(1970-01-01T00:00:00Z). The todateiso8601 builtin does the inverse.
The fromdate builtin parses datetime strings. Currently fromdate only supports ISO 8601 datetime strings, but in the future
it will attempt to parse datetime strings in more formats.
The todate builtin is an alias for todateiso8601.
The now builtin outputs the current time, in seconds since the Unix epoch.
Low-level jq interfaces to the C-library time functions are also provided: strptime, strftime, mktime, and gmtime. Refer to
your host operating system´s documentation for the format strings used by strptime and strftime. Note: these are not neces‐
sarily stable interfaces in jq, particularly as to their localization functionality.
The gmtime builtin consumes a number of seconds since the Unix epoch and outputs a "broken down time" representation of time
as an array of numbers representing (in this order): the year, the month (zero-based), the day of the month, the hour of the
day, the minute of the hour, the second of the minute, the day of the week, and the day of the year -- all one-based unless
otherwise stated.
The mktime builtin consumes "broken down time" representations of time output by gmtime and strptime.
The strptime(fmt) builtin parses input strings matching the fmt argument. The output is in the "broken down time" represen‐
tation consumed by gmtime and output by mktime.
The strftime(fmt) builtin formats a time with the given format.
The format strings for strptime and strftime are described in typical C library documentation. The format string for ISO
8601 datetime is "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ".
jq may not support some or all of this date functionality on some systems.
jq ´fromdate´
"2015-03-05T23:51:47Z"
=> 1425599507
jq ´strptime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")´
"2015-03-05T23:51:47Z"
=> [2015,2,5,23,51,47,4,63]
jq ´strptime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")|mktime´
"2015-03-05T23:51:47Z"
=> 1425599507
CONDITIONALS AND COMPARISONS
==, !=
The expression ´a == b´ will produce ´true´ if the result of a and b are equal (that is, if they represent equivalent JSON
documents) and ´false´ otherwise. In particular, strings are never considered equal to numbers. If you´re coming from Java‐
script, jq´s == is like Javascript´s === - considering values equal only when they have the same type as well as the same
value.
!= is "not equal", and ´a != b´ returns the opposite value of ´a == b´
jq ´.[] == 1´
[1, 1.0, "1", "banana"]
=> true, true, false, false
if-then-else
if A then B else C end will act the same as B if A produces a value other than false or null, but act the same as C other‐
wise.
Checking for false or null is a simpler notion of "truthiness" than is found in Javascript or Python, but it means that
you´ll sometimes have to be more explicit about the condition you want: you can´t test whether, e.g. a string is empty using
if .name then A else B end, you´ll need something more like if (.name | length) > 0 then A else B end instead.
If the condition A produces multiple results, it is considered "true" if any of those results is not false or null. If it
produces zero results, it´s considered false.
More cases can be added to an if using elif A then B syntax.
jq ´if . == 0 then
"zero" elif . == 1 then "one" else "many" end´ 2 => "many"
>, >=, <=, <
The comparison operators >, >=, <=, < return whether their left argument is greater than, greater than or equal to, less
than or equal to or less than their right argument (respectively).
The ordering is the same as that described for sort, above.
jq ´. < 5´
2
=> true
and/or/not
jq supports the normal Boolean operators and/or/not. They have the same standard of truth as if expressions - false and null
are considered "false values", and anything else is a "true value".
If an operand of one of these operators produces multiple results, the operator itself will produce a result for each input.
not is in fact a builtin function rather than an operator, so it is called as a filter to which things can be piped rather
than with special syntax, as in .foo and .bar | not.
These three only produce the values "true" and "false", and so are only useful for genuine Boolean operations, rather than
the common Perl/Python/Ruby idiom of "value_that_may_be_null or default". If you want to use this form of "or", picking be‐
tween two values rather than evaluating a condition, see the "//" operator below.
jq ´42 and "a string"´
null
=> true
jq ´(true, false) or false´
null
=> true, false
jq ´(true, true) and (true, false)´
null
=> true, false, true, false
jq ´[true, false | not]´
null
=> [false, true]
Alternative operator - //
A filter of the form a // b produces the same results as a, if a produces results other than false and null. Otherwise, a //
b produces the same results as b.
This is useful for providing defaults: .foo // 1 will evaluate to 1 if there´s no .foo element in the input. It´s similar to
how or is sometimes used in Python (jq´s or operator is reserved for strictly Boolean operations).
jq ´.foo // 42´
{"foo": 19}
=> 19
jq ´.foo // 42´
{}
=> 42
try-catch
Errors can be caught by using try EXP catch EXP. The first expression is executed, and if it fails then the second is exe‐
cuted with the error message. The output of the handler, if any, is output as if it had been the output of the expression to
try.
The try EXP form uses empty as the exception handler.
jq ´try .a catch ". is not an object"´
true
=> ". is not an object"
jq ´[.[]|try .a]´
[{}, true, {"a":1}]
=> [null, 1]
jq ´try error("some exception") catch .´
true
=> "some exception"
Breaking out of control structures
A convenient use of try/catch is to break out of control structures like reduce, foreach, while, and so on.
For example:
# Repeat an expression until it raises "break" as an
# error, then stop repeating without re-raising the error.
# But if the error caught is not "break" then re-raise it.
try repeat(exp) catch .=="break" then empty else error;
jq has a syntax for named lexical labels to "break" or "go (back) to":
label $out | ... break $out ...
The break $label_name expression will cause the program to to act as though the nearest (to the left) label $label_name pro‐
duced empty.
The relationship between the break and corresponding label is lexical: the label has to be "visible" from the break.
To break out of a reduce, for example:
label $out | reduce .[] as $item (null; if .==false then break $out else ... end)
The following jq program produces a syntax error:
break $out
because no label $out is visible.
? operator
The ? operator, used as EXP?, is shorthand for try EXP.
jq ´[.[]|(.a)?]´
[{}, true, {"a":1}]
=> [null, 1]
REGULAR EXPRESSIONS (PCRE)
jq uses the Oniguruma regular expression library, as do php, ruby, TextMate, Sublime Text, etc, so the description here will
focus on jq specifics.
The jq regex filters are defined so that they can be used using one of these patterns:
STRING | FILTER( REGEX )
STRING | FILTER( REGEX; FLAGS )
STRING | FILTER( [REGEX] )
STRING | FILTER( [REGEX, FLAGS] )
where: * STRING, REGEX and FLAGS are jq strings and subject to jq string interpolation; * REGEX, after string interpolation,
should be a valid PCRE regex; * FILTER is one of test, match, or capture, as described below.
FLAGS is a string consisting of one of more of the supported flags:
• g - Global search (find all matches, not just the first)
• i - Case insensitive search
• m - Multi line mode (´.´ will match newlines)
• n - Ignore empty matches
• p - Both s and m modes are enabled
• s - Single line mode (´^´ -> ´\A´, ´$´ -> ´\Z´)
• l - Find longest possible matches
• x - Extended regex format (ignore whitespace and comments)
To match whitespace in an x pattern use an escape such as \s, e.g.
• test( "a\sb", "x" ).
Note that certain flags may also be specified within REGEX, e.g.
• jq -n ´("test", "TEst", "teST", "TEST") | test( "(?i)te(?-i)st" )´
evaluates to: true, true, false, false.
[Requires 1.5] test(val), test(regex; flags)
Like match, but does not return match objects, only true or false for whether or not the regex matches the input.
jq ´test("foo")´
"foo"
=> true
jq ´.[] | test("a b c # spaces are ignored"; "ix")´
["xabcd", "ABC"]
=> true, true
[Requires 1.5] match(val), match(regex; flags)
match outputs an object for each match it finds. Matches have the following fields:
• offset - offset in UTF-8 codepoints from the beginning of the input
• length - length in UTF-8 codepoints of the match
• string - the string that it matched
• captures - an array of objects representing capturing groups.
Capturing group objects have the following fields:
• offset - offset in UTF-8 codepoints from the beginning of the input
• length - length in UTF-8 codepoints of this capturing group
• string - the string that was captured
• name - the name of the capturing group (or null if it was unnamed)
Capturing groups that did not match anything return an offset of -1
jq ´match("(abc)+"; "g")´
"abc abc"
=> {"offset": 0, "length": 3, "string": "abc", "captures": [{"offset": 0, "length": 3, "string": "abc", "name": null}]}, {"offset": 4, "length": 3, "string": "abc", "captures": [{"offset": 4, "length": 3, "string": "abc", "name": null}]}
jq ´match("foo")´
"foo bar foo"
=> {"offset": 0, "length": 3, "string": "foo", "captures": []}
jq ´match(["foo", "ig"])´
"foo bar FOO"
=> {"offset": 0, "length": 3, "string": "foo", "captures": []}, {"offset": 8, "length": 3, "string": "FOO", "captures": []}
jq ´match("foo (?<bar123>bar)? foo"; "ig")´
"foo bar foo foo foo"
=> {"offset": 0, "length": 11, "string": "foo bar foo", "captures": [{"offset": 4, "length": 3, "string": "bar", "name": "bar123"}]}, {"offset": 12, "length": 8, "string": "foo foo", "captures": [{"offset": -1, "length": 0, "string": null, "name": "bar123"}]}
jq ´[ match("."; "g")] | length´
"abc"
=> 3
[Requires 1.5] capture(val), capture(regex; flags)
Collects the named captures in a JSON object, with the name of each capture as the key, and the matched string as the corre‐
sponding value.
jq ´capture("(?<a>[a-z]+)-(?<n>[0-9]+)")´
"xyzzy-14"
=> { "a": "xyzzy", "n": "14" }
[Requires 1.5] scan(regex), scan(regex; flags)
Emit a stream of the non-overlapping substrings of the input that match the regex in accordance with the flags, if any have
been specified. If there is no match, the stream is empty. To capture all the matches for each input string, use the idiom [
expr ], e.g. [ scan(regex) ].
split(regex; flags)
For backwards compatibility, split splits on a string, not a regex.
[Requires 1.5] splits(regex), splits(regex; flags)
These provide the same results as their split counterparts, but as a stream instead of an array.
[Requires 1.5] sub(regex; tostring) sub(regex; string; flags)
Emit the string obtained by replacing the first match of regex in the input string with tostring, after interpolation.
tostring should be a jq string, and may contain references to named captures. The named captures are, in effect, presented
as a JSON object (as constructed by capture) to tostring, so a reference to a captured variable named "x" would take the
form: "(.x)".
[Requires 1.5] gsub(regex; string), gsub(regex; string; flags)
gsub is like sub but all the non-overlapping occurrences of the regex are replaced by the string, after interpolation.
ADVANCED FEATURES
Variables are an absolute necessity in most programming languages, but they´re relegated to an "advanced feature" in jq.
In most languages, variables are the only means of passing around data. If you calculate a value, and you want to use it
more than once, you´ll need to store it in a variable. To pass a value to another part of the program, you´ll need that part
of the program to define a variable (as a function parameter, object member, or whatever) in which to place the data.
It is also possible to define functions in jq, although this is is a feature whose biggest use is defining jq´s standard li‐
brary (many jq functions such as map and find are in fact written in jq).
jq has reduction operators, which are very powerful but a bit tricky. Again, these are mostly used internally, to define
some useful bits of jq´s standard library.
It may not be obvious at first, but jq is all about generators (yes, as often found in other languages). Some utilities are
provided to help deal with generators.
Some minimal I/O support (besides reading JSON from standard input, and writing JSON to standard output) is available.
Finally, there is a module/library system.
Variables
In jq, all filters have an input and an output, so manual plumbing is not necessary to pass a value from one part of a pro‐
gram to the next. Many expressions, for instance a + b, pass their input to two distinct subexpressions (here a and b are
both passed the same input), so variables aren´t usually necessary in order to use a value twice.
For instance, calculating the average value of an array of numbers requires a few variables in most languages - at least one
to hold the array, perhaps one for each element or for a loop counter. In jq, it´s simply add / length - the add expression
is given the array and produces its sum, and the length expression is given the array and produces its length.
So, there´s generally a cleaner way to solve most problems in jq than defining variables. Still, sometimes they do make
things easier, so jq lets you define variables using expression as $variable. All variable names start with $. Here´s a
slightly uglier version of the array-averaging example:
length as $array_length | add / $array_length
We´ll need a more complicated problem to find a situation where using variables actually makes our lives easier.
Suppose we have an array of blog posts, with "author" and "title" fields, and another object which is used to map author
usernames to real names. Our input looks like:
{"posts": [{"title": "Frist psot", "author": "anon"},
{"title": "A well-written article", "author": "person1"}],
"realnames": {"anon": "Anonymous Coward",
"person1": "Person McPherson"}}
We want to produce the posts with the author field containing a real name, as in:
{"title": "Frist psot", "author": "Anonymous Coward"}
{"title": "A well-written article", "author": "Person McPherson"}
We use a variable, $names, to store the realnames object, so that we can refer to it later when looking up author usernames:
.realnames as $names | .posts[] | {title, author: $names[.author]}
The expression exp as $x | ... means: for each value of expression exp, run the rest of the pipeline with the entire origi‐
nal input, and with $x set to that value. Thus as functions as something of a foreach loop.
Just as {foo} is a handy way of writing {foo: .foo}, so {$foo} is a handy way of writing {foo:$foo}.
Multiple variables may be declared using a single as expression by providing a pattern that matches the structure of the in‐
put (this is known as "destructuring"):
. as {realnames: $names, posts: [$first, $second]} | ...
The variable declarations in array patterns (e.g., . as [$first, $second]) bind to the elements of the array in from the el‐
ement at index zero on up, in order. When there is no value at the index for an array pattern element, null is bound to that
variable.
Variables are scoped over the rest of the expression that defines them, so
.realnames as $names | (.posts[] | {title, author: $names[.author]})
will work, but
(.realnames as $names | .posts[]) | {title, author: $names[.author]}
won´t.
For programming language theorists, it´s more accurate to say that jq variables are lexically-scoped bindings. In particular
there´s no way to change the value of a binding; one can only setup a new binding with the same name, but which will not be
visible where the old one was.
jq ´.bar as $x | .foo | . + $x´
{"foo":10, "bar":200}
=> 210
jq ´. as $i|[(.*2|. as $i| $i), $i]´
5
=> [10,5]
jq ´. as [$a, $b, {c: $c}] | $a + $b + $c´
[2, 3, {"c": 4, "d": 5}]
=> 9
jq ´.[] as [$a, $b] | {a: $a, b: $b}´
[[0], [0, 1], [2, 1, 0]]
=> {"a":0,"b":null}, {"a":0,"b":1}, {"a":2,"b":1}
Defining Functions
You can give a filter a name using "def" syntax:
def increment: . + 1;
From then on, increment is usable as a filter just like a builtin function (in fact, this is how some of the builtins are
defined). A function may take arguments:
def map(f): [.[] | f];
Arguments are passed as filters, not as values. The same argument may be referenced multiple times with different inputs
(here f is run for each element of the input array). Arguments to a function work more like callbacks than like value argu‐
ments. This is important to understand. Consider:
def foo(f): f|f;
5|foo(.*2)
The result will be 20 because f is .*2, and during the first invocation of f . will be 5, and the second time it will be 10
(5 * 2), so the result will be 20. Function arguments are filters, and filters expect an input when invoked.
If you want the value-argument behaviour for defining simple functions, you can just use a variable:
def addvalue(f): f as $f | map(. + $f);
Or use the short-hand:
def addvalue($f): ...;
With either definition, addvalue(.foo) will add the current input´s .foo field to each element of the array.
Multiple definitions using the same function name are allowed. Each re-definition replaces the previous one for the same
number of function arguments, but only for references from functions (or main program) subsequent to the re-definition.
jq ´def addvalue(f): . + [f]; map(addvalue(.[0]))´
[[1,2],[10,20]]
=> [[1,2,1], [10,20,10]]
jq ´def addvalue(f): f as $x | map(. + $x); addvalue(.[0])´
[[1,2],[10,20]]
=> [[1,2,1,2], [10,20,1,2]]
Reduce
The reduce syntax in jq allows you to combine all of the results of an expression by accumulating them into a single answer.
As an example, we´ll pass [3,2,1] to this expression:
reduce .[] as $item (0; . + $item)
For each result that .[] produces, . + $item is run to accumulate a running total, starting from 0. In this example, .[]
produces the results 3, 2, and 1, so the effect is similar to running something like this:
0 | (3 as $item | . + $item) |
(2 as $item | . + $item) |
(1 as $item | . + $item)
jq ´reduce .[] as $item (0; . + $item)´
[10,2,5,3]
=> 20
limit(n; exp)
The limit function extracts up to n outputs from exp.
jq ´[limit(3;.[])]´
[0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
=> [0,1,2]
first(expr), last(expr), nth(n; expr)
The first(expr) and last(expr) functions extract the first and last values from expr, respectively.
The nth(n; expr) function extracts the nth value output by expr. This can be defined as def nth(n; expr): last(limit(n + 1;
expr));. Note that nth(n; expr) doesn´t support negative values of n.
jq ´[first(range(.)), last(range(.)), nth(./2; range(.))]´
10
=> [0,9,5]
first, last, nth(n)
The first and last functions extract the first and last values from any array at ..
The nth(n) function extracts the nth value of any array at ..
jq ´[range(.)]|[first, last, nth(5)]´
10
=> [0,9,5]
foreach
The foreach syntax is similar to reduce, but intended to allow the construction of limit and reducers that produce interme‐
diate results (see example).
The form is foreach EXP as $var (INIT; UPDATE; EXTRACT). Like reduce, INIT is evaluated once to produce a state value, then
each output of EXP is bound to $var, UPDATE is evaluated for each output of EXP with the current state and with $var visi‐
ble. Each value output by UPDATE replaces the previous state. Finally, EXTRACT is evaluated for each new state to extract an
output of foreach.
This is mostly useful only for constructing reduce- and limit-like functions. But it is much more general, as it allows for
partial reductions (see the example below).
jq ´[foreach .[] as $item ([[],[]]; if $item == null then [[],.[0]] else [(.[0] + [$item]),[]] end; if $item == null then .[1] else empty end)]´
[1,2,3,4,null,"a","b",null]
=> [[1,2,3,4],["a","b"]]
Recursion
As described above, recurse uses recursion, and any jq function can be recursive. The while builtin is also implemented in
terms of recursion.
Tail calls are optimized whenever the expression to the left of the recursive call outputs its last value. In practice this
means that the expression to the left of the recursive call should not produce more than one output for each input.
For example:
def recurse(f): def r: ., (f | select(. != null) | r); r;
def while(cond; update):
def _while:
if cond then ., (update | _while) else empty end;
_while;
def repeat(exp):
def _repeat:
exp, _repeat;
_repeat;
Generators and iterators
Some jq operators and functions are actually generators in that they can produce zero, one, or more values for each input,
just as one might expect in other programming languages that have generators. For example, .[] generates all the values in
its input (which must be an array or an object), range(0; 10) generates the integers between 0 and 10, and so on.
Even the comma operator is a generator, generating first the values generated by the expression to the left of the comma,
then for each of those, the values generate by the expression on the right of the comma.
The empty builtin is the generator that produces zero outputs. The empty builtin backtracks to the preceding generator ex‐
pression.
All jq functions can be generators just by using builtin generators. It is also possible to define new generators using only
recursion and the comma operator. If the recursive call(s) is(are) "in tail position" then the generator will be efficient.
In the example below the recursive call by _range to itself is in tail position. The example shows off three advanced top‐
ics: tail recursion, generator construction, and sub-functions.
jq ´def range(init; upto; by): def _range: if (by > 0 and . < upto) or (by < 0 and . > upto) then ., ((.+by)|_range) else . end; if by == 0 then init else init|_range end | select((by > 0 and . < upto) or (by < 0 and . > upto)); range(0; 10; 3)´
null
=> 0, 3, 6, 9
jq ´def while(cond; update): def _while: if cond then ., (update | _while) else empty end; _while; [while(.<100; .*2)]´
1
=> [1,2,4,8,16,32,64]
MATH
jq currently only has IEEE754 double-precision (64-bit) floating point number support.
Besides simple arithmetic operators such as +, jq also has most standard math functions from the C math library. C math
functions that take a single input argument (e.g., sin()) are available as zero-argument jq functions. C math functions that
take two input arguments (e.g., pow()) are available as two-argument jq functions that ignore ..
Availability of standard math functions depends on the availability of the corresponding math functions in your operating
system and C math library. Unavailable math functions will be defined but will raise an error.
I/O
At this time jq has minimal support for I/O, mostly in the form of control over when inputs are read. Two builtins functions
are provided for this, input and inputs, that read from the same sources (e.g., stdin, files named on the command-line) as
jq itself. These two builtins, and jq´s own reading actions, can be interleaved with each other.
One builtin provides minimal output capabilities, debug. (Recall that a jq program´s output values are always output as JSON
texts on stdout.) The debug builtin can have application-specific behavior, such as for executables that use the libjq C API
but aren´t the jq executable itself.
input
Outputs one new input.
inputs
Outputs all remaining inputs, one by one.
This is primarily useful for reductions over a program´s inputs.
debug
Causes a debug message based on the input value to be produced. The jq executable wraps the input value with ["DEBUG:", <in‐
put-value>] and prints that and a newline on stderr, compactly. This may change in the future.
input_filename
Returns the name of the file whose input is currently being filtered. Note that this will not work well unless jq is running
in a UTF-8 locale.
input_line_number
Returns the line number of the input currently being filtered.
STREAMING
With the --stream option jq can parse input texts in a streaming fashion, allowing jq programs to start processing large
JSON texts immediately rather than after the parse completes. If you have a single JSON text that is 1GB in size, streaming
it will allow you to process it much more quickly.
However, streaming isn´t easy to deal with as the jq program will have [<path>, <leaf-value>] (and a few other forms) as in‐
puts.
Several builtins are provided to make handling streams easier.
The examples below use the the streamed form of [0,[1]], which is [[0],0],[[1,0],1],[[1,0]],[[1]].
Streaming forms include [<path>, <leaf-value>] (to indicate any scalar value, empty array, or empty object), and [<path>]
(to indicate the end of an array or object). Future versions of jq run with --stream and -seq may output additional forms
such as ["error message"] when an input text fails to parse.
truncate_stream(stream_expression)
Consumes a number as input and truncates the corresponding number of path elements from the left of the outputs of the given
streaming expression.
jq ´[1|truncate_stream([[0],1],[[1,0],2],[[1,0]],[[1]])]´
1
=> [[[0],2],[[0]]]
fromstream(stream_expression)
Outputs values corresponding to the stream expression´s outputs.
jq ´fromstream(1|truncate_stream([[0],1],[[1,0],2],[[1,0]],[[1]]))´
null
=> [2]
tostream
The tostream builtin outputs the streamed form of its input.
jq ´. as $dot|fromstream($dot|tostream)|.==$dot´
[0,[1,{"a":1},{"b":2}]]
=> true
ASSIGNMENT
Assignment works a little differently in jq than in most programming languages. jq doesn´t distinguish between references to
and copies of something - two objects or arrays are either equal or not equal, without any further notion of being "the same
object" or "not the same object".
If an object has two fields which are arrays, .foo and .bar, and you append something to .foo, then .bar will not get big‐
ger. Even if you´ve just set .bar = .foo. If you´re used to programming in languages like Python, Java, Ruby, Javascript,
etc. then you can think of it as though jq does a full deep copy of every object before it does the assignment (for perfor‐
mance, it doesn´t actually do that, but that´s the general idea).
All the assignment operators in jq have path expressions on the left-hand side.
=
The filter .foo = 1 will take as input an object and produce as output an object with the "foo" field set to 1. There is no
notion of "modifying" or "changing" something in jq - all jq values are immutable. For instance,
.foo = .bar | .foo.baz = 1
will not have the side-effect of setting .bar.baz to be set to 1, as the similar-looking program in Javascript, Python, Ruby
or other languages would. Unlike these languages (but like Haskell and some other functional languages), there is no notion
of two arrays or objects being "the same array" or "the same object". They can be equal, or not equal, but if we change one
of them in no circumstances will the other change behind our backs.
This means that it´s impossible to build circular values in jq (such as an array whose first element is itself). This is
quite intentional, and ensures that anything a jq program can produce can be represented in JSON.
Note that the left-hand side of ´=´ refers to a value in .. Thus $var.foo = 1 won´t work as expected ($var.foo is not a
valid or useful path expression in .); use $var | .foo = 1 instead.
If the right-hand side of ´=´ produces multiple values, then for each such value jq will set the paths on the left-hand side
to the value and then it will output the modified .. For example, (.a,.b)=range(2) outputs {"a":0,"b":0}, then
{"a":1,"b":1}. The "update" assignment forms (see below) do not do this.
Note too that .a,.b=0 does not set .a and .b, but (.a,.b)=0 sets both.
|=
As well as the assignment operator ´=´, jq provides the "update" operator ´|=´, which takes a filter on the right-hand side
and works out the new value for the property of . being assigned to by running the old value through this expression. For
instance, .foo |= .+1 will build an object with the "foo" field set to the input´s "foo" plus 1.
This example should show the difference between ´=´ and ´|=´:
Provide input ´{"a": {"b": 10}, "b": 20}´ to the programs:
.a = .b .a |= .b
The former will set the "a" field of the input to the "b" field of the input, and produce the output {"a": 20}. The latter
will set the "a" field of the input to the "a" field´s "b" field, producing {"a": 10}.
The left-hand side can be any general path expression; see path().
Note that the left-hand side of ´|=´ refers to a value in .. Thus $var.foo |= . + 1 won´t work as expected ($var.foo is not
a valid or useful path expression in .); use $var | .foo |= . + 1 instead.
If the right-hand side outputs multiple values, only the last one will be used.
jq ´(..|select(type=="boolean")) |= if . then 1 else 0 end´
[true,false,[5,true,[true,[false]],false]]
=> [1,0,[5,1,[1,[0]],0]]
+=, -=, *=, /=, %=, //=
jq has a few operators of the form a op= b, which are all equivalent to a |= . op b. So, += 1 can be used to increment val‐
ues.
jq ´.foo += 1´
{"foo": 42}
=> {"foo": 43}
Complex assignments
Lots more things are allowed on the left-hand side of a jq assignment than in most languages. We´ve already seen simple
field accesses on the left hand side, and it´s no surprise that array accesses work just as well:
.posts[0].title = "JQ Manual"
What may come as a surprise is that the expression on the left may produce multiple results, referring to different points
in the input document:
.posts[].comments |= . + ["this is great"]
That example appends the string "this is great" to the "comments" array of each post in the input (where the input is an ob‐
ject with a field "posts" which is an array of posts).
When jq encounters an assignment like ´a = b´, it records the "path" taken to select a part of the input document while exe‐
cuting a. This path is then used to find which part of the input to change while executing the assignment. Any filter may be
used on the left-hand side of an equals - whichever paths it selects from the input will be where the assignment is per‐
formed.
This is a very powerful operation. Suppose we wanted to add a comment to blog posts, using the same "blog" input above. This
time, we only want to comment on the posts written by "stedolan". We can find those posts using the "select" function de‐
scribed earlier:
.posts[] | select(.author == "stedolan")
The paths provided by this operation point to each of the posts that "stedolan" wrote, and we can comment on each of them in
the same way that we did before:
(.posts[] | select(.author == "stedolan") | .comments) |=
. + ["terrible."]
MODULES
jq has a library/module system. Modules are files whose names end in .jq.
Modules imported by a program are searched for in a default search path (see below). The import and include directives allow
the importer to alter this path.
Paths in the a search path are subject to various substitutions.
For paths starting with "~/", the user´s home directory is substituted for "~".
For paths starting with "$ORIGIN/", the path of the jq executable is substituted for "$ORIGIN".
For paths starting with "./" or paths that are ".", the path of the including file is substituted for ".". For top-level
programs given on the command-line, the current directory is used.
Import directives can optionally specify a search path to which the default is appended.
The default search path is the search path given to the -L command-line option, else ["~/.jq", "$ORIGIN/../lib/jq", "$ORI‐
GIN/../lib"].
Null and empty string path elements terminate search path processing.
A dependency with relative path "foo/bar" would be searched for in "foo/bar.jq" and "foo/bar/bar.jq" in the given search
path. This is intended to allow modules to be placed in a directory along with, for example, version control files, README
files, and so on, but also to allow for single-file modules.
Consecutive components with the same name are not allowed to avoid ambiguities (e.g., "foo/foo").
For example, with -L$HOME/.jq a module foo can be found in $HOME/.jq/foo.jq and $HOME/.jq/foo/foo.jq.
If "$HOME/.jq" is a file, it is sourced into the main program.
import RelativePathString as NAME [<metadata>];
Imports a module found at the given path relative to a directory in a search path. A ".jq" suffix will be added to the rela‐
tive path string. The module´s symbols are prefixed with "NAME::".
The optional metadata must be a constant jq expression. It should be an object with keys like "homepage" and so on. At this
time jq only uses the "search" key/value of the metadata. The metadata is also made available to users via the modulemeta
builtin.
The "search" key in the metadata, if present, should have a string or array value (array of strings); this is the search
path to be prefixed to the top-level search path.
include RelativePathString [<metadata>];
Imports a module found at the given path relative to a directory in a search path as if it were included in place. A ".jq"
suffix will be added to the relative path string. The module´s symbols are imported into the caller´s namespace as if the
module´s content had been included directly.
The optional metadata must be a constant jq expression. It should be an object with keys like "homepage" and so on. At this
time jq only uses the "search" key/value of the metadata. The metadata is also made available to users via the modulemeta
builtin.
import RelativePathString as $NAME [<metadata>];
Imports a JSON file found at the given path relative to a directory in a search path. A ".json" suffix will be added to the
relative path string. The file´s data will be available as $NAME::NAME.
The optional metadata must be a constant jq expression. It should be an object with keys like "homepage" and so on. At this
time jq only uses the "search" key/value of the metadata. The metadata is also made available to users via the modulemeta
builtin.
The "search" key in the metadata, if present, should have a string or array value (array of strings); this is the search
path to be prefixed to the top-level search path.
module <metadata>;
This directive is entirely optional. It´s not required for proper operation. It serves only the purpose of providing meta‐
data that can be read with the modulemeta builtin.
The metadata must be a constant jq expression. It should be an object with keys like "homepage". At this time jq doesn´t use
this metadata, but it is made available to users via the modulemeta builtin.
modulemeta
Takes a module name as input and outputs the module´s metadata as an object, with the module´s imports (including metadata)
as an array value for the "deps" key.
Programs can use this to query a module´s metadata, which they could then use to, for example, search for, download, and in‐
stall missing dependencies.
BUGS
Presumably. Report them or discuss them at:
https://github.com/stedolan/jq/issues
AUTHOR
Stephen Dolan <mu@netsoc.tcd.ie>
May 2018 JQ(1)
Help output
jq --helpjq - commandline JSON processor [version 1.5-1-a5b5cbe]
Usage: jq [options] <jq filter> [file...]
jq is a tool for processing JSON inputs, applying the
given filter to its JSON text inputs and producing the
filter's results as JSON on standard output.
The simplest filter is ., which is the identity filter,
copying jq's input to its output unmodified (except for
formatting).
For more advanced filters see the jq(1) manpage ("man jq")
and/or https://stedolan.github.io/jq
Some of the options include:
-c compact instead of pretty-printed output;
-n use `null` as the single input value;
-e set the exit status code based on the output;
-s read (slurp) all inputs into an array; apply filter to it;
-r output raw strings, not JSON texts;
-R read raw strings, not JSON texts;
-C colorize JSON;
-M monochrome (don't colorize JSON);
-S sort keys of objects on output;
--tab use tabs for indentation;
--arg a v set variable $a to value <v>;
--argjson a v set variable $a to JSON value <v>;
--slurpfile a f set variable $a to an array of JSON texts read from <f>;
See the manpage for more options.
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