convert data of text file into JSON array in bash

Question

I want output in the below JSON array format with command on linux/bash platform . Can anybody help

data in text file

test:test
test1:test1
test4:test4

Expecting output:

{array : 
   [
     {test:test},
     {test1:test1}, 
     {test4:test4}
   ]
}

Note that `”` is not `"`. Just read the input line by line with `:` as separator and output them in the formar `{"something":"something"}` then joni the lines with comma. [How to read a file line by line](https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/001) [How to join lines with delimeter](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2764051/how-to-join-multiple-lines-of-file-names-into-one-with-custom-delimiter) — KamilCuk, Mar 03 '20 at 10:00
I have made changes in the question. Please check if that makes more sense — project_linux, Mar 03 '20 at 10:10
Sorry, this is not the way StackOverflow works. Questions of the form "I want to do X, please give me tips and/or sample code" are considered off-topic. Please visit the [help] and read [ask], and especially read [Why is “Can someone help me?” not an actual question?](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/284236) — kvantour, Mar 03 '20 at 10:12
Your expected output is still not valid JSON. If you want something JSON-like but not, don't call it JSON. — Shawn, Mar 03 '20 at 10:24

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '20 at 10:30

4

Using jq command line JSON parser:

<file jq -Rs '{array:split("\n")|map(split(":")|{(.[0]):.[1]}?)}'
{
  "array": [
    {
      "test": "test"
    },
    {
      "test1": "test1"
    },
    {
      "test4": "test4"
    }
  ]
}

The options Rs let jq read the whole file as one string.

The script splits this string into pieces in order to have the expected format.

answered Mar 03 '20 at 10:30

oliv

12,690
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45

Can I append new pair (Key/value) to the existing array "test5": "test5" { "array": [ { "test": "test" }, { "test1": "test1" }, { "test4": "test4" }, { "test5”: "test5” } ] } – project_linux Mar 03 '20 at 14:16

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 03 '20 at 10:36

Assuming you want actual JSON output:

$ jq -nR '{array: (reduce inputs as $line ([]; . + [$line | split(":") | {(.[0]):.[1]}]))}' input.txt 
{
  "array": [
    {
      "test": "test"
    },
    {
      "test1": "test1"
    },
    {
      "test4": "test4"
    }
  ]
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 03 '20 at 23:21

Creating a JSON works best with a dedicated JSON tool that can also make sense of raw text.
xidel is such a tool.

XPath:

xidel -s input.txt -e '{"array":x:lines($raw) ! {substring-before(.,":"):substring-after(.,":")}}'

(x:lines($raw) is a shorthand for tokenize($raw,'\r\n?|\n'), which creates a sequence of all lines.)

XQuery:

xidel -s input.txt --xquery '{"array":for $x in x:lines($raw) let $a:=tokenize($x,":") return {$a[1]:$a[2]}}'

convert data of text file into JSON array in bash

3 Answers3