JSONPath Tester

Filters and comparisons

Filter expressions compare values of the current item, for example $.books[?(@.price > 10 && @.inStock == true)].title. Strings must be quoted, and a filter on a missing key simply does not match. Filters are evaluated by a built-in parser, not by running JavaScript.

Using the paths in code

Each match is shown with a JavaScript-style accessor such as $.users[0].name. In the Tree tab you can also hover any row and copy its path, which is the quickest way to build an expression for a value you can see.

What JSONPath is

JSONPath is a query language for JSON, modelled on XPath for XML. An expression starts at the root, written $, and walks down through keys and array indexes to select one or many values. It was described informally in 2007 and standardised as RFC 9535 in 2024, but many implementations predate the standard and differ in details, so an expression that works in one library can behave differently in another.

Syntax cheat sheet

$ is the root. .key or ['key'] selects a child, and bracket notation is needed for keys with spaces or dots. [0] selects an array item. A slice with a negative start such as [-1:] selects the last item (and [-2:] the last two); plain [-1] is not supported by every implementation, and it returns nothing here. [*] or .* selects every child. .. is recursive descent: $..price finds every key named price at any depth. [0:3] is a slice, [0,2] picks several indexes, and ['a','b'] picks several keys.

A filter selects the items that satisfy a condition: [?(@.price < 10)], where @ is the item being tested. Conditions can combine comparisons with && and ||, and can test whether a key exists with [?(@.isbn)].

$.store.book[*].author                 all authors
$.store.book[?(@.price < 10)].title    titles of cheap books
$..price                               every price, at any depth
$.store.book[0,2]                      the first and third book
$.store.book[-1:]                      the last book (a slice)
$..book[?(@.isbn)]                     books that have an isbn

Worked example

The bookstore sample loaded on this page has four books. The expression $.store.book[?(@.price < 10)].title returns the titles of the three books under ten, and adding && @.inStock == true narrows that to the ones you can buy. Try changing the number, then switch to $..author to see how recursive descent collects values from different levels.

Results are listed in the order the engine finds them, normally document order, each with its full path. Use Copy values to copy all matched values as a JSON array.

Common mistakes

Strings in filters must be quoted: [?(@.category == 'fiction')]. A filter on a key that is missing from an item simply does not match, rather than raising an error. Recursive descent over a large document can return a very large number of matches; narrow it with a more specific path. If a result is empty, check key spelling and case first, then whether the value sits one level deeper than you expected, which is where the tree view and its copy path button help.

Filter expressions here are evaluated by a built-in parser, not by running JavaScript, which is safer but means that arbitrary JavaScript inside a filter is not supported.

JSONPath compared with jq and JMESPath

jq is a command-line language that can filter, transform and reshape JSON, with its own syntax and functions; it is a good choice for scripts. JMESPath is a different query language with a formal specification, used for example by the AWS CLI for its --query option. kubectl accepts JSONPath templates for its -o jsonpath output, with a few differences from the generic syntax. When you copy an expression into a tool, check that tool's documentation for the dialect it supports.