shawnbot/json-args

Generate JSON structures from command line arguments.

JavaScript

json-args

Problem: You need to generate JSON from the command line, but escaping is a PITA and it just feels dirty.
Solution: json-args

$ npx json-args --foo=bar
{"foo":"bar"}

$ npx json-args -x 1 -y 2 -y 3
{"x":1,"y":[2, 3]}

$ npx json-args --what-ever=never
{"what-ever":"never","whatEver":"never"}

Options

There are none! Here's how it works:

All arguments (named and positional) are parsed with yargs.
If there are named options, positional arguments are ignored and the output is a JSON object.
```
$ npx json-args --some.nested.field=value
{"some":{"nested":{"field":"value"}}}
```
Otherwise, the positional arguments are output as a JSON array.
```
$ npx json-args 1 way or another
[1,"way","or","another"]
```

You can process and further manipulate the output with other JSON-friendly CLI tools like fx and jq.

See also

@toolia/json-args is very similar to this package, but its built-in argument parser doesn't support nested fields (--foo.bar=baz generates {"foo.bar":"baz"}).