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JSON

  • Syntax checking
  • json
    • Stored as text
      • Including whitespace, ordering of keys and duplicate keys
  • jsonb
    • Stored as decomposed binary format
    • Slightly slower to input
    • Faster to process
    • Supports indexing
  • jsonpath
-- Simple scalar/primitive value
-- Primitive values can be numbers, quoted strings, true, false, or null
SELECT '5'::json;

-- Array of zero or more elements (elements need not be of same type)
SELECT '[1, 2, "foo", null]'::json;

-- Object containing pairs of keys and values
-- Note that object keys must always be quoted strings
SELECT '{"bar": "baz", "balance": 7.77, "active": false}'::json;

-- Arrays and objects can be nested arbitrarily
SELECT '{"foo": [true, "bar"], "tags": {"a": 1, "b": null}}'::json;

Containment

  • Does xx contain yy
-- Simple scalar/primitive values contain only the identical value:
SELECT '"foo"'::jsonb @> '"foo"'::jsonb;

-- The array on the right side is contained within the one on the left:
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::jsonb @> '[1, 3]'::jsonb;

-- Order of array elements is not significant, so this is also true:
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::jsonb @> '[3, 1]'::jsonb;

-- Duplicate array elements don't matter either:
SELECT '[1, 2, 3]'::jsonb @> '[1, 2, 2]'::jsonb;

-- The object with a single pair on the right side is contained
-- within the object on the left side:
SELECT '{"product": "PostgreSQL", "version": 9.4, "jsonb": true}'::jsonb @> '{"version": 9.4}'::jsonb;

-- The array on the right side is **not** considered contained within the
-- array on the left, even though a similar array is nested within it:
SELECT '[1, 2, [1, 3]]'::jsonb @> '[1, 3]'::jsonb;  -- yields false

-- But with a layer of nesting, it is contained:
SELECT '[1, 2, [1, 3]]'::jsonb @> '[ [1, 3] ]'::jsonb;

-- Similarly, containment is not reported here:
SELECT '{"foo": {"bar": "baz"}}'::jsonb @> '{"bar": "baz"}'::jsonb;  -- yields false

-- A top-level key and an empty object is contained:
SELECT '{"foo": {"bar": "baz"}}'::jsonb @> '{"foo": {}}'::jsonb;

Key Existence

-- String exists as array element:
SELECT '["foo", "bar", "baz"]'::jsonb ? 'bar';

-- String exists as object key:
SELECT '{"foo": "bar"}'::jsonb ? 'foo';

-- Object values are not considered:
SELECT '{"foo": "bar"}'::jsonb ? 'bar';  -- yields false

-- As with containment, existence must match at the top level:
SELECT '{"foo": {"bar": "baz"}}'::jsonb ? 'bar'; -- yields false

-- A string is considered to exist if it matches a primitive JSON string:
SELECT '"foo"'::jsonb ? 'foo';

Dereferencing

-- Extract object value by key
SELECT ('{"a": 1}'::jsonb)['a'];

-- Extract nested object value by key path
SELECT ('{"a": {"b": {"c": 1}}}'::jsonb)['a']['b']['c'];

-- Extract array element by index
SELECT ('[1, "2", null]'::jsonb)[1];

-- Update object value by key. Note the quotes around '1': the assigned
-- value must be of the jsonb type as well
UPDATE table_name SET jsonb_field['key'] = '1';

-- This will raise an error if any record's jsonb_field['a']['b'] is something
-- other than an object. For example, the value {"a": 1} has a numeric value
-- of the key 'a'.
UPDATE table_name SET jsonb_field['a']['b']['c'] = '1';

-- Filter records using a WHERE clause with subscripting. Since the result of
-- subscripting is jsonb, the value we compare it against must also be jsonb.
-- The double quotes make "value" also a valid jsonb string.
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE jsonb_field['key'] = '"value"';

jsonpath

VariableDescription
$A variable representing the JSON value being queried (the context item).
$varnameA named variable. Its value can be set by the parameter vars of several JSON processing functions
@A variable representing the result of path evaluation in filter expressions.
Accessor OperatorDescription
._`key`_

."$_`varname`_"		Member accessor that returns an object member with the specified key. If the key name matches some named variable starting with $ or does not meet the JavaScript rules for an identifier, it must be enclosed in double quotes to make it a string literal.
.*Wildcard member accessor that returns the values of all members located at the top level of the current object.
.**Recursive wildcard member accessor that processes all levels of the JSON hierarchy of the current object and returns all the member values, regardless of their nesting level. This is a PostgreSQL extension of the SQL/JSON standard.
.**{_`level`_}

.**{_`start_level`_ to _`end_level`_}		Like .**, but selects only the specified levels of the JSON hierarchy. Nesting levels are specified as integers. Level zero corresponds to the current object. To access the lowest nesting level, you can use the last keyword. This is a PostgreSQL extension of the SQL/JSON standard.
[_`subscript`_, ...]Array element accessor. _`subscript`_ can be given in two forms: _`index`_ or _`start_index`_ to _`end_index`_. The first form returns a single array element by its index. The second form returns an array slice by the range of indexes, including the elements that correspond to the provided start_index and end_index.

The specified index can be an integer, as well as an expression returning a single numeric value, which is automatically cast to integer. Index zero corresponds to the first array element. You can also use the last keyword to denote the last array element, which is useful for handling arrays of unknown length.
[*]Wildcard array element accessor that returns all array elements.
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