Postgres array_to_json() function
Converts an SQL array to a JSON array
You can use the array_to_json function to convert a Postgres array into its JSON representation, transforming an array of values into a JSON array. This helps facilitate integration with web services, APIs, and web frameworks that heavily rely on JSON.
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Function signature
array_to_json(anyarray [, pretty_bool])Line feeds will be added between dimension 1 elements if pretty_bool is true.
array_to_json example
Let's consider a scenario where an e-commerce platform stores customer preferences as an array of string values in a customers table.
customers
CREATE TABLE customers (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
preferences TEXT[]
);
INSERT INTO customers (name, preferences)
VALUES ('John Doe', '{clothing, electronics}');
INSERT INTO customers (name, preferences)
VALUES ('Jane Doe', '{books, music, travel}');id | name | preferences
----+----------+------------------------
1 | John Doe | {clothing,electronics}
2 | Jane Doe | {books,music,travel}You can use the array_to_json function as shown to transform the array of string values into a JSON array:
SELECT id, name, array_to_json(preferences) AS json_preferences
FROM customers;This query returns the following result:
id | name | json_preferences
----+----------+----------------------------
1 | John Doe | ["clothing","electronics"]
2 | Jane Doe | ["books","music","travel"]Advanced examples
Let's now take a look at a few advanced examples.
Use array_to_json with array_agg
Imagine you have an e-commerce website with user's shopping cart items, as shown in the following cart_items table:
cart_items
CREATE TABLE cart_items (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
user_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
product_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
quantity INTEGER NOT NULL
);
INSERT INTO cart_items (user_id, product_id, quantity)
VALUES (1, 123, 1), (1, 456, 2), (1, 789, 3);
INSERT INTO cart_items (user_id, product_id, quantity)
VALUES (2, 123, 2), (2, 456, 3), (2, 789, 4);id | user_id | product_id | quantity
----+---------+------------+----------
1 | 1 | 123 | 1
2 | 1 | 456 | 2
3 | 1 | 789 | 3
4 | 2 | 123 | 2
5 | 2 | 456 | 3
6 | 2 | 789 | 4You can utilize array_to_json to create a clean and efficient JSON representation of the cart contents for a specific user.
In the example below, the row_to_json function converts each row of the result set into a JSON object.
The array_agg function is an aggregate function that aggregates multiple values into an array. It is used here to aggregate the JSON objects created by row_to_json into a JSON array.
SELECT array_to_json(
array_agg(row_to_json(t))
) AS items
FROM (
SELECT product_id, quantity FROM cart_items WHERE user_id = 1
) t;This query returns the following result:
items
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[{"product_id":123,"quantity":1},{"product_id":456,"quantity":2},{"product_id":789,"quantity":3}]And this is the resulting JSON structure:
[
{
"product_id": 123,
"quantity": 1
},
{
"product_id": 456,
"quantity": 2
},
{
"product_id": 789,
"quantity": 3
}
]Handling NULL in array_to_json
The array_to_json function handles NULL values gracefully, representing them as JSON null within the resulting array.
Let's consider a survey_responses table representing a survey where each participant can provide multiple responses to different questions. Some participants may not answer all questions, leading to NULL values in the data.
CREATE TABLE survey_responses (
participant_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
participant_name VARCHAR(50),
responses VARCHAR(50)[]
);
-- Insert sample data with NULL responses
INSERT INTO survey_responses (participant_name, responses) VALUES
('Participant A', ARRAY['Yes', 'No', 'Maybe']),
('Participant B', ARRAY['Yes', NULL, 'No']),
('Participant C', ARRAY[NULL, 'No', 'Yes']),
('Participant D', ARRAY['Yes', 'No', NULL]);participant_id | participant_name | responses
----------------+------------------+----------------
1 | Participant A | {Yes,No,Maybe}
2 | Participant B | {Yes,NULL,No}
3 | Participant C | {NULL,No,Yes}
4 | Participant D | {Yes,No,NULL}The output correctly represents NULL values as JSON null in the responses_json array.
SELECT
participant_id,
participant_name,
array_to_json(COALESCE(responses, ARRAY[]::VARCHAR[])) AS responses_json
FROM
survey_responses;This query returns the following result:
participant_id | participant_name | responses_json
---------------+-----------------=+---------------------
1 | Participant A | ["Yes","No","Maybe"]
2 | Participant B | ["Yes",null,"No"]
3 | Participant C | [null,"No","Yes"]
4 | Participant D | ["Yes","No",null]Additional considerations
This section outlines additional considerations when using the array_to_json function.
JSON functions
In scenarios where more control over the JSON structure is required, consider using the json_build_array and json_build_object functions. These functions allow for a more fine-grained construction of JSON objects and arrays.
Formatting array_to_json output with pretty_bool
The pretty_bool parameter, when set to true, instructs array_to_json to format the output with indentation and line breaks for improved readability.
Execute the earlier query with pretty_bool as true:
SELECT array_to_json(
array_agg(row_to_json(t)), true
) AS items
FROM (
select product_id, quantity from cart_items WHERE user_id = 1
) t;This query returns the following result:
items
-----------------------------------
[{"product_id":123,"quantity":1},+
{"product_id":456,"quantity":2},+
{"product_id":789,"quantity":3}]note
The output displayed in psql might be truncated or wrap long lines for visual clarity.
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