Merging two json files with jq - json

Question

I have the following json files:
File1:
[
{
"id": 1,
"name": "serviceName",
"owner": {
"id": 1,
"name": "Nicole"
}
}
]
and File2:
[
{
"id": 1,
"name": "Nicole",
"email": "nicole#email.com"
}
]
I would like to have them merged like this:
[
{
"id": 1,
"name": "serviceName",
"owner": {
"id": 1,
"name": "Nicole",
"email": "nicole#email.com"
}
}
]
I'm trying the approach from here and try to use the following:
jq --argfile new file2.json '
($new | INDEX(.ID)) as $dict
| .owner
|= (if $dict[.ID] then . + $dict[.ID] else . end)
' file1.json
But that just results in an error.
Can anyone maybe provide me with some tips?

Answer 1

Your approach fails because of the followings:
Field names are case-sensitive. Having {"id": 1}, use .id, not .ID.
Field names are strings. Having {"id": 1} and INDEX(.id) as $dict, use $dict[.id | tostring] or $dict[.id | #text] or $dict["\(.id)"] to convert the number 1 into the string "1" in the object index.
Your files contain arrays. While INDEX defaults to read .[] from file2.json, you need to do it for file1.json yourself.
jq --argfile new file2.json '
($new | INDEX(.id)) as $dict | .[].owner |= (
if $dict[.id | #text] then . + $dict[.id | #text] else . end
)
' file1.json
[
{
"id": 1,
"name": "serviceName",
"owner": {
"id": 1,
"name": "Nicole",
"email": "nicole#email.com"
}
}
]
As a suggestion, you could also employ JOIN to merge on a given key:
jq '
JOIN(
INDEX(input[]; .id); .[]; .id | #text; .[0].owner += .[1] | .[0]
)
' file1.json file2.json
[
{
"id": 1,
"name": "serviceName",
"owner": {
"id": 1,
"name": "Nicole",
"email": "nicole#email.com"
}
}
]
Demo