Print a JSON array in human readable format using jq

Question

I am relatively not experienced in jq, so the answer may be very simple, but I couldn't find it on the Internet somehow.

I have a JSON array like this:

[
 {
  "key1": "value1a",
  "key2": "value2a",
  "key3": "value3a",
  "keyn": "valuena"
 },
 {
  "key1": "value1b",
  "key2": "value2b",
  "key3": "value3b",
  "keyn": "valuenb"
 },
 {
  "key1": "value1z",
  "key2": "value2z",
  "key3": "value3z",
  "keyn": "valuenz"
 }
]

And I want to print it in the following "human-readable" format:

key1 : value1a
key2 : value2a
key3 : value3a
keyn : valuena

key1 : value1b
key2 : value2b
key3 : value3b
keyn : valuenb

key1 : value1z
key2 : value2z
key3 : value3z
keyn : valuenz

using preferably jq command.

Note that the number of elements of the array and the number of key/value pairs for each element is variable and not known in advance.

Does this help? [How to convert a JSON object to key=value format in jq?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25378013/how-to-convert-a-json-object-to-key-value-format-in-jq) — oguz ismail, Aug 23 '21 at 13:00
Thanks for your comment. That's almost 90% in the right direction. The only missing part is: How can I add an empty line between different array elements? — FedKad, Aug 23 '21 at 13:10

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 23 '21 at 13:15

1

If you don't mind an empty line at the end of the output, this should work fine:

jq -r '.[] | (to_entries[] | "\(.key) : \(.value)"), ""'

^{Online demo}

answered Aug 23 '21 at 13:15

oguz ismail

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Link "Online demo" is broken – kiafiore Aug 24 '23 at 09:40

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 23 '21 at 17:26

1

One way to avoid the extra newline is to use join twice:

[.[]
 | [ (to_entries[] | "\(.key) : \(.value)}") ]
   | join("\n")]
| join("\n\n")

answered Aug 23 '21 at 17:26

peak

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Print a JSON array in human readable format using jq

2 Answers2