jq zsh plugin

Interactively build jq expressions (gojq is also supported).

This zsh plugin gives you jq superpowers!

Fish users: you can use this friendly fork: rmartine-ias/jq-fish-plugin

Table of contents

• Demos
• Installation
• Usage
• Key bindings

Demos

Interactive jq query construction

Insert jq query in the middle of a pipeline

Installation

Besides jq, this plugin also requires fzf (a recent version) to be installed and available on your PATH.

The following installation methods are proven to work:

• Oh My Zsh
• zplug
• Antigen
• Zgen

Oh My Zsh

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/jq

2. Add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):

plugins=(
	# other plugins...
	jq
)

3. Start a new terminal session.

zplug

zplug reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Antigen

antigen bundle reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Zgen

zgen load reegnz/jq-zsh-plugin

Usage

• type out a command that you expect to produce json on its standard output
• press alt + j
• start typing jq expression and watch it being evaluated in real time (like a true REPL!)
• use up/down and hit tab to select one of the suggestions
• or type out a jq query on your own
• press enter, and the jq expression is appended to your initial command!

Key bindings

Bringing up the jq query builder for a shell command: alt + j

During interactive querying, the following shortcuts can be used:

Shortcut	Effect
ctrl-k or up	Navigate path queries
ctrl-j or down	Navigate path queries
tab	Select path query
ctrl-p or shift-up	Scroll up
ctrl-n or shift-down	Scroll down
ctrl-alt-p	Scroll up half page
ctrl-alt-n	Scroll down half page
alt-up	Scroll up full page
alt-down	Scroll down full page
ctrl-r	Reload input
ctrl-y	Yank selected path to clipboard (GNU/Linux only)

gojq support

If you want to use an alternative jq implementation, like gojq then you can override the default jq command used by the plugin. Set the following environment variable:

JQ_REPL_JQ=gojq

Internals

The project consists of the following components:

• a jq.plugin.zsh providing a user-defined zsh line-editor widget, utilizing the jq-repl command
• a jq-repl command to interactively build jq expressions, utilizing fzf for its UI
• a jq-paths command to get all valid jq paths in the provided JSON document, used for suggesting paths.

Troubleshooting

MacOS: Pressing alt-j creates a ∆ symbol in iTerm2

You need to remap your alt-key to Esc+ in iTerm2:

• Cmd + , to enter preferences
• Go to Profiles
• select your profile from the pane on the left hand side
• go to the keys tab
• Set Left Option (⌥ ) Key to Esc+

See other suggestions on stackoverflow if the above one doesn't help you: https://stackoverflow.com/q/196357/205318

Another option is to map to ctrl+j instead by putting this in your .zshrc:

bindkey `^j` jq-complete

Disable expanding shell aliases

The plugin automatically expands shell aliases in a command before passing it to jq-repl. To disable, put the following line into your .zshrc:

JQ_ZSH_PLUGIN_EXPAND_ALIASES=0