How do I modify fields inside the new PostgreSQL JSON datatype?

Question

With postgresql 9.3 I can SELECT specific fields of a JSON data type, but how do you modify them using UPDATE? I can\'t find any examples of this in the postgresql documenta

Answer 1

Even though the following will not satisfy this request (the function json_object_agg is not available in PostgreSQL 9.3), the following can be useful for anyone looking for a || operator for PostgreSQL 9.4, as implemented in the upcoming PostgreSQL 9.5:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION jsonb_merge(left JSONB, right JSONB)
RETURNS JSONB
AS $$
SELECT
  CASE WHEN jsonb_typeof($1) = 'object' AND jsonb_typeof($2) = 'object' THEN
       (SELECT json_object_agg(COALESCE(o.key, n.key), CASE WHEN n.key IS NOT NULL THEN n.value ELSE o.value END)::jsonb
        FROM jsonb_each($1) o
        FULL JOIN jsonb_each($2) n ON (n.key = o.key))
   ELSE 
     (CASE WHEN jsonb_typeof($1) = 'array' THEN LEFT($1::text, -1) ELSE '['||$1::text END ||', '||
      CASE WHEN jsonb_typeof($2) = 'array' THEN RIGHT($2::text, -1) ELSE $2::text||']' END)::jsonb
   END     
$$ LANGUAGE sql IMMUTABLE STRICT;
GRANT EXECUTE ON FUNCTION jsonb_merge(jsonb, jsonb) TO public;
CREATE OPERATOR || ( LEFTARG = jsonb, RIGHTARG = jsonb, PROCEDURE = jsonb_merge );