[Spivak]

jmespath is your friend for this

    import jmespath
    import json

    doc = json.load(sys.stdin)
    print(jmespath.search("[?commit.author == `Tom Hudson`].commit", doc))

I wish it had won over jq because JMESPath is a spec with multiple implementations and a test suite where jq is... well jq and languages have bindings not independent implementations.

[cryptonector]

`import jmespath` is a lot like importing jq...

> I wish it had won over jq because JMESPath is a spec with multiple implementations and a test suite where jq is... well jq and languages have bindings not independent implementations.

jq has multiple implementations too! In Go, Rust, Java, and... in jq itself.

[Spivak]

So just picking Java https://github.com/eiiches/jackson-jq

> jackson-jq aims to be a compatible jq implementation. However, not every feature is available; some are intentionally omitted because thay are not relevant as a Java library; some may be incomplete, have bugs or are yet to be implemented.

Where JMESPath has fully compliant 1st party implementations in Python, Go, Lua, JS, PHP, Ruby, and Rust and fully compliant 3rd party implementations in C++, Java, .NET, Elixer, and TS.

Having a spec and a test suite means that a all valid JMESPath programs will work and work the same anywhere you use it. I think jq could get there but it doesn't seem to be the project's priority.

[HelloNurse]

Repeating an identifier like this is inelegant, it should be (untested)

  commit|[?author == `Tom Hudson`]

[rtpg]

jmespath does look like an interesting thing. Wish it weren't stringly-typed but that is a bit unavoidable.