A practical JSON parser written in awk.

JSON.awk is a self-contained, single-file program with no external dependencies. It is similar to JSON.sh, a JSON parser written in Bash -- retrieved on 2013-03-13 to form the basis for JSON.awk. Since then, the two projects have taken separate paths, so you will not find all of JSON.sh features in JSON.awk, and viceversa.

• JSON.sh compatible output format (as of 2013-03-13)
• Can parse one or multiple input files in a single invocation
• Captures invalid JSON input and processes it on exit
• Written for awk; does not require gawk extensions; works with mawk 1.3.4 20150503 and higher
• Single file, does not depend on external programs
• Your choice of MIT or Apache 2 license

Just drop the file JSON.awk in your project folder and run it as an awk script.

For full usage instructions and command-line options please read FAQ 1.

awk -f JSON.awk -v file1.json file2.json

echo -e "file1.json\nfile2.json\n" > filenames && awk -f JSON.awk < filenames

echo -e "file1.json\nfile2.json\n" | awk -f JSON.awk

# pipe JSON data from stdin

cat file1.json file2.json | awk -f JSON.awk

{ echo -; echo; cat file1.json file2.json; } | awk -f JSON.awk

• KindleLauncher a.k.a. KUAL, an application launcher for the Kindle e-ink models, uses JSON.awk to parse menu descriptions.

This software is available under the following licenses:

• MIT
• Apache 2

Without JSON.sh this software would not exist.