jc - A JSON Companion

Let’s look at a quick example using dig:

$ dig example.com
; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> example.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 42404
;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 6, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;example.com.			IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.192.228.80
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.192.228.84
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.220.75.232
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.220.75.245
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.215.0.136
example.com.		137	IN	A	23.215.0.138

;; Query time: 13 msec
;; SERVER: 8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)
;; WHEN: Sun Oct 12 23:45:22 +03 2025
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 136

The output from dig contains a lot of data. Alright, let’s convert it to json!

$ dig example.com | jc --dig
[{"id":10302,"opcode":"QUERY","status":"NOERROR","flags":["qr","rd","ra","ad"],"query_num":1,"answer_num":6,"authority_num":0,"additional_num":1,"opt_pseudosection":{"edns":{"version":0,"flags":[],"udp":512}},"question":{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A"},"answer":[{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.220.75.245"},{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.192.228.84"},{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.192.228.80"},{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.220.75.232"},{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.215.0.138"},{"name":"example.com.","class":"IN","type":"A","ttl":108,"data":"23.215.0.136"}],"query_time":11,"server":"8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)","when":"Sun Oct 12 22:55:51 +03 2025","rcvd":136,"when_epoch":1760298951,"when_epoch_utc":null}]

Still ugly? Yep!

$ dig example.com | jc --dig | jq

Result:

[
    {
        "id": 3386,
        "opcode": "QUERY",
        "status": "NOERROR",
        "flags": [
            "qr",
            "rd",
            "ra",
            "ad"
        ],
        "query_num": 1,
        "answer_num": 6,
        "authority_num": 0,
        "additional_num": 1,
        "opt_pseudosection": {
            "edns": {
                "version": 0,
                "flags": [],
                "udp": 512
            }
        },
        "question": {
            "name": "example.com.",
            "class": "IN",
            "type": "A"
        },
        "answer": [
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.215.0.136"
            },
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.192.228.80"
            },
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.215.0.138"
            },
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.220.75.232"
            },
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.192.228.84"
            },
            {
                "name": "example.com.",
                "class": "IN",
                "type": "A",
                "ttl": 121,
                "data": "23.220.75.245"
            }
        ],
        "query_time": 11,
        "server": "8.8.8.8#53(8.8.8.8)",
        "when": "Sun Oct 12 23:49:27 +03 2025",
        "rcvd": 136,
        "when_epoch": 1760302167,
        "when_epoch_utc": null
    }
]

Fantastic right? You can install jc from brew (macOS):

brew install jc
brew install jq # in case you don’t have jq installed

It’s an open-source tool:

https://github.com/kellyjonbrazil/jc

Examples from jc’s GitHub Page

$ dig example.com | jc --dig | jq -r '.[].answer[].data'

23.192.228.84
23.215.0.136
23.220.75.245
23.192.228.80
23.215.0.138
23.220.75.232

# or magic syntax
$ jc dig example.com | jq -r '.[].answer[].data'

$ git log | jc --git-log | jq
$ ifconfig | jc --ifconfig
$ echo "${JWT_TOKEN}" | jc --jwt
$ echo "/Users/admin/.docker/bin" | jc --path | jq
$ cat foo.yaml | jc --yaml | jq

There are tons of parsers available on GitHub!

Enjoy!