JSONPath

A Java DSL for reading JSON documents.

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JSONPath expressions always refer to a JSON structure in the same way as XPath expression are used in combination with an XML document. The "root member object" in JSONPath is always referred to as $ regardless if it is an object or array.

JSONPath expressions can use the dot–notation

$.store.book[0].title

or the bracket–notation

$['store']['book'][0]['title']

Operators

Operator	Description
$	The root element to query. This starts all path expressions.
@	The current node being processed by a filter predicate.
*	Wildcard. Available anywhere a name or numeric are required.
..	Deep scan. Available anywhere a name is required.
.<name>	Dot-notated child
['<name>' (, '<name>)']	Bracket-notated child or children
[<number> (, <number>)]	Array index or indexes
[start:end]	Array slice operator
[?(<expression>)]	Filter expression. Expression must evaluate to a boolean value.

Path Examples

Given the

{
    "store": {
        "book": [
            {
                "category": "reference",
                "author": "Nigel Rees",
                "title": "Sayings of the Century",
                "price": 8.95
            },
            {
                "category": "fiction",
                "author": "Evelyn Waugh",
                "title": "Sword of Honour",
                "price": 12.99
            },
            {
                "category": "fiction",
                "author": "Herman Melville",
                "title": "Moby Dick",
                "isbn": "0-553-21311-3",
                "price": 8.99
            },
            {
                "category": "fiction",
                "author": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
                "title": "The Lord of the Rings",
                "isbn": "0-395-19395-8",
                "price": 22.99
            }
        ],
        "bicycle": {
            "color": "red",
            "price": 19.95
        }
    }
}

JSONPath	Result
$.store.book[*].author	The authors of all books
$..author	All authors
$.store.*	All things, both books and bicycles
$.store..price	The price of everything
$..book[2]	The third book
$..book[(@.length-1)]	The last book
$..book[0,1]	The first two books
$..book[:2]	All books from index 0 (inclusive) until index 2 (exclusive)
$..book[1:2]	All books from index 1 (inclusive) until index 2 (exclusive)
$..book[-2:]	Last two books
$..book[2:]	Book number two from tail
$..book[?(@.isbn)]	All books with an ISBN number
$.store.book[?(@.price<10)]	All books in store cheaper than 10
$..*	Give me every thing you got

Reading a document

The simplest most straight forward way to use JsonPath is via the static convenience API.

String json = "...";

List<String> authors = JsonPath.read(json, "$.store.book[*].author");

If you only want to read once this is OK. In case you need to read an other path as well this is not the way to go since the document will be parsed every time you call JsonPath.read(...). To avoid the problem you can parse the json first.

String json = "...";
Object document = Configuration.defaultConfiguration().jsonProvider().parse(json);

String author1 = JsonPath.read(document, "$.store.book[0].author");
String author2 = JsonPath.read(document, "$.store.book[1].author");

Personally I prefer the more flexible ReadContext API.

String json = "...";

ReadContext ctx = JsonPath.parse(json);

List<String> authorsOfBooksWithISBN = ctx.read("$.store.book[?(@.isbn)].author");


List<Map<String, Object>> expensiveBooks = JsonPath
                            .using(configuration)
                            .parse(json)
                            .read("$.store.book[?(@.price > 10)]", List.class);

What is Returned When?

PATH vs VALUE

Advanced

The default JsonProvider is JsonSmartJsonProvider backed by json-smart, a small and fast JSONParser. If you prefer Jackson there is a JacksonJsonProvider available. There is also an experimental GsonJsonProvider.

• JacksonJsonProvider requires com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.4.1.3 on your classpath.
• GsonJsonProvider requires com.google.code.gson:gson:2.3 on your classpath.

Configuration.setDefaults(new Configuration.Defaults() {

    private final JsonProvider jsonProvider = new com.jayway.jsonpath.internal.spi.json.JacksonJsonProvider();
      
    @Override
    public JsonProvider jsonProvider() {
        return jsonProvider;
    }

    @Override
    public Set<Option> options() {
        return EnumSet.noneOf(Option.class);
    }

    @Override
    public ConversionProvider conversionProvider() {
        return new DefaultConversionProvider();
    }
});

Binaries

JsonPath is available at the Central Maven Repository. Maven users add this to your POM.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.jayway.jsonpath</groupId>
    <artifactId>json-path</artifactId>
    <version>0.9.1</version>
</dependency>

Gradle users

compile 'com.jayway.jsonpath:json-path:0.9.1'