yq/usage/convert.md

Working with JSON

Yaml to Json

To convert output to json, use the --tojson or `-j` flag. This is supported by all commands. You can change the json output format by using the pretty print or indent flags. Note that due to the implementation of the JSON marshaller in GO, object keys will be sorted on output _[_https://golang.org/pkg/encoding/json/\#Marshal_](https://golang.org/pkg/encoding/json/#Marshal)_.

Given a sample.yaml file of:

b:
  c: 2

then

yq r -j sample.yaml

will output

{"b":{"c":2}}

To format the json:

yq r --prettyPrint -j sample.yaml

will yield

{
  "b": {
    "c": 2
  }
}

Multiple matches

Each matching yaml node will be converted to json and printed out on a separate line. The prettyPrint and indent flags will still work too. ****

Given a sample.yaml file of:

bob:
  c: 2
bab:
  c: 5

then

yq r -j sample.yaml b*

will output

{"c":2}
{"c":5}

Json to Yaml

To read in json, just pass in a json file instead of yaml, it will just work - as json is a subset of yaml. However, you will probably want to pretty print the output to look more like an idiomatic yaml document.

e.g given a json file

{"a":"Easy! as one two three","b":{"c":2,"d":[3,4]}}

then

yq r --prettyPrint sample.json

will output

a: Easy! as one two three
b:
  c: 2
  d:
  - 3
  - 4