JSON command line formatter tool for Linux

Question

Is there an editor or tool for Linux command line to format JSON data?

I have implemented my own in CoffeeScript to run using Node.js: http://skovalyov.blogspot.com/2012/09/json-format-command-line-utility.html — skovalyov, Sep 18 '12 at 13:52
`jq` is great. You have jQuery like interface for JSON (it's homepage say it's sed for JSON) http://stedolan.github.io/ — jcubic, Jan 22 '14 at 15:41
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/352098/how-can-i-pretty-print-json — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Jul 13 '16 at 08:43

score 106 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 17 '12 at 09:09

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 alias pp='python -mjson.tool'
 pp mydata.json

From the first link in the accepted answer: http://ruslanspivak.com/2010/10/12/pretty-print-json-from-the-command-line/

answered Apr 17 '12 at 09:09

tjb

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Outdated answer. Use jq. – Alex R Oct 02 '16 at 17:55
not work for bool `true` and `false`, only work for `True` in python format. – Kamil Sep 24 '20 at 08:05
This answer is not outdated, it continues to work with python3 -m json.tool. However, jq will give you pretty colors :) – tjb Jan 24 '22 at 13:21

score 87 · Answer 2 · answered May 12 '13 at 23:50

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jq is a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor.

http://stedolan.github.io/jq/

jq is like sed for JSON data – you can use it to slice and filter and map and transform structured data with the same ease that sed, awk, grep and friends let you play with text.

jq is written in portable C, and it has zero runtime dependencies. You can download a single binary, scp it to a far away machine, and expect it to work.

answered May 12 '13 at 23:50

here

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To me this solution seems the best: easy to install, and output keeps the order of attributes from input - this might be sometime very practical when authoring documentation as it supports better readability. Typical use: `$ jq . data.json` (mind the dot after the `jq`). – Jan Vlcinsky Jun 24 '15 at 20:40
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jq is superb. note that this will not work. ```jq . data.json > data.json```. which will overwrite itself. export to a temp file and overwrite existing. – mirageglobe Apr 28 '19 at 20:01
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Indeed jq is superb. Once you have jq installed, in Vim you can paste any JSON into a new buffer and run `:%!jq '.'` this pretty prints the JSON in the buffer. Source: [Vim: prettify JSON](https://remarkablemark.org/blog/2018/02/28/vim-beautify-json/) – icc97 Sep 08 '20 at 16:22

gliptak · Answer 3 · 2022-01-09T02:57:27.973

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On Ubuntu jsonlint is provided by apt:python3-demjson

Usage:

$ sudo apt install -y python3-demjson
$ jsonlint -f input.json > output.json

edited Jan 09 '22 at 02:57

answered May 27 '12 at 21:36

gliptak

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Great for when the JSON you're looking at doesn't conform to the spec. Other tools (`jq`, the Python `json` module) require completely conformant JSON for them to work. – pR0Ps Jan 25 '16 at 16:41
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It appears that in current packages the command installed with the "python-demjson" package is "jsonlint-py" instead of "jsonlint". – vorburger Jan 14 '17 at 13:08
The apt package appears to be called `python3-demjson` by now. The command installed with this package is still called "jsonlint" however. – cherrywoods Jan 02 '22 at 14:46

score 9 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 24 '13 at 03:18

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Add to vimrc:

" Format JSON data
map <C-F6> :%!python -m json.tool<CR>

And you can use the shortcut CTRL+F6 to format json data

Or just under vim's command mode:

%!python -m json.tool

answered Feb 24 '13 at 03:18

Yaohui.W

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If you're using vim you can: `au FileType json set equalprg=python\ -m\ json.tool` and format with `=`. – Tanath Mar 05 '19 at 21:00

JSON command line formatter tool for Linux

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