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jqlang

jqlang/jq

A lightweight command-line JSON processor, written in portable C with no runtime dependencies, for slicing, filtering, mapping and transforming JSON.

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What is it?

jq works like sed, awk or grep for JSON data. You pipe JSON into it and write a filter expression to select fields, reshape objects, or compute new values, and it prints the result to standard output.

It is written in portable C and has zero runtime dependencies, so it can be installed as a single standalone executable. Prebuilt binaries are published for macOS and Linux on the release page, and a Docker image is available. Building from source requires libtool, make, automake and autoconf, and the project supports static linking and cross-compilation.

The project provides an online playground at play.jqlang.org for trying filters before using them in scripts.

Key features

  • 01Selects, filters, maps and transforms JSON with a filter expression language.
  • 02Runs as a standalone executable with zero runtime dependencies.
  • 03Written in portable C and can be built statically or cross-compiled.
  • 04Available as prebuilt binaries for macOS and Linux and as a Docker image.
  • 05Includes an online playground for testing filters.

Use cases

  • Extracting a field such as a version number from a package.json file in a shell script.
  • Reshaping API responses into a different structure before storing or displaying them.
  • Filtering large JSON logs or exports from the command line.
  • Running JSON transformations inside Docker or CI pipelines without installing extra runtimes.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Download the prebuilt binary from the releases page

  2. 2

    Make the downloaded file executable (after renaming it to jq)

    chmod +x jq
  3. 3

    Or run it with Docker on a package.json file

    docker run --rm -i -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w "$PWD" ghcr.io/jqlang/jq:latest '.version' package.json

In collections

CLI & terminal tools

Topics

#json#command-line#cli#data-processing#text-processing#jq

FAQ

What is jq?
A lightweight command-line JSON processor, written in portable C with no runtime dependencies, for slicing, filtering, mapping and transforming JSON. jq works like sed, awk or grep for JSON data. You pipe JSON into it and write a filter expression to select fields, reshape objects, or compute new values, and it prints the result to standard output.
Is jq free to use? What license does it have?
jq is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is jq still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to jq was on Nov 2, 2026.
What can I use jq for?
Extracting a field such as a version number from a package.json file in a shell script. Reshaping API responses into a different structure before storing or displaying them. Filtering large JSON logs or exports from the command line. Running JSON transformations inside Docker or CI pipelines without installing extra runtimes.
How do I install jq?
Download the prebuilt binary from the releases page Make the downloaded file executable (after renaming it to jq): chmod +x jq Or run it with Docker on a package.json file: docker run --rm -i -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w "$PWD" ghcr.io/jqlang/jq:latest '.version' package.json
Where can I get jq?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/jqlang/jq

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