jsoncompare.md

jsoncompare

Purpose

Compare two JSON or YAML files. Any combination of styles is allowed

Syntax

jsoncompare [-h] [-y] [--y1] [--y2] [--char-by-char] [--side-by-side] [-v] file1 file2

Options and arguments

Option	Description	Default
-y or --yaml	Treat both files as YAML	Both files are treated as JSON
--y1 or --yaml1	Treat first file as YAML	The first file is treated as JSON
--y2 or --yaml2	Treat second file as YAML	The second file is treated as JSON
--char-by-char	Compare strings character by character	Strings are compared in default compact diff style
--side-by-side	Compare strings side by side	Strings are compared in default compact diff style
-v	Enable verbose debugging	Debugging is not enabled

Example

$ head one.json two.yaml
==> one.json <==
[
  1,
  2,
  {
    "foo": "We'd sing, sing, sing\nI'm a lumberjack and I'm ok\nI sleep all night and I work all day"
  },
  5
]

==> two.yaml <==
- 1
- 3
- foo: 'We''d sing, sing, sing

    I''m a lumberjack & I''m ok

    I sleep all night and I work all day'
  bar: "2"
- 5

$ jsoncompare one.json two.yaml
/1: 2 vs 3  # <== element #1 (remember, lists start at element #0!) is the number 2 in the first file, 3 in the second file
/2: 1-element dict vs 2-element dict  # <== the inner list is a different size
/2/foo:  # <== There are differences in one line of the the group of three lines
2c2
< I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok
---
> I'm a lumberjack & I'm ok
$ jsoncompare --side-by-side one.json two.yaml
/1: 2 vs 3
/2: 1-element dict vs 2-element dict
/2/foo:  # <== --side-by-side shows the change in context
We'd sing, sing, sing                                           We'd sing, sing, sing
I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok                                   | I'm a lumberjack & I'm ok
I sleep all night and I work all day                            I sleep all night and I work all day
$ jsoncompare --char-by-char one.json two.yaml
/1: 2 vs 3
/2: 1-element dict vs 2-element dict
/2/foo:  # <== --char-by-char shows each character that differs
41,43c41
< a
< n
< d
---
> &
$

Notes

• The diff utility is used to compare strings. When the --side-by-side option is used, the option is passed to diff.
• If either file ends in .yaml, it is automatically treated as a YAML file, regardless of the options used
• You could combine --side-by-side and --char-by-char but it could produce a lot of output