What Is JSONPath? A Practical Introduction with Examples

JSONPath is a query language for picking values out of JSON, much like XPath for XML. It was standardised as RFC 9535 in 2024 and is used in API testing tools, Kubernetes, AWS Step Functions and many databases.

We’ll use this document for all the examples:

{
  "store": {
    "name": "Corner Books",
    "books": [
      { "title": "Dune", "price": 9.99, "tags": ["sci-fi"] },
      { "title": "Emma", "price": 6.5, "tags": ["classic", "romance"] }
    ]
  }
}

The basics

Expression	Result
$	The whole document (the root)
$.store.name	"Corner Books"
$.store.books[0].title	"Dune"
$.store.books[-1].title	"Emma" (last item)
$['store']['name']	"Corner Books" (bracket notation)

Use dot notation for simple keys. Use bracket notation for keys that contain spaces, dashes or dots, for example $['content-type'].

Wildcards and recursion

Expression	Result
$.store.books[*].title	["Dune", "Emma"]
$..price	Every price anywhere: [9.99, 6.5]
$.store.books[0:1]	A slice containing the first book

Filters

Filters select array items that match a condition. @ refers to the current item.

$.store.books[?@.price < 8].title      →  ["Emma"]
$.store.books[?@.tags[0] == 'sci-fi']  →  the Dune object

Getting the path to any value

Writing a long path by hand is easy to get wrong. In the JSON tree viewer, click any node and choose Copy path. You get its exact JSONPath, such as $.store.books[1].tags[0], ready to paste into your code or tests.