Using jq, is it possible to return the same json object but only with selected fields/keys on multip-CodePudding

Say I have a multilevel json like the following:

{
  "array": [
    1,
    2,
    3
  ],
  "boolean": true,
  "color": "gold",
  "null": null,
  "number": 123,
  "object": {
    "a": "b",
    "c": "d"
  },
  "string": "Hello World"
}

Can jq return the same json but with fields that I choose on multiple levels?

e.g.

{
  "object": {
    "a": "b",
  },
  "string": "Hello World"
}

Here, I have selected the string field at the top level, and the a field within the object field.

Edit: In practice, there are multiple fields on each level that I would like to select, and the levels are >4.

CodePudding user response：

Yes, it is possible. I wrote a function for that once and posted here. You can use it like so:

def pick(paths):
  . as $in
  | reduce path(paths) as $path (null;
    setpath($path; $in | getpath($path))
  );

pick(.object.a, .string)

^{Online demo}