why parsing with jq returns null?

Question

i am trying to extract values of 3 fields (status, id, name) from my json file by using jq tool, here is my json:

cat parse.json

{
  "stream": {
    "_id": 65675798730520654496,
    "broadcast_platform": "live",
    "community_id": "",
    "community_ids": [],
    "average_fps": 60.0247524752,
    "delay": 0,
    "created_at": "2018-09-26T07:25:38Z",
    "is_playlist": false,
    "stream_type": "live",
    "preview": {
      "small": "https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/previews-ttv/live_user_versuta-80x4512wdfqf.jpg",
    },
    "channel": {
      "mature": true,
      "status": "status",
      "broadcaster_language": "ru",
      "broadcaster_software": "",
      "_id": 218025408945123423423445,
      "name": "djvbsdhvsdvasdv",
      "created_at": "2011-04-17T17:31:36.091604Z",
      "updated_at": "2018-09-26T09:49:04.434245Z",
      "partner": true,
      "video_banner": null,
      "profile_banner": "https://static-cdn.jtvnw.net/jtv_user_pictures/25c2bec3-95b8-4347-aba0-128b3b913b0d-profile_banner-480.png",
      "profile_banner_background_color": "",
      "views": 103911737,
      "followers": 446198,
      "broadcaster_type": "",
      "description": "",
      "private_video": false,
      "privacy_options_enabled": false
    }
  }
}

online json validators say that it is valid, when i try to get some field it return null

cat parse.json | jq '.channel'

null

cat parse.json | jq '.channel.status'

null

what am i doing wrong guys ?

Answer 1

Your JSON object has a top-level field "stream" You need to access "stream" to access the other sub-properties, e.g. channel:

jq '.stream.channel.status' parse.json

You can also do cat parse.json | jq '.stream.channel.status'.

Your example JSON is also invalid because the stream.preview.small property has a trailing comma. Simply removing that comma will make it valid, though.