Find dependency in composer.json with jq

Sometimes I need the full Composer dependency name but I only know part of it. For example, I may know Block X-ray Attributes is a Composer dependency but I don’t remember the full package name. While I could open the composer.json file and find the dependency, I can also leverage jq to do the work for me.

Find Dependency and Version

If I want to find the Composer dependencies with xray in the name, I can run

jq --raw-output \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray")) | [ .key, .value ] | join(":")' \
composer.json

On my project, this will return something like

wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes:^1.1.1

Find Multiple Dependencies

The query above will return all of the dependencies that match our string.

For example, if we wanted to find all of the dependencies from wpackagist, we can use that in our command instead of xray.

jq --raw-output \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("wpackagist")) | [ .key, .value ] | join(":")' \
composer.json

Which gives us something like

wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes:^1.1.1
wpackagist-plugin/stop-emails:^1.2.0
wpackagist-plugin/modify-comment-parent:^1.0.0

How I Built this Query

Base Query

I started with the base jq query

jq '.' composer.json

This query tells jq to read composer.json and return the whole object ('.')

Require Key

We only want the entries in the .require section, so we add that to our query.

jq '.require' composer.json

Now we have an object where the keys are the package names and the values are the version constraint.

{
  "composer/installers":"^1.6",
  "wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes": "^1.1.1",
  "wpackagist-plugin/stop-emails": "^1.2.0",
  "wpackagist-plugin/modify-comment-parent": "^1.0.0"
}

Make Each Key/Value a New Object

jq '.require | to_entries[]' composer.json

Using to_entries, each key/value pair becomes a new object

{
  "key": "composer/installers",
  "value": "^1.6"
}
{
  "key": "wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes",
  "value": "^1.1.1"
}
{
  "key": "wpackagist-plugin/stop-emails",
  "value": "^1.2.0"
}
{
  "key": "wpackagist-plugin/modify-comment-parent",
  "value": "^1.0.0"
}

Filter the Results

jq \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray"))' \
composer.json

Using select and contains() we select the entries where key contains our string (xray) in the key.

{
  "key": "wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes",
  "value": "^1.1.1"
}

Turn the Result into an Array

jq \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray")) | [ .key, .value ] ' \
composer.json

Using the Array Construction, we turn the result(s) into an array where the first element is the key (the package name) and the second element is the value (the version constraint).

[
  "wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes",
  "^1.1.1"
]

Join the Elements of the Array with a colon (:)

jq \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray")) | [ .key, .value ] | join(":")' \
composer.json

We use the join() function to turn each array into a string.

"wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes:^1.1.1"

Finally Eliminate the Quotes

jq --raw-output \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray")) | [ .key, .value ] | join(":")' \
composer.json

We add the --raw-output flag when invoking jq to eliminate the quotes

wpackagist-plugin/block-xray-attributes:^1.1.1

Why Not Use Grep

At this point you might be saying, we could get this same result with a grep command

grep 'xray' composer.json

This is true and in many cases it is easier to use grep. The power of jq comes through when you want to deal with part of the line.

Find Just the Package Name

This whole article started with me and my issue of me needing the full package name. This modified version of the command returns just the package name(s).

jq --raw-output \
'.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains("xray")) | .key' \
composer.json

Alias

Because I’d rather not type this each time, I’ve created an alias (technically a function) in my ~/.zshrc, called jqcfind

I’m using the --arg option to pass the first parameter ($1) into jq as the variable $x.

function jqcfind() {
    jq --raw-output --arg x "$1" \
    '.require | to_entries[] | select(.key | contains($x)) | .key' \
    composer.json | tee >(pbcopy)
}

I’m also using tee and pbcopy (since I’m on a Mac) to both print the result to the screen and copy it to my clipboard.

For example:

jqcfind xray

finds the packages with “xray” in the name and outputs the full package name (and copies it to the clipboard).

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.