> JC is [now available](https://galaxy.ansible.com/community/general) as an Ansible filter plugin in the `community.general` collection! See this [blog post](https://blog.kellybrazil.com/2020/08/30/parsing-command-output-in-ansible-with-jc/) for an example.
`jc` JSONifies the output of many CLI tools and file-types for easier parsing in scripts. See the [**Parsers**](#parsers) section for supported commands and file-types.
Two representations of the data are possible. The default representation uses a strict schema per parser and converts known numbers to int/float JSON values. Certain known values of `None` are converted to JSON `null`, known boolean values are converted, and, in some cases, additional semantic context fields are added.
> Note: Some parsers have calculated epoch timestamp fields added to the output. Unless a timestamp field name has a `_utc` suffix it is considered naive. (i.e. based on the local timezone of the system the `jc` parser was run on).
> If a UTC timezone can be detected in the text of the command output, the timestamp will be timezone aware and have a `_utc` suffix on the key name. (e.g. `epoch_utc`) No other timezones are supported for aware timestamps.
For more information on the motivations for this project, please see my [blog post](https://blog.kellybrazil.com/2019/11/26/bringing-the-unix-philosophy-to-the-21st-century/).
There are several ways to get `jc`. You can install via `pip`; other OS package repositories like `apt-get`, `dnf`, `zypper`, `pacman`, `nix-env`, `guix`, `brew`, or `portsnap`; via DEB/RPM packages; or by downloading the correct binary for your architecture and running it anywhere on your filesystem.
Alternatively, the "magic" syntax can be used by prepending `jc` to the command to be converted. Options can be passed to `jc` immediately before the command is given. (Note: command aliases and shell builtins are not supported)
> Note: For best results set the `LANG` locale environment variable to `C`. For example, either by setting directly on the command-line: `$ LANG=C date | jc --date`, or by exporting to the environment before running commands: `$ export LANG=C`.
-`--free` enables the `free` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/free))
-`--fstab` enables the `/etc/fstab` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/fstab))
-`--group` enables the `/etc/group` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/group))
-`--gshadow` enables the `/etc/gshadow` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/gshadow))
-`--hash` enables the `hash` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/hash))
-`--hashsum` enables the hashsum command parser (`md5sum`, `shasum`, etc.) ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/hashsum))
-`--hciconfig` enables the `hciconfig` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/hciconfig))
-`--history` enables the `history` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/history))
-`--hosts` enables the `/etc/hosts` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/hosts))
-`--id` enables the `id` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/id))
-`--ifconfig` enables the `ifconfig` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ifconfig))
-`--ini` enables the INI file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ini))
-`--iptables` enables the `iptables` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/iptables))
-`--iw-scan` enables the `iw dev [device] scan` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/iw_scan))
-`--jobs` enables the `jobs` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/jobs))
-`--kv` enables the Key/Value file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/kv))
-`--last` enables the `last` and `lastb` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/last))
-`--ls` enables the `ls` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ls))
-`--lsblk` enables the `lsblk` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/lsblk))
-`--lsmod` enables the `lsmod` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/lsmod))
-`--lsof` enables the `lsof` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/lsof))
-`--mount` enables the `mount` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/mount))
-`--netstat` enables the `netstat` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/netstat))
-`--ntpq` enables the `ntpq -p` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ntpq))
-`--passwd` enables the `/etc/passwd` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/passwd))
-`--ping` enables the `ping` and `ping6` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ping))
-`--pip-list` enables the `pip list` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/pip_list))
-`--pip-show` enables the `pip show` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/pip_show))
-`--ps` enables the `ps` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ps))
-`--route` enables the `route` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/route))
-`--shadow` enables the `/etc/shadow` file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/shadow))
-`--ss` enables the `ss` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/ss))
-`--stat` enables the `stat` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/stat))
-`--sysctl` enables the `sysctl` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/sysctl))
-`--systemctl` enables the `systemctl` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/systemctl))
-`--systemctl-lj` enables the `systemctl list-jobs` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/systemctl_lj))
-`--systemctl-ls` enables the `systemctl list-sockets` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/systemctl_ls))
-`--systemctl-luf` enables the `systemctl list-unit-files` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/systemctl_luf))
-`--time` enables the `/usr/bin/time` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/time))
-`--timedatectl` enables the `timedatectl status` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/timedatectl))
-`--tracepath` enables the `tracepath` and `tracepath6` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/tracepath))
-`--traceroute` enables the `traceroute` and `traceroute6` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/traceroute))
-`--uname` enables the `uname -a` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/uname))
-`--upower` enables the `upower` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/upower))
-`--uptime` enables the `uptime` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/uptime))
-`--w` enables the `w` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/w))
-`--wc` enables the `wc` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/wc))
-`--who` enables the `who` command parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/who))
-`--xml` enables the XML file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/xml))
-`--yaml` enables the YAML file parser ([documentation](https://kellyjonbrazil.github.io/jc/docs/parsers/yaml))
You can specify custom colors via the `JC_COLORS` environment variable. The `JC_COLORS` environment variable takes four comma separated string values in the following format:
Local parser plugins are standard python module files. Use the [`jc/parsers/foo.py`](https://github.com/kellyjonbrazil/jc/blob/master/jc/parsers/foo.py) parser as a template and simply place a `.py` file in the `jcparsers` subfolder.
Local plugin filenames must be valid python module names, therefore must consist entirely of alphanumerics and start with a letter. Local plugins may override default plugins.
> Note: The application data directory follows the [XDG Base Directory Specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html)
Some parsers like `ls`, `ps`, `dig`, etc. will work on any platform. Other parsers that are platform-specific will generate a warning message if they are used on an unsupported platform. To see all parser information, including compatibility, run `jc -ap`.
You may still use a parser on an unsupported platform - for example, you may want to parse a file with linux `lsof` output on an macOS laptop. In that case you can suppress the warning message with the `-q` cli option or the `quiet=True` function parameter in `parse()`:
Feel free to add/improve code or parsers! You can use the [`jc/parsers/foo.py`](https://github.com/kellyjonbrazil/jc/blob/master/jc/parsers/foo.py) parser as a template and submit your parser with a pull request.
