JSONPath Cheat Sheet: Syntax and Examples

Sample JSON used in examples

{
  "store": {
    "name": "Books & More",
    "books": [
      { "title": "Clean Code", "author": "Robert Martin", "price": 35.99, "inStock": true },
      { "title": "The Pragmatic Programmer", "author": "Hunt & Thomas", "price": 45.00, "inStock": true },
      { "title": "Design Patterns", "author": "Gang of Four", "price": 54.95, "inStock": false },
      { "title": "Refactoring", "author": "Martin Fowler", "price": 42.50, "inStock": true }
    ],
    "location": { "city": "San Francisco", "zip": "94105" }
  }
}

Syntax quick reference

Examples

Basic property access

$.store.name
→ "Books & More"

$.store.location.city
→ "San Francisco"

$.store.location['zip']
→ "94105"

Array access

$.store.books[0].title
→ "Clean Code"

$.store.books[-1].title
→ "Refactoring"

$.store.books[1].price
→ 45.00

Wildcard — all elements

$.store.books[*].title
→ ["Clean Code", "The Pragmatic Programmer", "Design Patterns", "Refactoring"]

$.store.books[*].price
→ [35.99, 45.00, 54.95, 42.50]

Array slices

$.store.books[0:2].title
→ ["Clean Code", "The Pragmatic Programmer"]

$.store.books[2:].title
→ ["Design Patterns", "Refactoring"]

Multiple indexes

$.store.books[0,3].title
→ ["Clean Code", "Refactoring"]

Recursive descent

$..title
→ ["Clean Code", "The Pragmatic Programmer", "Design Patterns", "Refactoring"]

$..price
→ [35.99, 45.00, 54.95, 42.50]

Filter expressions

// Books that are in stock
$.store.books[?(@.inStock == true)].title
→ ["Clean Code", "The Pragmatic Programmer", "Refactoring"]

// Books cheaper than $40
$.store.books[?(@.price < 40)].title
→ ["Clean Code"]

// Books $40 or more
$.store.books[?(@.price >= 40)].title
→ ["The Pragmatic Programmer", "Design Patterns", "Refactoring"]

Combining conditions

// In-stock books under $50
$.store.books[?(@.inStock == true && @.price < 50)].title
→ ["Clean Code", "The Pragmatic Programmer", "Refactoring"]

Implementation differences

JSONPath was originally described by Stefan Goessner in 2007 with no formal standard. Different libraries implement it differently. Common variation points:

• Negative indexes — [-1] works in most implementations but not all.
• Regex filters — =~ operator is not universally supported.
• RFC 9535 — A formal JSONPath standard was published in 2024. New libraries may behave differently from older ones.

JSONPath vs jq

jq is a command-line JSON processor with its own more powerful query language. Use JSONPath when embedding queries in application code or config files. Use jq for shell scripting and one-off transformations in the terminal.