.\" Generated by scdoc 1.11.4
.\" Complete documentation for this program is not available as a GNU info page
.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
.el       .ds Aq '
.nh
.ad l
.\" Begin generated content:
.TH "ijq" "1" "2026-03-04"
.PP
.SH NAME
.PP
ijq - interactive jq
.PP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBijq\fR [\fB-cnsrjaRMCSV\fR] [\fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR] [\fIfilter\fR] [\fIfiles .\&.\&.\&\fR]
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
\fBijq\fR is a near drop-in replacement for \fBjq\fR that allows you to interactively
see the results of your filter as you construct it.\&
.PP
\fBijq\fR contains two panes and an input field: the left pane is the original,
unmodified input data and the right pane contains the filtered output.\& When you
are finished, press Return or Ctrl-C to exit.\& The filtered output will be
written to standard output and the filter itself will be written to standard
error.\&
.PP
\fBijq\fR maintains a history of used filters unless disabled via
\fBhistory-file\fR in the config file.\& Delete all text in the filter field to
browse any available history.\&
.PP
If \fIfiles\fR is omitted then \fBijq\fR reads data from standard input.\&
.PP
All of the options mirror their counterparts in \fBjq\fR.\& The options are:
.PP
\fB-c\fR
.RS 4
Use compact instead of pretty-printed output.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-n\fR
.RS 4
Don'\&t read any input.\& Useful for using \fBijq\fR as a calculator or to
construct JSON data from scratch.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-s\fR
.RS 4
Read all input into a single array and apply the given filter to it.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-r\fR
.RS 4
If the filter output is a string it will be written directly to standard
output rather than being formatted as a JSON string with quotes.\& Useful
for using \fBijq\fR in a pipeline with other programs that expect normal
string input.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-j\fR
.RS 4
Implies \fB-r\fR and outputs without a trailing newline after each result.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-a\fR
.RS 4
Output strings by using only ASCII characters and escape sequences.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-R\fR
.RS 4
Don'\&t parse the input as JSON, instead passing each line of input to the
filter as a string.\& If combined with \fB-s\fR then the entire input is
passed to the filter as a single long string.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-M\fR
.RS 4
Disable colored output.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-C\fR
.RS 4
Force colored output.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-S\fR
.RS 4
Output the fields of each object with the fields in sorted order.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB-f\fR \fIfile\fR
.RS 4
Read the filter from \fIfile\fR.\& When this option is used, all positional
arguments (if any) are interpreted as input files.\&
.PP
.RE
.SH CONFIG FILE
.PP
\fBijq\fR reads configuration from \fI$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ijq/config\fR.\& If
\fI$XDG_CONFIG_HOME\fR is not set, then the fallback path is
\fI\(ti/.\&config/ijq/config\fR.\&
.PP
The file format is \fBscfg\fR.\& All settings are optional.\& If a setting is present
both in the config file and on the command line, the command-line value takes
precedence.\&
.PP
\fBhistory-file\fR \fIfile\fR
.RS 4
Path to the history file.\& If set to '\&'\& then history is disabled.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBjq-bin\fR \fIfile\fR
.RS 4
Name of or path to the \fBjq\fR binary to use.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBhide-input-pane\fR \fIbool\fR
.RS 4
If true, start with the input (left) viewing pane hidden.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBkeymaps\fR
.RS 4
Section containing key bindings.\& Any entry not set keeps its built-in
default value.\&
.PP
Bindings are written as key names (\fBCtrl+N\fR, \fBShift+Up\fR, \fBReturn\fR) or
single runes (\fBu\fR, \fBG\fR).\& \fI+\fR and \fI-\fR can both be used between modifiers
and key names, for example \fBCtrl+N\fR and \fBCtrl-N\fR.\&
.PP
When the filter input field has focus, printable runes are always treated
as text input.\& To bind a global command while editing the filter, use a
non-printable key or a modifier combination.\&
.PP
Available entries are: \fBsubmit-filter\fR, \fBmove-down\fR, \fBmove-up\fR,
\fBpage-down\fR, \fBline-start\fR, \fBline-end\fR, \fBhalf-page-up\fR,
\fBhalf-page-down\fR, \fBfilter-cursor-right\fR, \fBfilter-cursor-left\fR,
\fBfocus-input-pane-up\fR, \fBfocus-input-pane-left\fR, \fBfocus-output-pane\fR,
\fBfocus-filter-input\fR, \fBnext-focus\fR, \fBprevious-focus\fR,
\fBtoggle-input-pane\fR, \fBsave-filter-history\fR, \fBtoggle-menu\fR,
\fBtextview-page-up\fR,
\fBtextview-page-down\fR, and \fBtextview-end\fR.\&
.PP
.RE
.SH KEY BINDINGS
.PP
These are the default key bindings.\& They can be overridden in the \fBkeymaps\fR
section of the config file.\&
.PP
\fBShift + Up\fR, \fBShift + Left\fR
.RS 4
Focus the input (left) viewing pane.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBShift + Right\fR
.RS 4
Focus the output (right) viewing pane.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBShift + Down\fR
.RS 4
Focus the text input field.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBTab\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, navigate between the autocompletion
list.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, toggle between the
different views.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBShift-Tab\fR
.RS 4
Like \fBTab\fR, but moves in the opposite direction.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-A\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, move the cursor to the beginning of
the input.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, set the column
offset to 0.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-E\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, move the cursor to the end of the
input.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, set the column offset to
view the longest visible line.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-F\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, move the cursor one character
forward.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, scroll down one page.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-B\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, move the cursor one character
backward.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, scroll up one page.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-D\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, delete the character under the
cursor.\& When one of the viewing panes has focus, scroll down one half
page.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-U\fR
.RS 4
When the text input field has focus, delete all of the text from the
cursor to the beginning of the field.\& When one of the viewing panes has
focus, scroll up one half page.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-O\fR
.RS 4
Toggle visibility of the input (left) viewing pane.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-S\fR
.RS 4
Save the current filter to history and show a confirmation popup.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-/\fR, \fBCtrl-?\&\fR, \fBCtrl-_\fR
.RS 4
Open or close the overlay menu.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBSpace\fR
.RS 4
When the overlay root menu is open, activate the selected menu entry.\&
When the Configure subview is open, toggle the selected option.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBEnter\fR
.RS 4
When the Configure subview is open, toggle the selected option.\&
When the Manage history subview is open, apply the selected history
entry to the filter and close the overlay.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBx\fR
.RS 4
When the Manage history subview is open, delete the selected history
entry after confirmation.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB/\fR
.RS 4
When the Manage history subview is open, open a filter input for
history entries.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBEsc\fR, \fBCtrl-C\fR, \fBq\fR
.RS 4
When overlay is open, go back to the root menu or close overlay.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBu\fR, \fBd\fR, \fBf\fR, \fBb\fR
.RS 4
When one of the viewing panes has focus, scroll a half/full page
up/down.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBLeft\fR, \fBDown\fR, \fBUp\fR, \fBRight\fR
\fBh\fR, \fBj\fR, \fBk\fR, \fBl\fR
.RS 4
When one of the viewing panes has focus, move the view
left/down/up/right.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBReturn\fR
.RS 4
Close \fBijq\fR.\& Write the contents of the output pane to stdout and the
current input filter to stderr.\& The current input filter is also saved
to the history file.\&
.PP
.RE
\fBCtrl-C\fR
.RS 4
When overlay is open, close overlay.\& Otherwise, exit \fBijq\fR
immediately, discarding all state.\&
.PP
.RE
.SH DEMO
.PP
See https://asciinema.\&org/a/496932 for a demo.\&
.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
jq(1)
.PP
.SH AUTHOR
.PP
Gregory Anders <greg@gpanders.\&com>