DASEL(1)

📦
version 3.11.2 · 5 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 DASEL(1) — the manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the DASEL manual straight out of the DASEL Manual set, and it is genuinely one of the most useful little tools ever. it's a command-line tool for querying and modifying data structures, and it speaks JSON, YAML, TOML, CSV, XML, and KDL. yes, all of them. no cap. 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

dasel — query and modify data structures from the command line.

like... that's the whole vibe. pull values out, push values in, from your terminal. periodt. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dasel [flags] [query]
dasel command [flags]

two whole moods: either you're running a raw query with flags, or you're calling an actual command with flags. pick your main character energy. 👑

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so dasel is a command-line tool for querying and modifying data structures. that's the job. that's the assignment. and she eats every time. 🔥

she supports multiple data formats, and here's the full list, no edits, no omissions:

  • JSON
  • YAML
  • TOML
  • CSV
  • XML
  • KDL

it's giving "one tool to rule them all" fr fr. 😭

🫶 COMMANDS 🫶

  • query — [default] Execute a query. this is the default one, so if you don't name a command, this is what you're doing anyway. lowkey the main character. ⭐
  • version — Print the version. gotta know which era of dasel you're living in bestie.
  • interactive — Start an interactive session (alpha). ⚠️ heads up: she's alpha, okay? treat her gently.
  • completion — Generate shell completion script. your shell but with ✨predictions✨.
  • man — Generate man page. yes, the tool can write its own man page. iconic behaviour tbh.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

The following options are available for the default query command:

  • --var — Variables to pass to the query. E.g. --var foo="bar" --var baz=json:file:./some/file.json. inject your own little variables in there, bestie. 🍓
  • --rw-flag — Read/Write flag to customise parsing/output. Applies to read + write. E.g. --rw-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • --read-flag — Reader flag to customise parsing. E.g. --read-flag xml-mode=structured
  • --write-flag — Writer flag to customise output. E.g. --write-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • -i, --in — The format of the input data.
  • -o, --out — The format of the output data.
  • --root — Return the root value. 🌳
  • --compact — Output in compact mode (no indentation/newlines). tiny. efficient. clean. 🧚
  • --unstable — Allow access to potentially unstable features. ⚠️ unstable is literally in the name, babes, proceed accordingly.
  • --it — Run in interactive mode (alpha).
  • -c, --config — Path to config file.

🌈 GLOBAL OPTIONS 🌈

  • -h, --help — Show context-sensitive help. the "bestie explain" button, and it's context-sensitive too, so it actually tells you what applies right where you are. we love a helpful girl. 🫶

⭐ QUERY OPTIONS ⭐

here's the full list again, because the query command has her own copy, and we do not summarise, we do not skip:

  • --var — Variables to pass to the query. E.g. --var foo="bar" --var baz=json:file:./some/file.json
  • --rw-flag — Read/Write flag to customise parsing/output. Applies to read + write. E.g. --rw-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • --read-flag — Reader flag to customise parsing. E.g. --read-flag xml-mode=structured
  • --write-flag — Writer flag to customise output. E.g. --write-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • -i, --in — The format of the input data.
  • -o, --out — The format of the output data.
  • --root — Return the root value.
  • --compact — Output in compact mode (no indentation/newlines).
  • --unstable — Allow access to potentially unstable features.
  • --it — Run in interactive mode (alpha).
  • -c, --config — Path to config file.

💜 INTERACTIVE OPTIONS 💜

and these are the ones the interactive mode gets. slightly shorter list, still slaying:

  • --var — Variables to pass to the query. E.g. --var foo="bar" --var baz=json:file:./some/file.json
  • --rw-flag — Read/Write flag to customise parsing/output. Applies to read + write. E.g. --rw-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • --read-flag — Reader flag to customise parsing. E.g. --read-flag xml-mode=structured
  • --write-flag — Writer flag to customise output. E.g. --write-flag csv-delimiter=;
  • -i, --in — The format of the input data.
  • -o, --out — The format of the output data.
  • -c, --config — Path to config file.

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

okay this is the part where it all clicks, watch this:

Query JSON from stdin:

echo '{"name": "Tom"}' | dasel 'name'

Convert JSON to YAML:

echo '{"name": "Tom"}' | dasel -i json -o yaml

Query with compact output:

echo '{"name": "Tom"}' | dasel -i json -o json --compact

see? pipe in, get out. it's giving effortless. 🌸

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

  • Dasel documentation
that's the only one bestie, but it's the good one. go read it. iykyk. 📚

and that's the whole page!! hope this helped, you're gonna be a dasel girlie in no time, mwah 💖✨🎀

this lovely thing lives in the development era and the page is dated 2026-08-01 — that's the version and the date, and yes i'm mentioning them because the last line of the original said so, so here we are, sign-off style 💜 bye bestie!! 🫶

📦 where this page comes from