Executing a perl script in bash, need to parse it's JSON output and put it into a variable

Question

I have an automation script that I'm writing in Bash. I need to execute a perl script from within this and capture/parse one specific part of it's output and use it as a variable in order to complete the bash script's tasks.

For example:

echo "Creating database for "$custname
perl /home/dib/testing/addCustomer.cgi name=$custname prefix=$customerno

The perl script "addCustomer.cgi" will return JSON output of:

Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8

{
   "recordcount" : 1,
   "status" : "OK",
   "statusText" : "Add Customer: 40:Testing",
   "customer" : [
      {
         "address" : "",
         "city" : "",
         "country" : "US",
         "description" : "",
         "email" : "",
         "endDate" : "0000-00-00 00:00:00",
         "frontendurl" : "",
         "phone" : "",
         "prefix" : "testing",
         "startDate" : "0000-00-00 00:00:00",
         "state" : "",
         "customerID" : "40",
         "subscriberName" : "Testing",
         "url" : "",
         "zip" : ""
      }
   ],
   "timestamp" : 1559163419
}

What I need to capture is the customerID number, stick it into a variable, and use it to finish the bash script. Is something like this possible? I always see parsing or passing from bash to perl but not the other way around.

Can't you modify the Perl script to return just the id instead of the full json? — choroba, Jul 10 '19 at 17:12
"_modify the Perl script to return just the id_" -- or add to it a command-line option for that — zdim, Jul 10 '19 at 17:19
@choroba no, I can't modify the perl script. I'm just trying to automate a process that currently requires executing the script, noting the value of customerID, then using that with a different command to complete the task. — misterjones, Jul 10 '19 at 18:54
As perl is already installed, you can pipe the output to `perl -MJSON::PP -0777 -ne 's/^.*$//m; print decode_json($_)->{customer}[0]{customerID}'`. — choroba, Jul 10 '19 at 19:00

Cyrus · Answer 1 · 2019-07-10T17:14:42.033

1

Append this to your Perl command:

| sed 1d | jq -r '.customer[].customerID'

Output:

I assume there's one header line.

edited Jul 10 '19 at 17:14

answered Jul 10 '19 at 17:11

Cyrus

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You'll need the `jq` command for this but it is an incredible tool if you do a lot of JSON work, so a must-have and worth installing. – tadman Jul 10 '19 at 17:13
This works to get the value I need, but I still need to stick that value into a variable. – misterjones Jul 10 '19 at 21:27
Try this: `variable=$(perl ... | sed ... | jq ...)` – Cyrus Jul 11 '19 at 03:58

Executing a perl script in bash, need to parse it's JSON output and put it into a variable

1 Answers1