14 KiB
Jayway JsonPath 2.0.0
A Java DSL for reading JSON documents.
Jayway JsonPath is a Java port of Stefan Goessner JsonPath implementation.
News
19 Mar 2015 - Released JsonPath 2.0.0
11 Nov 2014 - Released JsonPath 1.2.0
01 Oct 2014 - Released JsonPath 1.1.0
26 Sep 2014 - Released JsonPath 1.0.0
For details see change log.
Getting Started
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>2.0.0</version>
</dependency>
If you need help ask questions at the google group.
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 json
{
"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
}
},
"expensive": 10
}
JsonPath (click link to try) | 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 |
$..book[?(@.price <= $['expensive'])] | All books in store that are not "expensive" |
$..book[?(@.author =~ /.*REES/i)] | All books matching regex (ignore case) |
$..* | Give me every thing |
Reading a Document
The simplest most straight forward way to use JsonPath is via the static read API.
String json = "...";
List<String> authors = JsonPath.read(json, "$.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 author0 = JsonPath.read(document, "$.store.book[0].author");
String author1 = JsonPath.read(document, "$.store.book[1].author");
JsonPath also provides a fluent API. This is also the most flexible one.
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?
When using JsonPath in java its important to know what type you expect in your result. JsonPath will automatically try to cast the result to the type expected by the invoker.
//Will throw an java.lang.ClassCastException
List<String> list = JsonPath.parse(json).read("$.store.book[0].author")
//Works fine
String author = JsonPath.parse(json).read("$.store.book[0].author")
When evaluating a path you need to understand the concept of when a path is definite
. A path is indefinite
if it contains:
..
- a deep scan operator?(<expression>)
- an expression[<number>, <number> (, <number>)]
- multiple array indexes
Indefinite
paths always returns a list (as represented by current JsonProvider).
By default a simple object mapper is provided by the MappingProvider SPI. This allows you to specify the return type you want and the MappingProvider will
try to perform the mapping. In the example below mapping between Long
and Date
is demonstrated.
String json = "{\"date_as_long\" : 1411455611975}";
Date date = JsonPath.parse(json).read("$['date_as_long']", Date.class);
If you configure JsonPath to use the JacksonMappingProvider
you can even map your JsonPath output directly into POJO's.
Book book = JsonPath.parse(json).read("$.store.book[0]", Book.class);
Predicates
There are three different ways to create filter predicates in JsonPath.
###Inline Predicates
Inline predicates are the ones defined in the path.
List<Map<String, Object>> books = JsonPath.parse(json)
.read("$.store.book[?(@.price < 10)]");
You can use &&
and ||
to combine multiple predicates [?(@.price < 10 && @.category == 'fiction')]
,
[?(@.category == 'reference' || @.price > 10)]
.
###Filter Predicates
Predicates can be built using the Filter API as shown below:
import static com.jayway.jsonpath.JsonPath.parse;
import static com.jayway.jsonpath.Criteria.where;
import static com.jayway.jsonpath.Filter.filter;
...
...
Filter cheapFictionFilter = filter(
where("category").is("fiction").and("price").lte(10D)
);
List<Map<String, Object>> books =
parse(json).read("$.store.book[?]", cheapFictionFilter);
Notice the placeholder ?
for the filter in the path. When multiple filters are provided they are applied in order where the number of placeholders must match
the number of provided filters. You can specify multiple predicate placeholders in one filter operation [?, ?]
, both predicates must match.
Filters can also be combined with 'OR' and 'AND'
Filter fooOrBar = filter(
where("foo").exists(true)).or(where("bar").exists(true)
);
Filter fooAndBar = filter(
where("foo").exists(true)).and(where("bar").exists(true)
);
###Roll Your Own
Third option is to implement your own predicates
Predicate booksWithISBN = new Predicate() {
@Override
public boolean apply(PredicateContext ctx) {
return ctx.item(Map.class).containsKey("isbn");
}
};
List<Map<String, Object>> books =
reader.read("$.store.book[?].isbn", List.class, booksWithISBN);
Path vs Value
In the Goessner implementation a JsonPath can return either Path
or Value
. Value
is the default and what all the exaples above are reuturning. If you rather have the path of the elements our query is hitting this can be acheived with an option.
Configuration conf = Configuration.builder()
.options(Option.AS_PATH_LIST).build();
List<String> pathList = using(conf).parse(json).read("$..author");
assertThat(pathList).containsExactly(
"$['store']['book'][0]['author']",
"$['store']['book'][1]['author']",
"$['store']['book'][2]['author']",
"$['store']['book'][3]['author']");
Tweaking Configuration
###Options When creating your Configuration there are a few option flags that can alter the default behaviour.
DEFAULT_PATH_LEAF_TO_NULL
This option makes JsonPath return null for missing leafs. Consider the following json
[
{
"name" : "john",
"gender" : "male"
},
{
"name" : "ben"
}
]
Configuration conf = Configuration.defaultConfiguration();
//Works fine
String gender0 = JsonPath.using(conf).parse(json).read("$[0]['gender']");
//PathNotFoundException thrown
String gender1 = JsonPath.using(conf).parse(json).read("$[1]['gender']");
Configuration conf2 = conf.addOptions(Option.DEFAULT_PATH_LEAF_TO_NULL);
//Works fine
String gender0 = JsonPath.using(conf2).parse(json).read("$[0]['gender']");
//Works fine (null is returned)
String gender1 = JsonPath.using(conf2).parse(json).read("$[1]['gender']");
ALWAYS_RETURN_LIST
This option configures JsonPath to return a list even when the path is definite
.
Configuration conf = Configuration.defaultConfiguration();
//Works fine
List<String> genders0 = JsonPath.using(conf).parse(json).read("$[0]['gender']");
//PathNotFoundException thrown
List<String> genders1 = JsonPath.using(conf).parse(json).read("$[1]['gender']");
SUPPRESS_EXCEPTIONS
This option makes sure no exceptions are propagated from path evaluation. It follows these simple rules:
- If option
ALWAYS_RETURN_LIST
is present an empty list will be returned - If option
ALWAYS_RETURN_LIST
is NOT present null returned
###JsonProvider
JsonPath is shipped with three different JsonProviders:
- JsonSmartJsonProvider (default)
- JacksonJsonProvider
- JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider
- GsonJsonProvider (experimental)
Changing the configuration defaults as demonstrated should only be done when your application is being initialized. Changes during runtime is strongly discouraged, especially in multi threaded applications.
Configuration.setDefaults(new Configuration.Defaults() {
private final JsonProvider jsonProvider = new JacksonJsonProvider();
private final MappingProvider mappingProvider = new JacksonMappingProvider();
@Override
public JsonProvider jsonProvider() {
return jsonProvider;
}
@Override
public MappingProvider mappingProvider() {
return mappingProvider;
}
@Override
public Set<Option> options() {
return EnumSet.noneOf(Option.class);
}
});
Note that the JacksonJsonProvider requires com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.4.5
and the GsonJsonProvider requires com.google.code.gson:gson:2.3.1
on your classpath.