Constructing a json hash from a bash associative array

Question

I would like to convert an associative array in bash to a json hash/dict. I would prefer to use jq to do this as it is already a dependency and I can rely on it to produce w

Answer 1

You can initialize a variable to an empty object {} and add the key/values {($key):$value} for each iteration, re-injecting the result in the same variable :

#!/bin/bash

declare -A dict=()

dict["foo"]=1
dict["bar"]=2
dict["baz"]=3

data='{}'

for i in "${!dict[@]}"
do
    data=$(jq -n --arg data "$data" \
                 --arg key "$i"     \
                 --arg value "${dict[$i]}" \
                 '$data | fromjson + { ($key) : ($value | tonumber) }')
done

echo "$data"