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Sorting a JSON array by an arbitrary order using jq

Given this JSON data in the file data.json:

[
  { "id": 1, "entityType": "cat" },
  { "id": 2, "entityType": "dog" },
  { "id": 3, "entityType": "bird" },
  { "id": 4, "entityType": "cat" }
]

How would return an array sorted by some non-alphabetic arbitrary order (e.g dogs, birds and then cats)?

I’ve tried various permutations along the lines of:

jq --argjson order '["dog", "bird", "cat"]' '. | sort_by( index($order[], .entityType) )' data.json

but without any joy.

Tags:

2

Answers


  1. 0

    It’s easier (and faster) to use an object for the order:

    jq --argjson order '{"dog":0, "bird":1, "cat":2}' 
    '. | sort_by($order[.entityType])'

    But if you insist:

    jq --argjson order '["dog", "bird", "cat"]' 
    '. | sort_by(.entityType as $type | ($order | index($type)))'
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  2. 0

    If you want to keep your order argument an array, sort by turning it into an implicit boolean array of matches. Note that false will be ordered before true, so use != to "mismatch" the items.

    jq --argjson order '["dog", "bird", "cat"]' 'sort_by(.entityType != $order[])'

    [
  {
    "id": 2,
    "entityType": "dog"
  },
  {
    "id": 3,
    "entityType": "bird"
  },
  {
    "id": 1,
    "entityType": "cat"
  },
  {
    "id": 4,
    "entityType": "cat"
  }
]

    Alternatively, provide the order as single arguments using the --args option and the $ARGS.positional array:

    jq 'sort_by(.entityType != $ARGS.positional[])' data.json --args dog bird cat
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