Should jo import a child JSON from a file?

[colrichie]

When I want to get a nested JSON, the jo(1) manual suggests to me like this

$ jo obj=$(ls | jo -a)

It means that jo gets keys and values of objects from the argument space.

But that has some problems.

• It's impossible to generate a JSON the size of which is over than ARG_MAX.
• jo has to refuse to accept single backslash (single doublequotation neither) without escaping to prevent command injection. So jo can't accept Unicode Escape Sequence strings (e.g. \u1234)

I think file can solve both the problems.

$ ls | jo -a > child.json
$ jo obj:=child.json

(":=" is a sample operator symbol for importing a child JSON from a file)

What do you think?

[jpmens]

Good idea. Now for somebody to implement this. 😄

[jpmens]

@richmikan Could you test this to see if it behaves like it should? :-)

[colrichie]

Thanks for your quick improving. I also tried to use it immediately.

$ echo '["a","\u0020","b"]' > child.json
$ jo obj:=a.json
{"obj":["a"," ","b"]}
$ 

That's a great progress!
And I think jo will get greater if you add an option for passing through or converting Unicode escape sequence characters.

$ printf 'a\n\u0020\nb\n' | jo -a --some-option
["a","\u0020","b"]

Or

$ printf 'a\n\u0020\nb\n' | jo -a --some-option
["a"," ","b"]

[jpmens]

I would accept a pull-request for Unicode escape sequences.
Closing this now; thanks for your idea.