How can I pretty-print JSON in a shell script?

With Python 2.6+ you can do:

echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | python -m json.tool

or, if the JSON is in a file, you can do:

python -m json.tool my_json.json

if the JSON is from an internet source such as an API, you can use

curl http://my_url/ | python -m json.tool

For convenience in all of these cases you can make an alias:

alias prettyjson='python -m json.tool'

For even more convenience with a bit more typing to get it ready:

prettyjson_s() {    echo "$1" | python -m json.tool}prettyjson_f() {    python -m json.tool "$1"}prettyjson_w() {    curl "$1" | python -m json.tool}

for all the above cases. You can put this in .bashrc and it will be available every time in shell. Invoke it like prettyjson_s '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}'.

Note that as @pnd pointed out in the comments below, in Python 3.5+ the JSON object is no longer sorted by default. To sort, add the --sort-keys flag to the end. I.e. ... | python -m json.tool --sort-keys.

You can use: jq

It's very simple to use and it works great! It can handle very large JSON structures, including streams. You can findtheir tutorials here.

Usage examples:

$ jq --color-output . file1.json file1.json | less -R$ command_with_json_output | jq .$ jq # stdin/"interactive" mode, just enter some JSON$ jq <<< '{ "foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum" }'{  "bar": "ipsum",  "foo": "lorem"}

Or use jq with identity filter:

$ jq '.foo' <<< '{ "foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum" }'"lorem"

I use the "space" argument of JSON.stringify to pretty-print JSON in JavaScript.

Examples:

// Indent with 4 spacesJSON.stringify({"foo":"lorem","bar":"ipsum"}, null, 4);// Indent with tabsJSON.stringify({"foo":"lorem","bar":"ipsum"}, null, '\t');

From the Unix command-line with Node.js, specifying JSON on the command line:

$ node -e "console.log(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(process.argv[1]), null, '\t'));" \  '{"foo":"lorem","bar":"ipsum"}'

Returns:

{    "foo": "lorem",    "bar": "ipsum"}

From the Unix command-line with Node.js, specifying a filename that contains JSON, and using an indent of four spaces:

$ node -e "console.log(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(require('fs') \      .readFileSync(process.argv[1])), null, 4));"  filename.json

Using a pipe:

echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | node -e \"\ s=process.openStdin();\ d=[];\ s.on('data',function(c){\   d.push(c);\ });\ s.on('end',function(){\   console.log(JSON.stringify(JSON.parse(d.join('')),null,2));\ });\"