parallaxis/node_modules/json/man/man1/json.1

.\" generated with Ronn/v0.7.3
.\" http://github.com/rtomayko/ronn/tree/0.7.3
.
.TH "JSON" "1" "May 2014" "" "json tool manual"
.
.SH "NAME"
\fBjson\fR \- JSON love for your command line
.
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
something\-generating\-JSON\-on\-stdout | \fBjson\fR [OPTIONS] [LOOKUPS]
.
.P
\fBjson\fR \-f FILE [OPTIONS] [LOOKUPS\.\.\.]
.
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
\fBjson\fR is a fast command\-line tool for working with JSON content from the command line\. Among its features: streaming stdin/stdout or working with JSON files, pretty\-printing with control over output formats, JSON validation, filtering, modification, in\-place JSON file modification, field extraction, tabular output, skipping HTTP header blocks for use with REST API responses, JSON stream (\'\en\'\-separated JSON objects) processing\.
.
.P
Read on for details and examples\. The FEATURE sections describe \fBjson\fR features roughly in the order of processing\.
.
.SH "FEATURE: HTTP Header Stripping"
\fBjson\fR roots are as a tool to assist working with REST APIs\. Often results being parsed include HTTP headers, as from \fBcurl \-i\fR, with a JSON payload\. By default \fBjson\fR passes through HTTP header blocks\. Use \fB\-H\fR to strip a leading HTTP header block\.
.
.SH "FEATURE: Grouping"
(Added in json v4\.) Use \'\-g\' or \'\-\-group\' to group adjacent objects into a single JSON array or to concatenate adjacent arrays into a single array\. E\.g\.:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"a":1}
{"b": 2}\' | json \-g
[
  {
    "a": 1
  },
  {
    "b": 2
  }
]

$ echo \'["one"]
["two"]\' | json \-g
[
  "one",
  "two"
]
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
"Adjacent" objects means objects separated by a newline, or by no space at all\. Adjacent \fIarrays\fR means separate by a newline\. These conditions are chosen as a balance between (a) not being ambiguous to parse with a simple regex and (b) enough to be useful for common cases\.
.
.P
\fICompatibility note:\fR In json v3 and earlier, this used to be called "auto\-arrayification" and was implicit\. In json v4 and v5 grouping of adjacent arrays separated by no space was allowed\. That was dropped in v6 (see issue #55 \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json/issues/55\fR)\. See the \fICOMPATIBILITY\fR section below\.
.
.SH "FEATURE: Streaming"
Grouping can be helpful for "one JSON object per line" formats or for things such as:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat *\.json | json \-g \.\.\.
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
However, when the size of the input is large practically one must do stream processing\. As of json v5\.1, \fBjson \-ga\fR will \fBstream\fR\. An extreme example is:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ yes \'{"foo":"bar"}\' | json \-ga
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
But a more practical example would be a large file of newline\-separated JSON objects, such as a Bunyan \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/node\-bunyan\fR log file:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat foo\.log | json \-ga req\.method req\.url res\.headers\.x\-response\-time
GET /ping 1
POST /images 43
\.\.\.
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Merging"
(Added in json v4\.) Use \'\-\-merge\' or \'\-\-deep\-merge\' to \fBmerge adjacent JSON objects\fR in the input\. Keys in the last object win\.
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"one":"un","two":"deux"}
{"one":"uno","three":"tres"}\' | json \-\-merge
{
  "one": "uno",
  "two": "deux",
  "three": "tres"
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
This could be useful for merging multiple config files, e\.g\.:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat /opt/app/etc/defaults\.json \e
    /etc/app/config\.json \e
    ~/\.app/config\.json | json \-\-merge
\.\.\.
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Itemizing"
(Added in json v9\.) Looking up fields in an array of object is easy with \fBjson\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'[{"name":"trent","age":38},
         {"name":"ewan","age":4}]\' | json \-a name age
trent 38
ewan 4
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
but less so when a set of objects is indexed by key in an object:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"trent":{"age":38},
         "ewan": {"age":4}}\' | \.\.\.    # How to list ages?
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
The \fB\-M, \-\-items\fR option allows one to \fBitemize the key/value pairs of an object\fR for convenient iteration with \fB\-a\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"trent":{"age":38},
         "ewan": {"age":4}}\' | json \-M
[
  {
    "key": "trent",
    "value": {
      "age": 38
    }
  },
  {
    "key": "ewan",
    "value": {
      "age": 4
    }
  }
]

$ echo \'{"trent":{"age":38},
         "ewan": {"age":4}}\' | json \-Ma key value\.age
trent 38
ewan 4

# List people that can vote\.
$ echo \'{"trent":{"age":38},
         "ewan": {"age":4}}\' | json \-M \-c \'this\.value\.age > 18\' \-a key
trent
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Validation"
\fBjson\fR will give position information and context for JSON syntax errors (\fBSyntaxError\fR)\. This can be handy for validating data and config files:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat config\.json | json
json: error: input is not JSON: Unexpected \',\' at line 17, column 5:
            , { "name": "smartos64\-1\.4\.7"
        \.\.\.\.^
{
    "use\-proxy": false
\.\.\.
$ echo $?
1
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Processing and output of the input JSON can be suppressed with the \fB\-n, \-\-validate\fR option:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat config\.json | json \-\-validate
json: error: input is not JSON: Unexpected \',\' at line 17, column 5:
            , { "name": "smartos64\-1\.4\.7"
        \.\.\.\.^
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Together with the \fB\-q\fR you can get silent, exit\-status\-only, JSON validation:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat config\.json | json \-nq
$ echo $?
1
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Execution"
Use the \fB\-e CODE\fR option to execute (JavaScript) code on the input JSON\.
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name":"trent","age":38}\' | json \-e \'this\.age++\'
{
  "name": "trent",
  "age": 39
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
If input is an array, this will automatically process each item separately:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'[{"age":38},{"age":4}]\' | json \-e this\.age++
[
  {
    "age": 39
  },
  {
    "age": 5
  }
]
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
That can be overriden with \fB\-A\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'[{"age":38},{"age":4}]\' | json \-A \-e \'this[0]\.age = "unknown"\'
[
  {
    "age": "unknown"
  },
  {
    "age": 4
  }
]
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
The given CODE is executed in a function bound to the input object (i\.e\. \fBthis\fR is the input object)\.
.
.P
\fISecurity note:\fR \fBCODE\fR is \fInot\fR executed in a sandbox, so \fBjson\fR\'s globals are available and unguarded\. You can shoot yourself in the foot\. \fIDo not pass untrusted user\-supplied strings here\.\fR
.
.P
\fICompatibility note:\fR In versions before v9 \fB\-e CODE\fR used an alternate implementation (with slightly different semantics for the CODE)\. It is still supported for backward compatibility by using the \fBJSON_EXEC=vm\fR environment variable\. However it is deprecated because it can cause processing to be \fI10x\fR or more slower for large inputs\. See the \fICOMPATIBILITY\fR section below\.
.
.SH "FEATURE: Conditional filtering"
Use the \fB\-e CODE\fR option to run JavaScript code ending with a statement returning a boolean to filter the input JSON\.
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'[{"age":38},{"age":4}]\' | json \-e \'this\.age > 21\'
[{"age":38}]
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
As with \fB\-e\fR above, if input is an array, this will automatically process each item separately\. This can be overriden with \fB\-A\fR\.
.
.P
The given CODE is executed in a function bound to the input object (i\.e\. \fBthis\fR is the input object)\. A JavaScript function must use \fBreturn\fR to return a value, so as a convenience if "return" is not in the given CODE it is presumed to be a single statement and it is wrapped:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

function () {
    return ( CODE );
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
To use multiple statements in \fB\-c CODE\fR you must explicitly use \fBreturn\fR, e\.g\.:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"a": 2, "b": 6}\' | json \-c \'sum = this\.a + this\.b; return sum > 5\'
{
  "a": 2,
  "b": 6
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
\fISecurity note:\fR \fBCODE\fR is \fInot\fR executed in a sandbox, so \fBjson\fR\'s globals are available and unguarded\. You can shoot yourself in the foot\. \fIDo not pass untrusted user\-supplied strings here\.\fR
.
.P
\fICompatibility note:\fR In versions before v9 \fB\-c CODE\fR used an alternate implementation (with slightly different semantics for the CODE)\. It is still supported for backward compatibility by using the \fBJSON_EXEC=vm\fR environment variable\. However it is deprecated because it can cause processing to be \fI10x\fR or more slower for large inputs\. See the \fICOMPATIBILITY\fR section below\.
.
.SH "FEATURE: Lookups"
Use lookup arguments to extract particular values:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name":"trent","age":38}\' | json name
trent

$ echo \'{"name": {"first": "Trent", "last": "Mick"}, "age": 38}\' \e
    | json name\.first age
Trent
38
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Use \fB\-a\fR for \fIarray processing\fR of lookups and \fItabular output\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name":"trent","age":38}\' | json name
trent
$ echo \'[{"name":"trent","age":38},
         {"name":"ewan","age":4}]\' | json \-a name age
trent 38
ewan 4
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Integral values work for array index lookups:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'["a", "b", "c"]\' | json 1
b
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Negative array indices are also supported for convenience (a la Python array indexing):
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'["a", "b", "c"]\' | json \-\- \-1
c
$ echo \'["a", "b", "c"]\' | json \-\- \-2
b
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
If your lookup isn\'t a number or a JS indentifier \fIhttps://developer\.mozilla\.org/en\-US/docs/JavaScript/Guide/Values,_variables,_and_literals#Variables\fR you can always use JavaScript array\-style lookups like this:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"http://example\.com": "my\-value"}\' | json \'["http://example\.com"]\'
my\-value
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
just like you would in JavaScript:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ node
> var d = {"http://example\.com": "my\-value"}
> d["http://example\.com"]
\'my\-value\'
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Pretty\-printing"
Output is "jsony" by default: 2\-space indented JSON \.\.\.
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json
{
  "name": "trent",
  "age": 38
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
\&\.\.\. with one exception, a bare string value is printed without quotes (because who wants to deal with quotes in your pipeline?)\.
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json name
trent
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
If pure JSON output is wanted, use \fB\-o json\fR or the \fB\-j\fR shortcut:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json \-o json name
"trent"
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Indentations other than 2 can be selected via \fB\-o json\-N\fR
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json \-o json\-0
{"name":"trent","age":38}
$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json \-o json\-4
{
    "name": "trent",
    "age": 38
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
The "FORMAT\-N" suffix can also be useful on "jsony" when selecting multiple values and wanting tabular output where some cells are objects:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat users\.json
[
   {"name": {"first": "Trent", "last": "Mick"}, "age": 38},
   {"name": {"first": "Ewan", "last": "Mick"}, "age": 4}
]

$ json \-f users\.json \-a name age \-o jsony\-0
{"first":"Trent","last":"Mick"} 38
{"first":"Ewan","last":"Mick"} 4
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Further the \fB\-0\fR, \fB\-2\fR, and \fB\-4\fR shortcuts can be used to set the indentation without changing the mode\. This can be use to make the above shorter:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ json \-f users\.json \-a name age \-0
{"first":"Trent","last":"Mick"} 38
{"first":"Ewan","last":"Mick"} 4
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
You can get colored (non\-JSON) output using node\.js\'s \fButil\.inspect\fR \fIhttp://nodejs\.org/docs/latest/api/all\.html#util\.inspect\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'[{"name": "Trent"},{"name": "Ewan"}]\' | json \-o inspect
[ { name: \'Trent\' },
  { name: \'Ewan\' } ]
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: Listing keys"
Sometimes you want the list of keys for an object\. Use \fB\-k\fR or \fB\-\-keys\fR for that:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json \-k
[
  "name",
  "age"
]
$ echo \'{"name": "trent", "age": 38}\' | json \-ka
name
age
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "FEATURE: In\-place editing"
You can edit a file in place with \fB\-I\fR and \fB\-f FILE\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ cat config\.json
{"hostname":"127\.0\.0\.1"}

$ json \-I \-f config\.json                        # format the file
json: updated "config\.json" in\-place
$ cat config\.json
{
  "hostname": "127\.0\.0\.1"
}

$ json \-I \-f config\.json \-e \'this\.port=8080\'    # add port field
json: updated "config\.json" in\-place
$ cat config\.json
{
  "hostname": "127\.0\.0\.1",
  "port": 8080
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Some limitations\. Only one file at a time:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ json \-I \-f foo\.json \-f bar\.json
json: error: must specify exactly one file with \'\-f FILE\' to use \-I/\-\-in\-place
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Lookups are not allowed:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ json \-I \-f foo\.json key\.subkey
json: error: lookups cannot be specified with in\-place editing (\-I/\-\-in\-place), too easy to lose content
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
because that can too easily result in data loss, e\.g\. with something like:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ json \-I \-f *\.json    # if there is more than one match to the glob
json: error: lookups cannot be specified with in\-place editing (\-I/\-\-in\-place), too easy to lose content
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
Print this help info and exit\.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-version\fR
Print version of this command and exit\.
.
.TP
\fB\-q, \-\-quiet\fR
Don\'t warn if input isn\'t valid JSON\.
.
.P
By default \fBjson\fR will process input from stdin\. Alternatively, an input file (or files) can be specified:
.
.TP
\fB\-f FILE\fR
Specify an input file (instead of stdin)\.
.
.P
By default \fBjson\fR output is to stdout\. Together with \fB\-f FILE\fR, in\-place editing can be done:
.
.TP
\fB\-I\fR, \fB\-\-in\-place\fR
Edit the file given with \fB\-f FILE\fR in\-place\. Lookups are not allowed with in\-place editing, because it is too easy to accidentally lose file data\.
.
.P
If your JSON output is a REST API response, it might include the headers (e\.g\. when calling with \fBcurl \-i\fR)\. By default \fBjson\fR will pass those headers through (without choking on them)\. However if you want them stripped you can use:
.
.TP
\fB\-H\fR
drop any HTTP header block (as from \fBcurl \-i \.\.\.\fR)
.
.P
Other pre\-JSON input handling:
.
.TP
\fB\-g\fR, \fB\-\-group\fR
Group adjacent objects into an array of objects, or concatenate adjacent arrays into a single array\.
.
.TP
\fB\-\-merge\fR, \fB\-\-deep\-merge\fR
Merge adjacent objects into a single object with merged keys\. Values in later objects win\. Use \fB\-\-deep\-merge\fR to recursively merge keys in objects\.
.
.TP
\fB\-M\fR, \fB\-\-items\fR
Itemize an object into an array of \fB{"key": <key>, "value": <value>}\fR objects for easier processing\.
.
.P
You can process elements of an input array separately and generate tabular output:
.
.TP
\fB\-a\fR, \fB\-\-array\fR
Process input as an array of separate inputs and output in tabular form\.
.
.TP
\fB\-d DELIM\fR
Delimiter character for tabular output (default is \' \')\.
.
.TP
\fB\-A\fR
Process input as a single object, i\.e\. stop \fB\-e\fR and \fB\-c\fR automatically processing each item of an input array\.
.
.P
You can execute code on (\fB\-e\fR) and filter (\fB\-c\fR) the input (this is done before LOOKUPS are processed, if any)\.
.
.TP
\fB\-e CODE\fR
Execute the given JavaScript code on the input\. If input is an array, then each item of the array is processed separately (use \fB\-A\fR to override)\. Use \fBthis\.\fR to access fields on the object being processed\. (\fB\-E CODE\fR is a now deprecated synonym\.)
.
.TP
\fB\-c CODE\fR
Filter the input with JavaScript \fBCODE\fR\. If \fBCODE\fR returns false\-y, then the item is filtered out\. If input is an array, then each item of the array is processed separately (use \fB\-A\fR to override)\. Use \fBthis\.\fR to access fields on the object being processed\. An explicit \fBreturn\fR is required if \fBCODE\fR includes multiple statements\. (\fB\-C CODE\fR is a now deprecated synonym\.)
.
.P
Finally, if \fBLOOKUP\fR arguments are given, these are extracted from the JSON\. By default \fB\.\fR is used as a separator for nested object lookup\. This can be overridden:
.
.TP
\fB\-D DELIM\fR
Delimiter char between LOOKUPS (default is \'\.\')\. For example: \fB$ echo \'{"a\.b": {"b": 1}}\' | json \-D / a\.b/b\fR
.
.P
An alternative to lookups is to output the keys of the input object:
.
.TP
\fB\-k\fR, \fB\-\-keys\fR
Output the input object\'s keys\.
.
.P
\fBjson\fR can be restricting to just validating its input, i\.e\. processing and output of the input is skipped:
.
.TP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-validate\fR
Just validate the input, no processing or output of the JSON content\.
.
.P
By default \fBjson\fR outputs in "jsony" mode\. Basically this is JSON output, with the exception that a single string output value is emitted without the quotes\. The intention here is to be of most use to the UNIX command\-line\. Other output formats are supported:
.
.TP
\fB\-o MODE\fR, \fB\-\-output MODE\fR
Specify an output mode\. One of \fBjsony\fR (the default; JSON, if a single string then quotes are elided), \fBjson\fR (JSON output, 2\-space indent), or \fBinspect\fR (node\.js \fButil\.inspect\fR output)\. \fBjson\fR and \fBjsony\fR modes can specify an indentation via \fBjson\-N\fR or \fBjsony\-N\fR for N\-space indentation (e\.g\. \fBjson\-4\fR), or via \fBjson\-tab\fR or \fBjsony\-tab\fR for TAB indentation\.
.
.TP
\fB\-i\fR
Shortcut for \fB\-o inspect\fR\.
.
.TP
\fB\-j\fR
Shortcut for \fB\-o json\fR\.
.
.TP
\fB\-0\fR, \fB\-2\fR, \fB\-4\fR
Set the JSON indentation without changing the mode\.
.
.SH "ENVIRONMENT"
.
.TP
\fBJSON_EXEC=vm\fR
Set this to turn on the old (pre\-v9) behaviour of \fB\-e CODE\fR and \fB\-c CODE\fR\.
.
.SH "EXAMPLES"
A typical JSON REST API response:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ curl \-s http://ifconfig\.me/all\.json
{"connection":"","ip_addr":"216\.57\.203\.67","lang":"","remote_host":\.\.\.
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
\fBNice output by default\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ curl \-s http://ifconfig\.me/all\.json | json
{
  "connection": "",
  "ip_addr": "201\.73\.103\.12",
  "lang": "",
  "remote_host": "",
  "user_agent": "curl/7\.23\.1 (i386\-sun\-solaris2\.11) libcurl/7\.23\.1 OpenSSL/0\.9\.8w zlib/1\.2\.3 libidn/1\.23 libssh2/1\.2\.2",
  "charset": "",
  "port": "63713",
  "via": "",
  "forwarded": "",
  "mime": "*/*",
  "keep_alive": "",
  "encoding": ""
}
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Say you just want to \fBextract one value\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ curl \-s http://ifconfig\.me/all\.json | json ip_addr
201\.73\.103\.12
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
Or, looking at the node\.js project \fIhttps://github\.com/joyent/node\fR using the Github API:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node | json open_issues
517
.
.fi
.
.IP "" 0
.
.P
If you use \fBcurl \-i\fR to get HTTP headers (because perhaps they contain relevant information), \fBjson will skip the HTTP headers automatically\fR:
.
.IP "" 4
.
.nf

$ curl \-is https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node | json
HTTP/1\.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1\.0\.13
Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:01:08 GMT
Content\-Type: application/json; charset=utf\-8
Connection: keep\-alive
Status: 200 OK
ETag: "1a21d980a01768dde42145ce2b58694c"
X\-RateLimit\-Remaining: 4997
Content\-Length: 1513
Cache\-Control: public, max\-age=60
Vary: Accept
X\-RateLimit\-Limit: 5000
Last\-Modified: Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:50:11 GMT

{
  "master_branch": "master",
  "has_issues": true,
  "has_downloads": false,
  "homepage": "http://nodejs\.org/",
  "html_url": "https://github\.com/joyent/node",
\.\.\.
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Or, say you are stuck with the headers in your pipeline, \fB\'json \-H\' will drop HTTP headers\fR:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-is https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node | json \-H forks
2158
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Here is \fBan example that shows indexing a list\fR\. (The given "lookup" argument is basically JavaScript code appended, with \'\.\' if necessary, to the JSON data and eval\'d\.)
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/legacy/repos/search/nodejs \e
    | json \'repositories[2]\.name\'
socket\.io
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Having the quote to avoid shell interpretation of \'[\' is annoying, so \fBjson\fR allows a special case for an integer lookup:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/legacy/repos/search/nodejs \e
    | json \'repositories\.2\.name\'
socket\.io
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.SS "Array processing with \-a"
\fBjson\fR includes the \fB\-a\fR (aka \fB\-\-array\fR) option for \fBprocessing each element of an input JSON array independently\fR and \fBusing tabular output\fR\. Let\'s first get a list of open node\.js issues (note that this is a subset because of GH API pagination \fIhttp://developer\.github\.com/v3/#pagination\fR):
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node/issues?state=open\e&per_page=100
[
  {
    "number": 3757,
    "html_url": "https://github\.com/joyent/node/issues/3757",
    "body": "Fix #3756\.\en\enReview, please: @TooTallNate",
    "milestone": null,
    "user": {
      "gravatar_id": "73a2b24daecb976af81e010b7a3ce3c6",
      "login": "isaacs",
      "avatar_url": "https://secure\.gravatar\.com/avatar/73a2b24dae\.\.\.
\.\.\.
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
We can then print a table with just some fields as follows:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node/issues?state=open\e&per_page=100 \e
    | json \-a comments number title
0 3757 readline: Remove event listeners on close
0 3756 readline: No way to completely unhook interface from input/output
1 3755 node\-v0\.6\.20 hello example segfaults on RaspberryPi (w/Arch + bash)
0 3753 Prohibit same listeners in EventEmitter\. Closes #964\.
1 3752 Auto\-detect hardfloat eabi and armv7 variables on ARM based on compiler
3 3751 persistent REPL history
0 3749 glibc errors on SheevaPlug / Debian Squeeze
\.\.\.
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Ultimately this can be useful for then using other command\-line tools\. For example, we could get the list of top\-five most commented open node issues:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node/issues?state=open\e&per_page=100 \e
    | json \-a comments number title | sort \-n  | tail \-5
9 3510 Automatically `\.toString()` functions in REPL\.
11 3668 JSON documentation index listing
12 3624 Add a return value to Buffer\.write* methods that returns the \.\.\.
12 3655 defer dgram listening event
14 3613 Connections closed by node stay permanently in FIN_WAIT2
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
Or get a breakdown by ISO language code of the recent tweets mentioning "nodejs":
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s http://search\.twitter\.com/search\.json?q=nodejs\e&rpp=100 \e
    | json results | json \-a iso_language_code | sort | uniq \-c | sort
   1 es
   1 no
   1 th
   4 ru
  12 ja
  23 pt
  58 en
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
The \fB\fB\-d\fR option can be used to specify a delimiter\fR:
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

$ curl \-s https://api\.github\.com/repos/joyent/node/issues?state=open \e
        | json \-a created_at number title \-d,
2012\-07\-24T03:45:03Z,3757,readline: Remove event listeners on close
2012\-07\-24T03:32:10Z,3756,readline: No way to completely unhook inte\.\.\.
2012\-07\-23T21:17:50Z,3755,node\-v0\.6\.20 hello example segfaults on Ra\.\.\.
2012\-07\-22T16:17:49Z,3753,Prohibit same listeners in EventEmitter\. C\.\.\.
2012\-07\-22T13:43:40Z,3752,Auto\-detect hardfloat eabi and armv7 varia\.\.\.
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.SH "COMPATIBILITY"
The json tool major version is incremented when there is a backward incompatible change\. An overview of those changes is here\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v9: \fB\-e CODE\fR and \fB\-c CODE\fR switch away from using \fBvm\.runInNewContext\fR for processing\. In other words they now do what \fB\-E\fR and \fB\-C\fR do, and the uppercase options are not deprecated synonyms\. Use the \fBJSON_EXEC=vm\fR environment variable to bring back the old behaviour\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v8: No incompatible change\. The npm registry name changed from \'jsontool\' to \'json\'\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v7: \fB\-E CODE\fR and \fB\-C CODE\fR were added in favour of \fB\-e CODE\fR and \fB\-c CODE\fR because the former provide a 10x or more performance improvement for larger inputs\. The latter are still included for backward compatibility\. \fB\-E/\-C\fR use a JavaScript function to execute CODE, which \fB\-e/\-c\fR use node\.js\'s \fBvm\.runInNewContext\fR which is crazy slow\. Use of a JavaScript function places slightly different semantics and requirements on the given \fBCODE\fR, so new options were required for compat\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v6: Grouping (via \fB\-g\fR or \fB\-\-group\fR) of adjacent \fIarrays\fR no longer groups arrays separated by no space\. I\.e\. adjacent arrays must be separated by a newline\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v5: Special case the output for \fBa single lookup AND JSON output\fR (i\.e\. \fB\-j\fR or \fB\-o json*\fR) to only output the value instead of the more general array or table that is necessary for multiple lookups\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v4: Made "auto\-arrayification" require an explicit \'\-g\' or \'\-\-group\' option to prefer that implicit processing never magically fix otherwise invalid JSON\. The feature is now called grouping\.
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.IP "\(bu" 4
v3: Cleaned up json and "jsony" output formatting to be more consistent, especially for array processing\.
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.P
See the changelog \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json/blob/master/CHANGES\.md\fR for full compatibility and change details\.
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.SH "INSTALL, PROJECT, BUGS"
\fBjson\fR is written in JavaScript and requires node\.js (\fBnode\fR)\. You can either install via \fBnpm\fR:
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.nf

npm install \-g json
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.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
or manually get the script and put it on your PATH somewhere (\fBjson\fR is a single file with no external deps other than node itself):
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.IP "" 4
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.nf

cd ~/bin
curl \-L https://github\.com/trentm/json/raw/master/lib/json\.js > json
chmod 755 json
.
.fi
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.IP "" 0
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.P
(Note: Before version 8, this tool was called "jsontool" in the npm registry\. That name is now defunct\.)
.
.P
This project lives at \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json\fR\. Please report bugs to \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json/issues\fR\. See the full changelog at: \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json/blob/master/CHANGES\.md\fR\.
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.SH "LICENSE"
MIT License (see \fIhttps://github\.com/trentm/json/blob/master/LICENSE\.txt\fR)
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.SH "COPYRIGHT"
json is Copyright (c) 2014 Trent Mick and Copyright (c) 2014 Joyent Inc\. All rights reserved\.