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https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat
Flatten nested file formats like JSON, TOML, YAML into single lines with full path to all values.
https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat
cat cli json rust toml tools yaml
Last synced: 2 months ago
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Flatten nested file formats like JSON, TOML, YAML into single lines with full path to all values.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat
- Owner: lukaspustina
- License: apache-2.0
- Created: 2021-03-07T16:27:32.000Z (almost 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2022-12-27T15:02:58.000Z (about 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-04-20T06:39:58.586Z (10 months ago)
- Topics: cat, cli, json, rust, toml, tools, yaml
- Language: Rust
- Homepage:
- Size: 369 KB
- Stars: 4
- Watchers: 2
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 7
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- License: LICENSE-APACHE
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README
# FlatCat
Flatten nested file formats like JSON, TOML, YAML into single lines with full path to all values.
[](https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat/actions/workflows/ci.yml) [](https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat/releases)  
`flatcat`'s main purpose it to allow to use standard UNIX file commands like `grep`, `awk`, and `sed` to parse nested and hierarchical file formats like JSON, TOML, YAML etc. These files have become the de-facto standard for configurations, but there is little support to deal with these files. `flatcat` helps here by allowing flatten the hierarchical structures into single lines per value with each line containing the whole path to the value.
Of course there are similar tools like [jq](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) for JSON and [yq](https://github.com/mikefarah/yq) for YAML, but they are primarily suited to directly query the data structures which requires you to know what your actually looking for. `flatcat` tries to help to discover these paths -- see the [examples](#examples) section.
## Features
- Behaves like GNU cat unless instructed to flatten files.
- Supports JSON, TOML, YAML, and more format are coming.
- Supports colorful output to ease readability
- Allows to ignore `Null` values
- Unrecognized file formats are printed as they are plainly
## Quick Start
1. Install `flatcat` – see below for [installation instructions](#installation).
2. Run `fcat -n ` on any file you like. If it's a supported format, it will be flattened. 
3. Set shell alias `alias cat=fcat` to replace your system’s `cat` command.
## Table of Contents
- [Examples](#examples)
- [YAML](#yaml)
- [Flatten the YAML file.](#flatten-the-yaml-file)
- [Search for path to value](#search-for-path-to-value)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Docker](#docker)
- [Homebrew](#homebrew)
- [Debian and Ubuntu](#debian-and-ubuntu)
- [Redhat and Fedora](#redhat-and-fedora)
- [For Rust Developers](#for-rust-developers)
- [From Source](#from-source)
- [Changelog](#changelog)
- [Limitations](#limitations)
- [Postcardware](#postcardware)
## Examples
### YAML
Let's say, you have a configuration file in YAML for persons like this:
```yaml
---
persons:
- age: 42
name:
family_name: Pustina
first_name: Lukas
phone:
super_cool: true
```
#### Flatten the YAML file.
```bash
> fcat -n -f simple.yaml
1 .persons[0].age: 42
2 .persons[0].name.family_name: "Pustina"
3 .persons[0].name.first_name: "Lukas"
4 .persons[0].phone: null
5 .persons[0].super_cool: true
```
#### Search for path to value
Now, let's try to find the path to the my first name:
```bash
> fcat -f simple.yaml | grep Lukas
.persons[0].name.first_name: "Lukas"
```
## Installation
### Docker
If you want to give `flatcat` a quick spin and just try it out without too much hassle, you might want to try the Docker image:
```sh
$ docker run lukaspustina/flatcat:latest fcat
```
### Homebrew
You can add this repository as a custom tap and then install `flatcat` like this:
```sh
$ brew tap lukaspustina/flatcat https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat.git
$ brew install lukaspustina/flatcat/flatcat
```
### Debian and Ubuntu
You can find Debian packages on the [GitHub Release](https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat/releases) page. Download the package as `flatcat.deb` and the run
```sh
$ dpkg -i flatcat.deb
```
### Redhat and Fedora
You can find RPM packages on the [GitHub Release](https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat/releases) page. Download the package as `flatcat.rpm` and the run
```sh
$ rpm -i flatcat.rpm
```
### For Rust Developers
```sh
$ cargo install flatcat
```
### From Source
Please install Rust via [rustup](https://www.rustup.rs) and then run
```sh
$ git clone https://github.com/lukaspustina/flatcat
$ cd flatcat
$ make install
```
## Changelog
Please see the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) for a release history.
## Limitations
- Currently, all formats are parsed into memory before printing paths and values. Thus, `flatcat` is memory-bound. This limitation does not apply to plain file printing.
## Postcardware
You’re free to use `flatcat`. If you find it useful, I would highly appreciate you sending me a postcard from your hometown mentioning how you use `flatcat`. My work address is
```plain
Lukas Pustina
CenterDevice GmbH
Rheinwerkallee 3
53227 Bonn
Germany
```