How to index into and stream JSON arrays with jq

You need the first element, the last one — or every element, one by one.

Every filter was executed against the cheatsheet's sample config.json with jq 1.7 before publishing; the sample file sits at the bottom of the cheatsheet so you can reproduce every output.

jq '.users[0].name' config.json   # first user's name  -> "ana"
jq '.users[-1].name' config.json  # last user's name   -> "carla"
jq -r '.users[].name' config.json
# output: ana
#         bruno
#         carla

jq Cheatsheet one-page card — 30 filters that actually work — The full one-page card — jq Cheatsheet. Get the complete cheatsheet on GitHub