My question is similar to Unix jq parsing wildcards but want to merge to the original JSON.

Say, input JSON:

{
  "a": {
    "1": {
      "c": "text1"
    },
    "999": {
      "c": "text99"
    }
  }
}

I want to manipulate the inner "c": "text1" and modify it to "c": "newtext". But, also need to merge with the original JSON. IOW, it is not about extracting, but about manipulating.

Expected output:

{
  "a": {
    "1": {
      "c": "newtext"
    },
    "999": {
      "c": "text99"
    }
  }
}

I tried:

.. | .c? |= (sub("^text1$";"newtext"))

But, it throws null (null) cannot be matched, as it is not a string

jqplay: https://jqplay.org/s/2nFAus6Umz

CodePudding user response：

Just walk the path with the expression to select an object type when .c equals to your desired value

jq 'walk(if type == "object" and .c == "text1" then .c |= "newtext" else . end)'

jqplay demo

CodePudding user response：

Along the lines of your attempt:

(.. | objects | select(has("c")) | .c) |= (sub("^text1$";"newtext"))

or in order of increasing brevity:

(.. | select(try has("c")) | .c) |= (sub("^text1$";"newtext"))

(.. | select(has("c")?) | .c) |= (sub("^text1$";"newtext"))