Overview of JSON functions and operators

This topic provides an overview of the JSON constructor functions, query functions, and processing functions, operators, and path expressions that are supported by StarRocks.

JSON constructor functions

JSON constructor functions are used to construct JSON data, such as JSON objects and JSON arrays.

Function	Description	Example	Return value
json_object	Converts one or more key-value pairs to a JSON object that consists of the key-value pairs, which are sorted by key in dictionary order.	SELECT JSON_OBJECT('Daniel Smith', 26, 'Lily Smith', 25);	{"Daniel Smith": 26, "Lily Smith": 25}
json_array	Converts each element of an SQL array to a JSON value and returns a JSON array that consists of those JSON values.	SELECT JSON_ARRAY(1, 2, 3);	[1,2,3]
parse_json	Converts a string to a JSON value.	SELECT PARSE_JSON('{"a": 1}');	{"a": 1}

JSON query functions and processing functions

JSON query functions and processing functions are used to query and process JSON data. For example, you can use a path expression to locate an element in a JSON object.

Function	Description	Example	Return value
arrow function	Queries the element that can be located by a path expression in a JSON object.	SELECT parse_json('{"a": {"b": 1}}') -> '$.a.b';	1
cast	Converts data between a JSON data type and an SQL data type.	SELECT CAST(1 AS JSON);	1
get_json_double	Analyzes and gets the floating point value from a specified path in a JSON string.	SELECT get_json_double('{"k1":1.3, "k2":"2"}', "$.k1");	1.3
get_json_int	Analyzes and gets the integer value from a specified path in a JSON string.	SELECT get_json_int('{"k1":1, "k2":"2"}', "$.k1");	1
get_json_string	Analyzes and gets the strings from a specified path in a JSON string.	SELECT get_json_string('{"k1":"v1", "k2":"v2"}', "$.k1");	v1
json_query	Queries the value of an element that can be located by a path expression in a JSON object.	SELECT JSON_QUERY('{"a": 1}', '$.a');	1
json_each	Expands the top-level elements of a JSON object into key-value pairs.	SELECT * FROM tj_test, LATERAL JSON_EACH(j);	!json_each
json_exists	Checks whether a JSON object contains an element that can be located by a path expression. If the element exists, this function returns 1. If the element does not exist, the function returns 0.	SELECT JSON_EXISTS('{"a": 1}', '$.a');	1
json_keys	Returns the top-level keys from a JSON object as a JSON array, or, if a path is specified, the top-level keys from the path.	SELECT JSON_KEYS('{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}');	["a", "b", "c"]
json_length	Returns the length of a JSON document.	SELECT json_length('{"Name": "Alice"}');	1
json_string	Converts the JSON object to a JSON string	SELECT json_string(parse_json('{"Name": "Alice"}'));	{"Name": "Alice"}

JSON operators

StarRocks supports the following JSON comparison operators: <, <=, >, >=, =, and !=. You can use these operators to query JSON data. However, it does not allow you to use IN to query JSON data. For more information about JSON operators, see JSON operators.

JSON path expressions

You can use a JSON path expression to query an element in a JSON object. JSON path expressions are of the STRING data type. In most cases, they are used with various JSON functions, such as JSON_QUERY. In StarRocks, JSON path expressions do not completely comply with the SQL/JSON path specifications. For information about the JSON path syntax that is supported in StarRocks, see the following table, in which the following JSON object is used as an example.

{
    "people": [{
        "name": "Daniel",
        "surname": "Smith"
    }, {
        "name": "Lily",
        "surname": "Smith",
        "active": true
    }]
}

JSON path symbol	Description	JSON path example	Return value
$	Denotes a root JSON object.	'$'	{ "people": [ { "name": "Daniel", "surname": "Smith" }, { "name": "Lily", "surname": Smith, "active": true } ] }
.	Denotes a child JSON object.	' $.people'	[ { "name": "Daniel", "surname": "Smith" }, { "name": "Lily", "surname": Smith, "active": true } ]
[]	Denotes one or more array indexes. [n] denotes the nth element in an array. Indexes start from 0. StarRocks 2.5 supports querying multi-dimensional arrays, for example, ["Lucy", "Daniel"], ["James", "Smith"]. To query the "Lucy" element, you can use $.people[0][0].	'$.people [0]'	{ "name": "Daniel", "surname": "Smith" }
[*]	Denotes all elements in an array.	'$.people[*].name'	["Daniel", "Lily"]
[start: end]	Denotes a subset of elements from an array. The subset is specified by the [start, end] interval, which excludes the element that is denoted by the end index.	'$.people[0: 1].name'	["Daniel"]