How to modify a key's value in a JSON file from command line

Question

Is it possible to change the value of a key in a JSON file from command line?

e.g., in package.json:

Change

{
    ...
    ...
    "something": "something",
    "name": "idan" 
    ...
}

To

{
    ...
    ...
    "something": "something",
    "name": "adar" 
    ...
}

Frédéric Falliere · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-14 11:13:17Z

44

One way to achieve it is by using the "json" npm package, e.g.:

json -I -f package.json -e "this.name='adar'"

Another way is by using the jq CLI, e.g.:

mv package.json temp.json
jq -r '.name |= "adar"' temp.json > package.json
rm temp.json

edited Jan 14, 2019 at 11:13

Frédéric Falliere

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answered Apr 8, 2017 at 9:14

Idan Adar

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4 Comments

Charlie Over a year ago

Why the two moves?

Mig82 Over a year ago

The move and the redirect are a good idea because the alternative is to redirect into the original file, and if there's an error parsing the file with jq, you will loose the original file.

denik1981 Over a year ago

jq -r '.name |= "adar"' package.json | sponge package.json "sponge" comes in the "moreutils" package which must be installed first.

andrew Over a year ago

How can I replace the value if the key name is with a dot? For example user.password?

Reino · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-02 11:34:27Z

2

With xidel:

$ xidel -s --in-place package.json -e '($json).name:="adar"'

$ xidel -s --in-place package.json -e 'map:put($json,"name","adar")'

$ xidel -s --in-place package.json -e 'map:merge(($json,{"name":"adar"}),{"duplicates":"use-last"})'

answered Jul 2, 2021 at 11:34

Reino

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Comments

Danila Vershinin · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-30 19:14:22Z

1

With the sde CLI utility, you can

sde name adar package.json

answered Jun 30, 2021 at 19:14

Danila Vershinin

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Comments

Pushkar Soni · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-28 14:27:03Z

-8

The anoter way is to open the file itself in terminal :

pico filename.json

edit it then save then exit.

check if correct changes were made:

cat filename.json

answered Jun 28, 2019 at 14:27

Pushkar Soni

9

1 Comment

Mig82 Over a year ago

Dude, he meant programmatically. Of course you could manually edit the file.

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