JQ-LITE(1)

📦 version 2.45, in alpine 3.24

🎀 JQ-LITE(1) 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to the JQ-LITE(1) page — it lives in the User Contributed Perl Documentation section of the manual, and it's literally about to make your JSON-processing life so much cuter. 💅

✨ NAME ✨

jq-lite — a minimal jq-style JSON filter, written in pure Perl 🐪💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

jq-lite [options] filter [file ...]

cat users.json | jq-lite '.users[].name'
jq-lite '.items | sort | first' data.json
jq-lite -R -s -c 'split("\n")' logfile.txt

like, that's it. that's the whole vibe. run it, pipe into it, feed it a file — she's flexible. 🦋

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

jq-lite is a lightweight, jq-compatible alternative JSON processor written in pure Perl. no cap.

She's made for those systems where jq just… isn't there 😭 but Perl is — giving you that awk/sed-like convenience for processing JSON and YAML data. it's giving "she showed up and did the job" energy, fr fr.

Features include: 👑

  • jq-style filters: dot traversal, pipes, basic selectors, and commonly used built-in functions — the essentials, slayed
  • Command-line options such as -R, -r, -c, -a, --color, --use, --debug, -e, --slurp, --null-input, -s, --from-file, --arg, --argfile, --argjson, --rawfile, --slurpfile, --help-functions, -h, and -v
  • Pure Perl implementation with no XS, no external binaries, and no runtime dependencies beyond core modules 🧚✨ — she's self-sufficient, main character energy only

so here's the honest tea ☕: jq-lite aims to be compatible with jq where practical, but does not implement all jq features. she's not a drop-in replacement for jq — she's a pragmatic alternative for constrained or minimal environments. 🫶

⚠️ heads up bestie: in particular, some advanced expressions and comparisons may behave differently from jq. don't come for her when your wildest filter doesn't match jq's output, ok? 😭

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -R, --raw-input — read input as raw text instead of JSON, running the filter once per line. oh, and if you pair it with -s, the entire input gets processed as a single string 🌈
  • -r, --raw-output — print raw strings instead of JSON-encoded values. no extra quotes, just vibes ✨
  • -c, --compact-output — emit JSON on a single line with no pretty-printing whitespace. sleek, minimal, iconic 💅
  • -a, --ascii-output — escape all non-ASCII characters in the JSON output. safety first 🎀
  • --color — colorize JSON output (keys, strings, numbers, booleans). yes she ate that 🌈🔥
  • --use Module — force the JSON decoder module (for example JSON::PP, JSON::XS, or Cpanel::JSON::XS). you pick, she obeys 👑
  • --debug — show which JSON module is being used. for when you gotta know 👀
  • -e, --exit-status — set exit code to 1 when the final result is false, null, or empty. dramatic exit, honestly 💀
  • --arg name value — define a string variable
  • --rawfile name file — read file as raw text and bind it to the variable
  • --slurpfile name file — read file as JSON and bind it to the variable as an array of values
  • --argjson name value — define a JSON variable
  • --argfile name file — read file as JSON and bind it to the variable
  • -f, --from-file file — read the jq filter from file instead of the command line (use "-" for STDIN) 🍓
  • -n, --null-input — use null as input instead of reading JSON data
  • -s, --slurp — read the entire input stream as an array of JSON values. gather her up 🫶
  • --yaml — parse input as YAML (auto-detected for .yml / .yaml files) 🌸
  • -h, --help — display help and exit
  • --help-functions — show the list of supported built-in functions. the cheat sheet, basically 📖
  • -v, --version — display version information

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

JQ::Lite, jq(1), awk(1), sed(1), perl(1) — the whole friend group 💜

🌟 HOMEPAGE 🌟

https://kawamurashingo.github.io/JQ-Lite/ — go say hi 👋

🌸 AUTHOR 🌸

Shingo Kawamura — the icon behind it all 👑

This software is released under the same terms as Perl itself. 🐪💖

⭐ DISCLAIMER ⭐

jq-lite is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind. she's doing her best, ok 😭🙈

okay that's the whole page bestie!! this cutie was brought to you by perl v5.42.2 and dated 2026-05-08 — go forth and filter some JSON, you've got this 💅✨🫶

📦 where this page comes from