🔰 What is JSONPath?

JSONPath is a query language for JSON, similar to XPath for XML. It lets you extract and filter specific parts of a JSON document using path expressions.

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Complete JSONPath Cheat Sheet

📘 Sample JSON Data

This is a real-world e-commerce user data JSON:

{
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "Alice",
      "email": "alice@example.com",
      "roles": ["admin", "editor"],
      "orders": [
        { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
        { "id": 1002, "amount": 120, "status": "processing" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Bob",
      "email": "bob@example.com",
      "roles": ["viewer"],
      "orders": [
        { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "name": "Charlie",
      "email": "charlie@example.com",
      "roles": [],
      "orders": []
    }
  ]
}

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🔎 JSONPath Queries with Titles, Goals & Results

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1. 🔍 Return the entire JSON document

Query:

$

Goal: Select the full root JSON object.

Result:

{ "users": [...] }

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2. 👤 Get all user names

Query:

$.users[*].name

Goal: Fetch the name field of every user in the array.

Result:

["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"]

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3. 🧍 Get the first user object

Query:

$.users[0]

Goal: Return the first user in the users array.

Result:

{
  "id": 1,
  "name": "Alice",
  ...
}

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4. 🔚 Get the last user's name using slicing

Query:

$.users[-1:].name

Goal: Return the name of the last user.

Result:

["Charlie"]

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5. ❌ Find users with no roles assigned

Query:

$.users[?(@.roles.length == 0)].name

Goal: Return names of users where the roles array is empty.

Result:

["Charlie"]

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6. 💸 Find all orders greater than $200

Query:

$..orders[?(@.amount > 200)].id

Goal: Get IDs of orders where amount > 200.

Result:

[1001, 1003]

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7. 📦 Find all shipped orders

Query:

$..orders[?(@.status == 'shipped')]

Goal: Return order objects where status is "shipped".

Result:

[ 
  { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
  { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
]

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8. 💰 Get all order amounts

Query:

$..orders[*].amount

Goal: List the amount of every order from all users.

Result:

[250, 120, 300]

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9. 🥇 Get the first order from each user

Query:

$..orders[0]

Goal: Return the first order from each user's orders array (if any).

Result:

[ 
  { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
  { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
]

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10. 📧 Find all objects with an email field

Query:

$..[?(@.email)]

Goal: Filter and return only objects that contain an email key.

Result:

[ 
  { "id": 1, "name": "Alice", "email": "alice@example.com", ... },
  { "id": 2, "name": "Bob", "email": "bob@example.com", ... },
  { "id": 3, "name": "Charlie", "email": "charlie@example.com", ... }
]

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11. 👑 Find users with the 'admin' role

Query:

$.users[?(@.roles.indexOf('admin') != -1)].name

Goal: Return names of users who have the admin role in their roles array.

Result:

["Alice"]

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12. 🧪 Regex match: Get orders with "ship" in status

Query:

$..orders[?(@.status =~ /ship/i)]

Goal: Use regex to find all orders whose status contains "ship" (case-insensitive).

Result:

[ 
  { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
  { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
]

⚠️ Note: Regex filters like =~ are supported in jsonpath-plus, Jayway, but not all engines.

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13. 🔄 Find users with both shipped and processing orders

Query:

$.users[?(
  @.orders[?(@.status == 'shipped')] &&
  @.orders[?(@.status == 'processing')]
)]

Goal:
Return user objects where the user has both shipped and processing orders.

Result:

[ 
  {
    "id": 1,
    "name": "Alice",
    "email": "alice@example.com",
    "roles": ["admin", "editor"],
    "orders": [
      { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
      { "id": 1002, "amount": 120, "status": "processing" }
    ]
  }
]

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14. 📦 Fetch only the order details where the order is shipped or processing

Query:

$..orders[?(@.status == 'shipped' || @.status == 'processing')]

Goal:
Return only the order objects where the status is either shipped or processing.

Result:

[ 
  { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
  { "id": 1002, "amount": 120, "status": "processing" },
  { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
]

15. 📦 Fetch only the order details where the order is shipped or processing

Query:

$..orders[?(@.status == 'shipped' || @.status == 'processing')]

Goal:
Return only the order objects that have a status of either shipped or processing.

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Explanation:

• The || (OR) operator is used to ensure that the status of the order matches either shipped or processing.
• This query filters out all orders that do not meet either of these two conditions.

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Result:

[
  { "id": 1001, "amount": 250, "status": "shipped" },
  { "id": 1002, "amount": 120, "status": "processing" },
  { "id": 1003, "amount": 300, "status": "shipped" }
]

Explanation:

• The query returns all orders with a status of shipped or processing, regardless of which user made them.
• All three orders are returned, as their statuses are either shipped or processing.

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🧠 JSONPath Operator Reference

Syntax	Description
$	Root of the document
.	Child element
..	Recursive search
[*]	All elements
[n]	Array index
[-1:]	Slice (e.g., last item)
[?(@.key)]	Filter: has property
[?(@.key == value)]	Filter: equals
[?(@.array.length == 0)]	Filter: empty array
[?(@.status =~ /.../)]	Regex filter
@	Refers to current node in filter

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For .NET developers working with JSONPath, there are a couple of tools you can use:

1. JsonPath.Net

• Description: A .NET library for querying JSON data using JSONPath expressions.
• GitHub Repository: JsonPath.Net GitHub
• NuGet Package: JsonPath.Net NuGet

Usage Example (C#):

using JsonPath;

var json = @"{
    'users': [
        { 'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30 },
        { 'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25 }
    ]
}";

var path = "$.users[?(@.age > 26)]";
var result = JsonPath.Parse(json).SelectTokens(path);

2. Newtonsoft.Json (Json.NET) with JSONPath support

• Description: While Newtonsoft.Json is primarily known for JSON parsing and manipulation in .NET, it also supports JSONPath queries using the SelectToken() method.
• NuGet Package: Newtonsoft.Json NuGet

Usage Example (C#):

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

var json = @"{
    'users': [
        { 'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30 },
        { 'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25 }
    ]
}";

var jObject = JObject.Parse(json);
var result = jObject.SelectTokens("$.users[?(@.age > 26)]");

foreach (var item in result)
{
    Console.WriteLine(item);
}

Note: Newtonsoft.Json is a very popular library for working with JSON in .NET, and its built-in support for JSONPath makes it easy to perform queries on JSON data.

3. JPath

• Description: JPath is another JSONPath library designed specifically for .NET.
• GitHub Repository: JPath GitHub
• NuGet Package: JPath NuGet

Usage Example:

using JPath;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

var json = @"{
    'users': [
        { 'name': 'Alice', 'age': 30 },
        { 'name': 'Bob', 'age': 25 }
    ]
}";

var jObject = JObject.Parse(json);
var result = jObject.SelectTokens("$.users[?(@.age > 26)]");

foreach (var item in result)
{
    Console.WriteLine(item);
}

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Which Tool to Choose?

• For most .NET developers, the Newtonsoft.Json library is the go-to choice due to its extensive functionality, wide usage, and built-in JSONPath support through the SelectTokens() method. It's a versatile and robust library for working with JSON in .NET.

• If you prefer a dedicated JSONPath implementation with an API tailored for querying JSON, you can consider JsonPath.Net or JPath.

🛠 Other tools to Try JSONPath

• https://jsonpath.com
• https://jsonformatter.org/jsonpath
• NPM: jsonpath-plus
• Python: jsonpath-ng
• Java: Jayway JSONPath