Please do not change output strings

[kseistrup]

Please consider the following JSON:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "ssb-client": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&EAaUpI+wrJM5/ly1RqZW0GAEF4PmCAmABBj7e6UIrL0=.sha256",
    "ssb-mentions": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&GjuxknqKwJqHznKueFNCyIh52v1woz5PB41vqmoHfyM=.sha256"
  }
}

Seemingly, I can gron and ungron this to achieve an identical output:

$ gron < test.json
json = {};
json.dependencies = {};
json.dependencies["ssb-client"] = "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&EAaUpI+wrJM5/ly1RqZW0GAEF4PmCAmABBj7e6UIrL0=.sha256";
json.dependencies["ssb-mentions"] = "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&GjuxknqKwJqHznKueFNCyIh52v1woz5PB41vqmoHfyM=.sha256";
$ gron < test.json | ungron
{
  "dependencies": {
    "ssb-client": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&EAaUpI+wrJM5/ly1RqZW0GAEF4PmCAmABBj7e6UIrL0=.sha256",
    "ssb-mentions": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/&GjuxknqKwJqHznKueFNCyIh52v1woz5PB41vqmoHfyM=.sha256"
  }
}

However, if stdout is not a TTY, what you get is something entirely different:

$ gron < test.json | ungron | cat   # same thing happens if you redirect to a file
{
  "dependencies": {
    "ssb-client": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/\u0026EAaUpI+wrJM5/ly1RqZW0GAEF4PmCAmABBj7e6UIrL0=.sha256",
    "ssb-mentions": "http://localhost:8989/blobs/get/\u0026GjuxknqKwJqHznKueFNCyIh52v1woz5PB41vqmoHfyM=.sha256"
  }
}

IMHO, gron should make identical output no matter what. Ideally, gron shouldn't try to outsmart the user and start interpreting string values or displaying them differently (even if the meaning is the same). At least provide a commandline switch so that the original strings are preserved.

Cheers.

[tomnomnom]

Hi @kseistrup! Thanks for raising an issue!

It looks like this is actually the default behaviour of Go's encoding/json package (which is used only when the output is not colourised). I'll see about fixing this for you now

[tomnomnom]

@kseistrup this should be fixed in master now. Are you able to update with go get -u github.com/tomnomnom/gron, or would you like me to upload a binary so you can test?

[kseistrup]

I can go get, so I'll try it right away…

[kseistrup]

This seems to have fixed the issue. Thanks for fixing it so swiftly!

[kseistrup]

While the JSON itself is identical, the new code adds a blank line after the JSON whenever stdout is not a TTY:

$ gron config.json | grep friends
json.friends = {};
json.friends.hops = 3;
$ gron config.json | grep friends | ungron
{
  "friends": {
    "hops": 3
  }
}
$ gron config.json | grep friends | ungron | cat
{
  "friends": {
    "hops": 3
  }
}

$ 

[rjmunro]

In case like me you were wondering what is different about the 2 examples, here is something minimal to illustrate the issue:

$ echo 'json[0] = "&";' | ungron
[
   "&"
]
$ echo 'json[0] = "&";' | ungron | cat
[
  "\u0026"
]

[kseistrup]

Thanks for the minimal example, @rjmunro.

That issue has been solved, but the JSON outputs are still not identical:

$ echo 'json[0]="&";' | ungron
[
  "&"
]
$ echo 'json[0]="&";' | ungron | cat
[
  "&"
]

$ 

[tomnomnom]

Hey; thanks for reminding me about this!

I'll see if I can get a fix in for it soon. Happy to accept PRs for it too ;)

[tomnomnom]

I managed to get a few minutes free to sort this.

The changes are available in v0.6.0.

Please let me know if you hit any more problems!

[kseistrup]

@tomnomnom,

For lists and single elements the indentation is different:

$ echo 3 | gron | ungron
 3
$ echo 3 | gron | ungron | cat
3
$ echo '[1,2,3]' | gron | ungron
[
   1,
   2,
   3
]
$ echo '[1,2,3]' | gron | ungron | cat
[
  1,
  2,
  3
]

Mappings are not affected, though:

$ echo '{"a":true,"b":false}' | gron | ungron
{
  "a": true,
  "b": false
}
$ echo '{"a":true,"b":false}' | gron | ungron | cat
{
  "a": true,
  "b": false
}
$