What is Dasel?

Dasel is a powerful command-line interface (CLI) tool designed for querying and updating data structures. It supports various formats including JSON, YAML, TOML, and XML, making it an indispensable utility for developers working with configuration files, APIs, and data manipulation tasks. Dasel allows you to easily select, modify, and convert data directly from your terminal.

Key Features and Usage

Dasel simplifies complex data operations with intuitive commands. Below are common use cases:

Querying Data

Retrieve specific values from your data files using the select command. You can specify the file, its format, and the path to the desired value.

# Retrieve a value from a JSON file
dasel select -f data.json -p json -r string .path.to.value

Updating Data

Modify existing values or add new ones to your data structures with the put command. This is useful for configuration management and dynamic data updates.

# Update a value in a YAML file
dasel put string -f data.yaml -p yaml .path.to.value "newValue"

Converting Data Formats

Seamlessly convert data between different formats like JSON to YAML or vice versa using the convert command.

# Convert a JSON file to YAML
dasel convert -f data.json -p json -t yaml

Deleting Data

Remove specific keys or elements from your data structures using the delete command.

# Delete a key from a JSON file
dasel delete -f data.json -p json .path.to.remove

Advanced Queries

Dasel supports querying nested data and specific elements within arrays or lists.

# Query nested data in a TOML file
dasel select -f data.toml -p toml .section.key

# Extract a specific list item from an XML file
dasel select -f data.xml -p xml .parent.child[0]

External Resources

• JSON Schema Documentation
• YAML Specification
• TOML Specification
• XML Specification
• MDN JSON Documentation