jq: error: syntax error, unexpected IDENT, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>

Question

cat explorer/connection-profile/test-network.json | jq ".organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= 44ab"

jq: error: syntax error, unexpected IDENT, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>, line 1:
.organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path|=44ab                                               
jq: 1 compile error

but it works fine with

cat explorer/connection-profile/test-network.json | jq ".organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= 44"

Why?

Actually I am trying to use

cat explorer/connection-profile/test-network.json | jq ".organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= ${PRIV_KEY}"

where the ${PRIV_KEY} is 44ab..._sk

Try ... | jq '.organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= "44ab"' — jas
– jas, Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 9:16
@jas Yeah, this works fine, but actually I want change 44ab with a variable, so I cant use double quote ('') outside this string. ^ ^ thanks anyway — K. Zhu
– K. Zhu, Commented Sep 2, 2021 at 9:31

Shawn · Accepted Answer · 2021-09-02 09:46:34Z

11

You can assign a string to a variable that can be used inside a jq filter:

PRIV_KEY="44ab..._sk"
jq --arg path "$PRIV_KEY" '.organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= $path' explorer/connection-profile/test-network.json

This method is safer than trying to embed an expanded shell variable directly in the filter string because jq will properly handle arbitrary values instead of choking on things like quotes (Or their absence).

Note that jq takes filenames as arguments after the filter expression; no need for cat here (Unless that's standing in for curl or something, of course, and you're not using an existing file)

answered Sep 2, 2021 at 9:46

Shawn

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1 Comment

K. Zhu Over a year ago

It works! You are so kind. ^ ^ Thank you!

himnabil · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-03 22:42:08Z

2

did you try this , i fixed the same error by setting the expression between '' and the values between ""

cat explorer/connection-profile/test-network.json | jq '.organizations.Org1MSP.adminPrivateKey.path |= "44ab"'

answered Apr 3, 2022 at 22:42

himnabil

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Comments

Simon Rose · Accepted Answer · 2025-10-27 09:00:47Z

0

On the odd chance that anyone else finds this issue as well, it seems that jq doesn't like keys with hyphens in them. That is, if you have a json file with

{"a-1b": [1, 2, 3]}

$ jq '.a-1b' foo.json
jq: error: syntax error, unexpected IDENT, expecting $end (Unix shell quoting issues?) at <top-level>, line 1:
.a-1b    
jq: 1 compile error

The solution is to quote the key:

$ jq '."a-1b"' foo.json
[
  1,
  2,
  3
]

answered Oct 27 at 9:00

Simon Rose

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