Jq: Can't work out how to sort_by

[kaihendry]

Using jq-1.4, I can't work out how to sort a JSON file by .NextBus.EstimatedArrival. What am I missing from:

curl -s http://s.natalian.org/2015-05-12/sg-bus.json | jq '.Services[] | sort_by(.NextBus.EstimatedArrival)'

Which results in errors like "jq: error: Cannot index array with string".

Ideally I want to sort in place, i.e. print out the original JSON, only sorted by EstimatedArrival

[pkoppstein]

@kaihendry - sort_by expects an array as input, but you gave it .Services[] (a stream of objects) instead.

Thus, simply remove the square brackets.

[kaihendry]

Ah, thank you! curl -s http://s.natalian.org/2015-05-12/sg-bus.json | jq '.Services | sort_by(.NextBus.EstimatedArrival)' does the trick. :beer:

But how do I re-incorporate the the original elements of the JSON like BusStopID of http://s.natalian.org/2015-05-12/sg-bus.json?

[pkoppstein]

Use |= instead of =.

That is:

.Services |= sort_by(.NextBus.EstimatedArrival)

If effect, this says: copy the object but update the .Services value.

[kaihendry]

Thanks again! http://dabase.com/e/04057/