jq: error: TOKEN/0 is not defined at , line 1:

Question

Below is the JSON file:

{
    "awsIAMCred" : "replaceme",
    "DatabaseName" : "replaceme"
}

Below is the bash file:

#!/bin/bash

echo BEGIN
date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'

TOKEN=mouse

touch connector.json

yum -y install moreutils            
yum -y install nano
yum -y install nc
echo install of nano,nc and moreutils are done
chmod 660 connector.json

jq '.awsIAMCred = "hello"' connector.json|sponge connector.json
jq '.DatabaseName = $TOKEN' connector.json|sponge connector.json
cat connector.json

I am getting this exception:

jq: error: TOKEN/0 is not defined at , line 1:

Please help.

What are you trying to do? what you actually do? what is your aim? — Giorgi Tsiklauri, Aug 21 '20 at 13:00
Also, in the script you show, `connector.json` is empty, where would it get the contents you show? — Benjamin W., Aug 21 '20 at 13:05
Try with `jq ".DatabaseName = $TOKEN"` instead of `jq '.DatabaseName = $TOKEN'`. Single quotes prevent bash from doing variable expansion. — Jorge Bellon, Aug 21 '20 at 13:08
@GiorgiTsiklauri, I'm getting the token from an yaml file and i'm passing it to bash file, Here i want it to replace my one of my json value(DatabaseName key) — user3164488, Aug 21 '20 at 13:25
@GiorgiTsiklauri , The json that i have mentioned above is connector.json — user3164488, Aug 21 '20 at 13:26
Did you look at the link I posted? And again, how is that file populated in the first place? You only show how you `touch` it. Is it empty? — Benjamin W., Aug 21 '20 at 13:53

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 21 '20 at 18:56

As pointed out in a comment, the second invocation of jq in the question can be made to work, but using string interpolation is generally regarded as an anti-pattern that's best avoided. There are numerous alternatives, e.g.:

jq --arg token "$TOKEN" '.DatabaseName = $token' connector.json

Please also note that both updates can, and perhaps should, be performed with just one invocation of jq, e.g. along the lines of:

jq --arg token "$TOKEN" '.awsIAMCred = "hello" | .DatabaseName = $token' connector.json

jq: error: TOKEN/0 is not defined at , line 1:

1 Answers1