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jackson-jq

Pure Java jq Implementation for Jackson JSON Processor

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Usage

First, you need Java 8 or later.

If you use Maven, add the following snippet to the <dependencies> section of your POM. For instructions for other build tools (Gradle, etc.), visit jackson-jq on search.maven.org.

<dependency>
	<groupId>net.thisptr</groupId>
	<artifactId>jackson-jq</artifactId>
	<version>1.1.0</version>
</dependency>

See jackson-jq/src/test/java/examples/Usage.java for the API usage.

Using a jackson-jq command line tool

To test a query quickly, we provide jackson-jq CLI.

Please note that jackson-jq is a Java library and the CLI is provided solely for debugging/testing purpose (and not for production). The command-line options might change without notice.

$ curl -LO https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/net/thisptr/jackson-jq-cli/1.1.0/jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --help
usage: jackson-jq [OPTIONS...] QUERY
 -c,--compact      compact instead of pretty-printed output
 -h,--help         print this message
    --jq <arg>     specify jq version
 -n,--null-input   use `null` as the single input value
 -r,--raw          output raw strings, not JSON texts

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar '.foo'
{"foo": 42}
42

To test a query with a specific jq version,

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.5 'join("-")'
["1", 2]
jq: error: string ("-") and number (2) cannot be added

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.6 'join("-")' # jq-1.6 can join any values, not only strings
["1", 2]
"1-2"

Homebrew (or Linuxbrew) users can alternatively run brew tap eiiches/jackson-jq && brew install jackson-jq to install the CLI. jackson-jq will be available on your $PATH.

Branches and versioning

There are currently two development branches.

PRs can be sent to any of the develop/* branches. The patch will be ported to the other branch(es) if necessary.

We use Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 for Java API versioning, 1.0.0 onwards. A jq behavior fix (even if it may possibly affect users) will not be considered a major change if the fix is to make the bahavior compatible with ./jq; these kind of incompatible changes are documented in the release note.

If you get different results between ./jq and jackson-jq, please file an issue. That is a bug on jackson-jq side.

Implementation Status

jackson-jq aims to be a compatible jq implementation. However, not every feature is available; some are intentionally omitted because thay are not relevant as a Java library; some may be incomplete, have bugs or are yet to be implemented.

List of Features

<details> <summary>Click to see the list</summary> <br />

This table illustrates which features (picked from jq-1.5 manual) are supported and which are not in jackson-jq. We try to keep this list accurate and up to date. If you find something is missing or wrong, please file an issue.

Language Features / Functionsjackson-jq
Basic filters
    • .
    • .foo, .foo.bar
    • .foo?
    • .[<string>], .[2], .[10:15]
    • .[]
    • .[]?
    • ,
    • ǀ
Types and Values
    • Array construction - []
    • Objects - {}<sup>*4</sup>
Builtin operators and functions
    • Addition - +
    • Subtraction - -
    • Multiplication, division, modulo - *, /, and %<sup>*5</sup>
    • length
    • keys, keys_unsorted
    • has(key)
    • in
    • path(path_expression)<sup>*7</sup>
    • del(path_expression)
    • to_entries, from_entries, with_entries
    • select(boolean_expression)
    • arrays, objects, iterables, booleans, numbers, normals, finites, strings, nulls, values, scalars
    • empty
    • error(message)
    • $__loc__×
    • map(x), map_values(x)
    • paths, paths(node_filter), leaf_paths
    • add
    • any, any(condition), any(generator; condition)
    • all, all(condition), all(generator; condition)
    • flatten, flatten(depth)
    • range(upto), range(from;upto) range(from;upto;by)
    • floor
    • sqrt
    • tonumber
    • tostring
    • type
    • infinite, nan, isinfinite, isnan, isfinite, isnormal
    • sort, sort_by(path_expression)
    • group_by(path_expression)
    • min, max, min_by(path_exp), max_by(path_exp)
    • unique, unique_by(path_exp)
    • reverse
    • contains(element)
    • indices(s)<sup>*9</sup>
    • index(s), rindex(s)
    • inside
    • startswith(str)
    • endswith(str)
    • combinations, combinations(n)
    • ltrimstr(str)
    • rtrimstr(str)
    • explode
    • implode
    • split
    • join(str)
    • ascii_downcase, ascii_upcase
    • while(cond; update)
    • until(cond; next)
    • recurse(f), recurse, recurse(f; condition), recurse_down
    • ..
    • env<sup>*6</sup>
    • transpose
    • bsearch(x)×
    • String interpolation - \(foo)
    • Convert to/from JSON
    • Format strings and escaping
    • Dates×
Conditionals and Comparisons
    • ==, !=
    • if-then-else
    • >, >=, <=, <
    • and/or/not
    • Alternative operator - //
    • try-catch<sup>*1</sup>
    • Breaking out of control structures<sup>*2</sup>
    • ? operator
Regular expressions (PCRE)
    • test(val), test(regex; flags)
    • match(val), match(regex; flags)
    • capture(val), capture(regex; flags)
    • scan(regex), scan(regex; flags)
    • split(regex; flags)
    • splits(regex), splits(regex; flags)
    • sub(regex; tostring) sub(regex; string; flags)
    • gsub(regex; string), gsub(regex; string; flags)
Advanced features
    • Variables<sup>*11</sup>
    • Destructuring Alternative Operator: ?//✕ (#44)
    • Defining Functions<sup>*3</sup>
    • Reduce
    • limit(n; exp)
    • first(expr), last(expr), nth(n; expr)
    • first, last, nth(n)
    • foreach
    • Recursion
    • Generators and iterators
Math
I/ON/A
    • inputN/A
    • inputsN/A
    • debugN/A
    • input_filenameN/A
    • input_line_numberN/A
StreamingN/A
    • truncate_stream(stream_expression)N/A
    • fromstream(stream_expression)N/A
    • tostreamN/A
Assignment
    • =
    • ǀ=<sup>*8</sup>
    • +=, -=, *=, /=, %=, //=
    • Complex assignments
Modules
    • import RelativePathString as NAME [<metadata>];
    • include RelativePathString [<metadata>];
    • import RelativePathString as $NAME [<metadata>];
    • module <metadata>;
    • modulemeta×
</details>

Known Compatibility Issues / Differences

Category: BUG

<details> <summary>(*11) Operator Precedences in <code>1 + 3 as $a | ($a * 2)</code></summary>
Description

The presence of as $a affects precedence of | and other operators in jq:

$ jq -n '1 + 3 | (. * 2)' # interpreted as (1 + 3) | (. * 2)
8
$ jq -n '1 + 3 as $a | ($a * 2)' # interpreted as 1 + (3 as $a | ($a * 2))
7

whereas jackson-jq consistently interprets them as (1 + 3) whether as $a is used or not:

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n '1 + 3 | (. * 2)' # interpreted as (1 + 3) | (. * 2)
8
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n '1 + 3 as $a | ($a * 2)' # interpreted as (1 + 3) as $a | ($a * 2)
8
Examples
$ jq -n '1 + 3 as $a | ($a * 2)' # interpreted as 1 + (3 as $a | ($a * 2))
7
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n '1 + 3 as $a | ($a * 2)' # interpreted as (1 + 3) as $a | ($a * 2)
8
Workaround

Use explicit parentheses.

Links
</details> <details> <summary>(*3) Multiple functions with the same name in the same scope</summary>
Description

If the function with the same is defined more than once at the same scope, jackson-jq uses the last one.

Examples
$ jq -n 'def f: 1; def g: f; def f: 2; g'
1
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n 'def f: 1; def g: f; def f: 2; g'
2
Workaround

Avoid using the duplicate function name.

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n 'def f1: 1; def g: f1; def f2: 2; g'
1
</details>

Category: BY DESIGN

<details> <summary>(*1) Error Message Wording</summary>
Description

Error messages differ between jq and jackson-jq and they also tend to change between versions.

Workaround

None. This is by design and will not be fixed.

</details> <details> <summary>(*6) <code>env/0</code> is not available by default.</summary>
Description

env/0 is not available by default for security reasons and must be added manually to the scope.

Workaround

Add env/0 manually into the scope:

SCOPE.addFunction("env", 0, new EnvFunction())
</details> <details> <summary>(*4) Field Ordering in JSON Object</summary>
Description

The order of the keys in JSON is not preserved. It was a design decision but we are slowly trying to fix this in order to improve the compatibility with jq.

Workaround

None. Use array if the order is important.

</details> <details> <summary>(*5) <code>0 / 0</code> is an error in jackson-jq.</summary>
Description

jq evaluates 0 / 0, if hard-coded, to NaN without any errors, whereas 0 | 0 / . results in a zero-division error. jackson-jq always raises an error in both cases.

Examples
$ jq -n '0 / 0'
null
$ jq -n '10 / 0'
jq: error: Division by zero? at <top-level>, line 1:
10 / 0
jq: 1 compile error
$ jq '. / 0' <<< 0
jq: error (at <stdin>:1): number (0) and number (0) cannot be divided because the divisor is zero
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n '0 / 0'
jq: error: number (0) and number (0) cannot be divided because the divisor is zero
Workaround

If you need NaN, use nan instead of 0 / 0.

</details> <details> <summary>(*8) <code>... |= empty</code> is an error in jackson-jq.</summary>
Description

.foo |= empty always throws an error in jackson-jq instead of producing an unexpected result. jq-1.5 and jq-1.6 respectively produces a different and incorrect result for [1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty). jq#897 says "empty in the RHS is undefined". You can still use _modify/2 directly if you really want to emulate the exact jq-1.5 or jq-1.6 behavior.

Examples
$ jq-1.6 -n '[1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty)'
[
  1,
  3
]
$ jq-1.5 -n '[1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty)'
null
$ jq-1.2 -n '[1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty)'
[
  1,
  2,
  3
]
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.6 -n '[1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty)'
jq: error: `|= empty` is undefined. See https://github.com/stedolan/jq/issues/897
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.5 -n '[1,2,3] | ((.[] | select(. > 1)) |= empty)'
jq: error: `|= empty` is undefined. See https://github.com/stedolan/jq/issues/897
Workaround

You can use _modify/2 if you really want to the original behavior.

$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.6 -n '[1,2,3] | _modify((.[] | select(. > 1)); empty)'
[ 1, 3 ]
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.5 -n '[1,2,3] | _modify((.[] | select(. > 1)); empty)'
null
</details> <details> <summary>(*7) Variables don't carry path information even in jq 1.5 compat mode.</summary>
Description

path(.foo as $a | $a) always throws an error as $variables in jackson-jq do not carry path information like jq-1.5 accidentally? did. The behavior is fixed in jq-1.6 whose documentation explicitly states them as "not a valid or useful path expression". So, I dicided not to implement it even in jq-1.5 compatible mode.

Examples

jq 1.5

$ jq-1.5 -c 'path(.foo as $a | $a)' <<< '{"foo": 1}'
["foo"]
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.5 -c 'path(.foo as $a | $a)' <<< '{"foo": 1}'
jq: error: Invalid path expression with result 1

jq 1.6

$ jq-1.6 -c 'path(.foo as $a | $a)' <<< '{"foo": 1}'
jq: error (at <stdin>:1): Invalid path expression with result 1
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar --jq 1.6 -c 'path(.foo as $a | $a)' <<< '{"foo": 1}'
jq: error: Invalid path expression with result 1
Workaround

None

</details> <details> <summary>(*2) <code>try (break $label) catch .</code> always produces <code>{"__jq": 0}</code>.</summary>
Description

<code>try (break $label) catch .</code> always produces <code>{"__jq": 0}</code> in jackson-jq, while __jq should contain the index of the label the break statement jumps to.

Examples
$ jq -n 'label $a | label $b | try (break $b) catch .'
{
  "__jq": 1
}
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n 'label $a | label $b | try (break $b) catch .'
{
  "__jq" : 0
}
Workaround

None. Tell us your use case if you need this feature.

</details>

Category: BUGFIX

<details> <summary>(*9) <code>indices("")</code> returns <code>[]</code> (empty array) in jackson-jq.</summary>
Description

indices/1 implementation in jq-1.5 and jq-1.6 had a bug that caused indices("") to end up in infinite loop which eventually leads to OOM. The bug is fixed and likely to be in jq-1.7 (not released yet). jackson-jq chose not to simulate this bug.

Examples
$ jq-1.5 -n '"x" | indices("")' # stuck in infinite loop
^C
$ jq-1.6 -n '"x" | indices("")' # stuck in infinite loop
^C
$ jq-1.6-83-gb52fc10 -n '"x" | indices("")'
[]
$ java -jar jackson-jq-cli-1.1.0.jar -n '"x" | indices("")'
[ ]
</details>

Using jackson-jq/extras module

The jackson-jq/extras module is a jq module that provides some useful functions that do not exist in jq.

To use this module, you need to add the following Maven dependency and set BuiltinModuleLoader (see jackson-jq/src/test/java/examples/Usage.java) to the scope.

<dependency>
	<groupId>net.thisptr</groupId>
	<artifactId>jackson-jq-extra</artifactId>
	<version>1.1.0</version>
</dependency>

Now, you can import the module in jq:

import "jackson-jq/extras" as extras;

extras::uuid4

For a historical reason, adding the Maven dependency also makes the functions directly available to jq. This behavior is deprecated and will be removed at some point in the future.

<details> <summary>List of Functions</summary>

uuid4/0

random/0

timestamp/0, strptime/{1, 2}, strftime/{1, 2}

uriparse/0

uridecode/0

hostname/0

</details>

Contributing

License

This software is licensed under Apache Software License, Version 2.0, with some exceptions:

See COPYING for details.