JSON Path directive

The JSON-PATH directive uses a DSL for reading JSON records.

Syntax

json-path :source :destination 'json-path'

<source-column> specifies the column in the record that should be considered as the "root member object" or "$"
<destination-column> is the name of the output column in the record where the results of the expression will be stored
'json-path' is a JSON path expression; see Usage Notes below for details

Usage Notes

An expression always refers to a JSON structure in the same way that an XPath expression is used in combination with an XML document. The "root member object" is always referred to as $ regardless if it is an object or an array.

Notation

Expressions can use either the "dot–notation":

$.name.first

or the "bracket–notation":

$['name']['first']

Operators

Operator	Description

Operator	Description
`$`	The root element to query; this starts all path expressions
`@`	The current node being processed by a filter predicate
	Wildcard; available anywhere a name or numeric are required
`..`	Deep scan; available anywhere a name is required
`.<name>`	Dot-notated child
`['<name>' (, '<name>')]`	Bracket-notated child or children
`[<number> (, <number>)]`	Array index or indexes
`[start:end]`	Array slice operator
`[?(<expression>)]`	Filter expression; must evaluate to a boolean value

Functions

Functions can be invoked at the tail end of a path: the input to a function is the output of the path expression. The function output is dictated by the function itself.

Function	Returns	Output

Function	Returns	Output
`min()`	The min value of an array of numbers	Double
`max()`	The max value of an array of numbers	Double
`avg()`	The average value of an array of numbers	Double
`stddev()`	The standard deviation value of an array of numbers	Double
`length()`	The length of an array	Integer

Filter Operators

Filters are logical expressions used to filter arrays. A typical filter would be:

where @ represents the current item being processed.

More complex filters can be created with the logical operators && and ||
String literals must be enclosed by either single or double quotes, such as in [?(@.color=='blue')] or [?(@.color=="blue")]

Filter Operator	Description

Filter Operator	Description
`==`	Left is equal in type and value to right (note `1` is not equal to `'1'`)
`!=`	Left is not equal to right
`<`	Left is less than right
`<=`	Left is less than or equal to right
`>`	Left is greater than right
`>=`	Left is greater than or equal to right
`=~`	Left matches regular expression `[?(@.name=~/foo.*?/i)]`
`in`	Left exists in right `[?(@.size in ['S', 'M'])]`
`nin`	Left does not exist in right
`size`	Size of left (array or string) matches right
`empty`	Left (array or string) is empty

Examples

Using this record as an example:

JSON Path (click link to test)	Result

JSON Path (click link to test)	Result
$.store.book[*].author	The authors of all books
$..author	All authors
$.store.*	All things, both books and bicycles
$.store..price	The price of everything
$..book[2]	The third book
$..book[0,1]	The first two books
$..book[:2]	All books from index 0 (inclusive) until index 2 (exclusive)
$..book[1:2]	All books from index 1 (inclusive) until index 2 (exclusive)
$..book[-2:]	Last two books
$..book[2:]	Book number two from tail
$..book[?(@.isbn)]	All books with an ISBN number
$..book[?(@.isbn)]	All books with an ISBN number
$.store.book[?(@.price<10)]	All books in store cheaper than 10
$..book[?(@.price<=$['expensive'])]	All books in store that are not "expensive"
$..book[?(@.author=~/.*REES/i)]	All books matching a regex (ignore case)
$..*	All books
$..book.length()	The number of books