bashANYjsonjqpretty-print
bash
jq . data.jsonThe most common CLI workflow for readable JSON.
JSON Formatting, Minifying, and Pretty-Printing
Commands and patterns for compact JSON, human-readable formatting, stable sorting, and terminal-friendly inspection.
Export
Copy the compact sheet, download it, or print it.
Download
`D` dense toggle · `C` copy all
Pretty-printing
Make JSON readable in terminals, logs, and docs.
bashANYjsonpythonpretty-print
bash
python -m json.tool data.jsonA portable fallback when `jq` is unavailable.
bashANYjsonpythonsort-keys
bash
python - <<'PY'
import json
from pathlib import Path
p = Path('data.json')
obj = json.loads(p.read_text())
print(json.dumps(obj, indent=2, sort_keys=True))
PYStable key order is useful in reviews and version control.
Minify JSON
Remove unnecessary whitespace for compact transport or embedding.
bashANYjsonjqminify
bash
jq -c . data.jsonUseful for logs, payload fixtures, and embedding JSON in scripts.
bashANYjsonpythonminify
bash
python - <<'PY'
import json
from pathlib import Path
p = Path('data.json')
obj = json.loads(p.read_text())
print(json.dumps(obj, separators=(',', ':')))
PYThe `separators` option removes spaces after commas and colons.
bashANYjsoncurljqapi
bash
curl -s https://api.example.com/users | jq .A practical workflow when inspecting REST responses.
More in JSON
JSONL and NDJSON
Newline-delimited JSON patterns for logs, streams, ETL, and large-file processing workflows.
JSON API Payload Patterns
Reusable JSON payload shapes for APIs: envelopes, pagination, errors, metadata, partial updates, and event-style messages.
JSON Schema Validation
Practical JSON Schema examples for required fields, types, enums, arrays, nested objects, and validation workflows.
JSON Validation and Common Errors
How to validate JSON, spot parse failures, repair common mistakes, and debug malformed payloads quickly.
JSON Escaping and Encoding
Escape sequences, Unicode, URLs, embedded JSON strings, and encoding pitfalls when storing or transporting JSON.
JSON Objects and Arrays
Patterns for nested objects, arrays, list items, nullability, and common data-shape decisions in JSON.