Convert JSON to CSV using jq

Input JSON (products.json)

{
  "products": [
    {
      "sku":"Carrot",
      "description":"bunches of 6 to 8. Pack in 1 1/9 bu. box"
    },
    {
      "sku":"Broccoli",
      "description":"1 1/9 bu. box. Weight 23 lb. Stem on. Iced."
    }
  ]
}

Convert using jq:

jq -r '.products | .[] | [.sku, .description] | @csv' < products.json

Limitations: No CSV header

Convert using yq

yq is a command-line YAML, JSON processor with handy default behavior. Install using homebrew:

brew install yq

Convert JSON to CSV using jq

% yq -o=csv products.json 
Error: csv encoding only works for arrays, got: !!map

First attempt failed. Looks like I need to give it an expression to select “products”

% yq -o=csv '.products' products.json
sku,description
Carrot,bunches of 6 to 8. Pack in 1 1/9 bu. box
Broccoli,1 1/9 bu. box. Weight 23 lb. Stem on. Iced.

Success! More yq documentation on their website.