Adding a new array to already existing JSON file jq bash

Question

Assume I have the following large json

    {
    "firsttag": {
    "secondtag": [
      {
        "thirdtag": [
          {
            "someothertag": [
              {
                "sample":"else"
              },
              {                    
                "targetBlank": true,                    
              }
            ],            
            "interestingtag": [
              {
                "refId": "A",
                "target": "abc",
              },
              {
                "refId": "B",
                "target": "bbb",
              },
              {
                "refId": "C",
                "target": "ccc",
              }
            ],                
          },
      },
  "overwrite": true
}

My JSON might not be syntactically perfect but that's becuase I've edited out some stuff. Now what I want to do is, I want to add another input under interestingtag that's similar to the others. For example, I desire it like

"interestingtag": [
              {
                "refId": "A",
                "target": "abc"
              },
              {
                "refId": "B",
                "target": "bbb"
              },
              {
                "refId": "C",
                "target": "ccc"
              },
              {
                "refId": "D",
                "target": "ddd"
              }
            ],

But I'm not able to figure out how to do it. I can retrieve the right location using

jq '.firsttag.secondtag[0].thirdtag[0].interestingtag' myfile.json

But when I try the simple

jq '.firsttag.secondtag[0].thirdtag[0].interestingtag + {"refId": "D", "refID": "C"}' myfile.json

I get a

jq: error: array and object cannot be added

Any idea how I can do this? Or what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for the help.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:45:30Z

2

+ does not append elements to arrays. You want to merge arrays using |= .+ [...] as explained in this answer

jq '.firsttag.secondtag[0].thirdtag[0].interestingtag |= .+ [{"refId": "D", "refID": "C"}]' myfile.json

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:45

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 2, 2017 at 6:40

SpliFF

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2 Comments

Izy- Over a year ago

Brilliant! I had a look through your link but wasn't sure if I could add in an array within the []. The post only spoke about a single value. Thanks a ton, worked like a charm!

Jeff Mercado Over a year ago

Rather than updating the array to add to the array |= . + [...], just add to the array: += [...]

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