Display curl output in human readable JSON format in a Unix shell script

Question

In my Unix shell script, when I execute the curl command, the result will be displayed as below, which I redirect to the file:

{"type":"Show","id":"123","title":"name","description":"Funny","channelTitle":"ifood.tv","lastUpdateTimestamp":"2014-04-20T20:34:59","numOfVideos":"15"} 

But I want this output to be placed in a readable JSON format, as shown in the file below:

 {"type":"Show", "id":"123", "title":"name", "description":"Funny", "channelTitle":"ifood.tv", "lastUpdateTimestamp":"2014-04-20T20:34:59", "numOfVideos":"15"} 

How do I format the output in this way?

Answer 1

Try to do this:

 curl ... | json_pp 

or using jq using an identification filter:

 curl ... | jq '.' 

or with nodejs and bash :

 curl ... | node <<< "var o = $(cat); console.log(JSON.stringify(o, null, 4));" 

Check out https://stedolan.imtqy.com/jq/

Answer 2

I assume you want to outperform JSON output. This can be achieved with python:

curl http://localhost:8880/test.json | python -mjson.tool > out.json

Answer 3

1. brew install jq
2. command + | jq
3. (example: curl localhost:5000/blocks | jq. )
4. Enjoy it!

Answer 4

I found json_reformat very convenient. So I just did the following:

 curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/people/api.json | json_reformat 

what is it!

Answer 5

 python -m json.tool Curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/people/api.json | python -m json.tool 

may also help

Answer 6

This needs to be added to Gill's answer. There are many ways to do this, but I personally prefer something lightweight, easy to remember, and universally accessible (for example, supply a standard LTS installation with your preferred Linux style or easily installable) on shared * nix systems.

Here are the options in their preferred order:

• Python module Json.tool, for example, echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | python -mjson.tool (pros: almost everywhere, cons: no color coding)

• jq (may require a one-time installation) echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | JQ (cons: need to install jq; pros: color coding and universal)

• json_pp (available on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS), for example. echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | json_pp

• For Ruby users, gem install jsonpretty echo '{"foo": "lorem", "bar": "ipsum"}' | jsonpretty

Answer 7

Check curljson

 $ pip install curljson $ curljson -i <the-json-api-url> 

Answer 8

You can use this node module

[sudo] npm i -g json ; // suggest not using root privileges to install the node module

then just add |json after curl. curl http://localhost:8880/test.json |json

Answer 9

Just add the ?pretty keyword to your curl as- command
If your curl command looks like this: curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state'
having pretty weekend use like this is
curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state'?pretty