I want to use JQ to sort each ddd-json-array by looking at its values in the .fff.ggg.hhh.iii-property.

So for example look at this json:

{
  "aaa-1": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "100"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "10"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-2": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1000"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "333"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-3": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "77"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "88"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "5555"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1"}}}}
    ]
  }
  ...
  "aaa-n": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "989898"}}}},
      ...
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1"}}}},
    ]  
  }
}

What I want to end up with should look like this:

{
  "aaa-1": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "10"}}}}
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "100"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-2": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "333"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1000"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-3": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "1"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "77"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "88"}}}},
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "5555"}}}}
    ]
  }
  ...
  "aaa-n": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "4"}}}},
      ...
      {"fff": {"ggg": {"hhh": {"iii": "989898"}}}}
    ]  
  }
}

I have tried various combinations and variants of these answers, but I could not come up with a solution:

1. https://stackoverflow.com/a/58665725/504060
2. https://stackoverflow.com/a/30332672/504060
3. https://stackoverflow.com/a/51125483/504060

I hope I could at least describe the problem in a meaningful fashion.

Can someone help me?

CodePudding user response：

Update |= each field's array using sort_by, and convert to numbers using tonumber:

jq '.[].ddd |= sort_by(.fff.ggg.hhh.iii | tonumber)'

{
  "aaa-1": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"1"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"10"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"100"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-2": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"333"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"1000"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-3": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"1"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"77"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"88"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"5555"}}}}
    ]
  },
  "aaa-n": {
    "ddd": [
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"1"}}}},
      {"fff":{"ggg":{"hhh":{"iii":"989898"}}}}
    ]
  }
}

Demo