JSON Path Finder

How to find the path to a value

1. Paste a document into the JSON box, or load an example below. The tree on the right appears as soon as the text is valid.
2. Click any row. The panel underneath shows how to reach that node from the top of the document, with a Copy button beside each notation, plus the value itself.
3. Lost in a big file? Type a key name or a value in Search keys and values, then click a result: the tree opens every parent of that node, selects it and scrolls to it.

Keyboard users can do the same: Tab into the tree, move with the arrow keys, open and close branches with Right and Left, and jump with Home, End, Page Up and Page Down. The selected row’s line is highlighted in the editor, which helps when the same key appears many times.

Five notations for one location

• JSONPath ($.store.books[0].title) follows RFC 9535. Use it with JSONPath libraries, API gateways, Kubernetes kubectl -o jsonpath and test assertions.
• JavaScript (data.store.books[0].title) is ready to paste after a variable holding the parsed object.
• Python (data["store"]["books"][0]["title"]) works on the dict and list values that json.load returns.
• jq (.store.books[0].title) runs as a filter on the command line or in the expression box on this page.
• JSON Pointer (/store/books/0/title, RFC 6901) is what JSON Patch, JSON Schema $ref and many validators use to name a location.

Array positions start at 0 in all five. The JSONPath cheat sheet and the jq cheat sheet go further than single paths.

Keys that need quoting

Real data has keys with spaces, dots, quotes, slashes, non-Latin scripts and even the empty string. Dot notation only works for simple names, so the finder switches to brackets whenever a key needs them: $['first.name'] in JSONPath, data["first.name"] in JavaScript, .["first.name"] in jq. Quotes and backslashes inside keys are escaped, and control characters are written as \n or \u0001.

A key spelled "0" and the first array item are different things, and each notation keeps them apart: $['0'] versus $[0], data["0"] versus data[0]. JSON Pointer has no quoting, so it escapes ~ as ~0 and / as ~1; a key named a/b~c becomes /a~1b~0c.

Some JSONPath implementations, including the popular jsonpath-plus library behind the expression box, treat characters such as [, ], ; and ^ as operators even inside quotes. The paths written here follow the standard, so a key full of brackets may need a different tool to query, but the path itself is correct.

Searching keys and values

Search looks at object keys and at scalar values: the text of strings, the digits of numbers exactly as written, and the words true, false and null. It ignores case unless you tick Match case. Untick Keys or Values to narrow it down, or tick Regex to use a regular expression such as ^user_\d+$.

Results arrive in document order with their JSONPath and a short preview. The first 1,000 are listed and the total is always counted; matching rows are underlined in the tree so you can see clusters at a glance.

Testing JSONPath and jq expressions

Pick JSONPath or jq and type an expression. Results update as you type, each with the path where it was found, and the matching rows are highlighted in the tree. Filters work too: $.store.books[?(@.price < 10)].title in JSONPath, or .store.books[] | select(.price < 10) | .title in jq.

For jq, the finder asks jq itself where each output came from, using its path() function. That works for anything that selects existing data, such as field access, iteration, select, .. and negative indexes. Filters that compute new values, like map(.price) or length, have no location; their results are listed without a path.

Big files, big numbers and privacy

Parsing, searching and queries run in a background worker, so a 5 MB file does not freeze the page, and the tree only draws the rows on screen. Documents with more than 200,000 nodes show the first 200,000 in the tree, while search and queries still cover everything.

Integers beyond 2^53 and long decimals keep their exact digits in the tree, the value panel and query results, where JSON.parse would quietly round them; the big integers guide explains why that matters. JSON with comments or trailing commas is read as JSON5. Nothing you paste is uploaded: the page works offline once loaded, as described on the privacy page.

Examples

{
  "store": {
    "books": [
      { "title": "Sayings of the Century", "author": "Nigel Rees", "price": 8.95 },
      { "title": "Sword of Honour", "author": "Evelyn Waugh", "price": 12.99 },
      { "title": "Moby Dick", "author": "Herman Melville", "price": 8.99, "isbn": "0-553-21311-3" }
    ],
    "bicycle": { "color": "red", "price": 19.95 }
  }
}

$.store.books[?(@.price < 10)].title

$.store.books[0].title = "Sayings of the Century"
$.store.books[2].title = "Moby Dick"

{
  "user profile": {
    "first.name": "Ada",
    "it's": "quoted",
    "": "empty key",
    "0": "a key that looks like an index",
    "a/b~c": "slash and tilde",
    "名前": "エイダ"
  },
  "tags": ["name", "admin"]
}

name

$['user profile']['first.name'] = "Ada"
$.tags[0] = "name"

{
  "orders": [
    { "id": "A-1001", "total": 42.5, "status": "shipped" },
    { "id": "A-1002", "total": 189.0, "status": "pending" },
    { "id": "A-1003", "total": 310.75, "status": "shipped" }
  ]
}

.orders[] | select(.total > 100) | .id

$.orders[1].id = "A-1002"
$.orders[2].id = "A-1003"

{
  "ledgerId": 9007199254740993,
  "entries": [
    { "account": 12345678901234567890, "amount": "1520.50" }
  ]
}

$..account

$.entries[0].account = 12345678901234567890

Common errors and how to fix them

Related tools

• JSON formatter
• jsonpath cheat sheet
• jq cheat sheet
• JSON Size Analyzer
• json validator
• big integers in json