Need to parse data in bash

Question

The following is the format of data that I need to parse in bash. Assuming that a bash variable holds this data, I need to be able to extract the value in xyz. Further, I need to be able to also extract aa and bb individually from with xyz.

"params": {
    "children": [
           {
                "abc": {
                    "pp": "1234567890",
                    "qq": "a.b.c"
                },
                "xyz": {
                    "aa": "0987654321",
                    "bb": "c.b.a"
                },
                "def": "p.q.r"
            }
        ],
        "def": "e.f.g.h"
    }

Any help on this is appreciated!

@devnull/@slayedbylucifer: I'm familiarizing myself with the json parsers. Thanks for the suggestion! — Maddy
– Maddy, Commented Dec 4, 2013 at 8:22

Jens · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-02 11:05:49Z

1

The shell is not a good language for writing general parsers. That said, if your input format is more or less exactly as shown, with maximally one "name": "value" pair per line, try this:

$ eval $(sed -n 's/"\([^"]*\)"[ :]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1=\2/p' inputfile)
$ echo $aa
0987654321
$ echo $bb
c.b.a

answered Dec 2, 2013 at 11:05

Jens

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2 Comments

Maddy Over a year ago

What if I have 'aa' and 'bb' under both 'abc' and 'xyz'? How would I retrieve a specific line?

Jens Over a year ago

Then I suggest using a tool matching the problem, i.e. a proper parser, which the shell isn't.

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