Manipulate JSON in bash

Question

I have a JSON file I need to update a particular value.

{
  "Comment": "comment",
  "test": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "enabled": true,
  "otherStuff": blah,
  "otherStuff2": blah,
  "otherStuff3": blah,
}

I would like to change the value of the second "enabled" to false. With JQ Parser, I can easily retrieve it with jq '.enabled', but I'm not sure what's the best way to manipulate the JSON.

The JSON is a respond i get from an API and may change in the future, I cannot rely on the line or value before/after.

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 09 '15 at 19:59

14

a quick experiment:

$ echo '{
  "Comment": "comment",
  "test": {
    "enabled": true
   },
  "enabled": true,
  "otherStuff": "blah",
  "otherStuff2": "blah",
  "otherStuff3": "blah"
}' |
jq '.enabled=false'

{
  "otherStuff3": "blah",
  "otherStuff2": "blah",
  "otherStuff": "blah",
  "enabled": false,
  "test": {
    "enabled": true
  },
  "Comment": "comment"
}

answered Feb 09 '15 at 19:59

glenn jackman

4,320
16
19

How would you change two keys? – Dirk Gorissen Jul 14 '16 at 07:21

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

1

I read the question as "in the shell" and not necessarily as "using only bash builtins".

Try jsawk, which allows for manipulation and is scriptable, thought it relies on js as a dependency.

If all you want to do is read a (unique) key from the JSON response, you could (adapted from Brendan OConnor):

curl <destination> | grep -Po '"keyname":.*?[^\\]",'`

edited May 23 '17 at 12:41

Community

1

answered Feb 09 '15 at 20:09

msanford

1,427
15
27

Manipulate JSON in bash

2 Answers2