JSONPath is to JSON what XPath is to XML — a small query language for reaching into deeply-nested data and pulling out exactly what you need. Once you've written more than a few nested for-loops to walk an API response, JSONPath starts to feel like a superpower. This cheatsheet covers the 20 expressions you'll use 95% of the time, with runnable examples you can paste into any JSONPath tester.

The sample JSON we'll use

Every example below runs against this store data:

{
  "store": {
    "books": [
      { "title": "The Pragmatic Programmer", "author": "Hunt", "price": 39.95, "inStock": true, "tags": ["classic", "dev"] },
      { "title": "Clean Code",                "author": "Martin", "price": 29.99, "inStock": true, "tags": ["dev"] },
      { "title": "Design Patterns",           "author": "GoF",    "price": 44.95, "inStock": false, "tags": ["classic"] },
      { "title": "Refactoring",               "author": "Fowler", "price": 34.99, "inStock": true, "tags": ["dev"] }
    ],
    "location": { "city": "San Francisco", "country": "USA" }
  },
  "members": 1240
}

1. The basics — $ and dot notation

$ is the root of your document. Chain keys with dots to drill in.

$                          → the whole document
$.store                    → the store object
$.store.location.city      → "San Francisco"
$.members                  → 1240

2. Array indexing

Use square brackets for arrays. Indexes are zero-based, and negative indexes count from the end.

$.store.books[0]           → first book
$.store.books[-1]          → last book
$.store.books[0].title     → "The Pragmatic Programmer"

3. Wildcards — [] and .

Wildcards return every child. This is how you 'unwrap' an array without knowing its length.

$.store.books[*]           → every book (array of 4 objects)
$.store.books[*].title     → ["The Pragmatic Programmer", "Clean Code", ...]
$.store.*                  → every value directly under store

4. Array slicing

Same syntax as Python slicing — [start:end:step], end exclusive.

$.store.books[0:2]         → first two books
$.store.books[1:]          → all but the first
$.store.books[::2]         → every other book (indexes 0, 2)

5. Recursive descent — ..

Two dots mean 'find this key anywhere below here, at any depth.' Extremely useful when you don't know the exact path.

$..title                   → every 'title' key anywhere in the doc
$..price                   → every 'price' key
$.store..city              → 'city' anywhere under store

6. Filter expressions — [?(...)]

The killer feature. Filters keep only the items matching a boolean expression. @ refers to the current item being filtered.

$.store.books[?(@.price < 35)]              → books cheaper than $35
$.store.books[?(@.inStock == true)]         → books in stock
$.store.books[?(@.author == "Fowler")]      → books by Fowler
$.store.books[?(@.price >= 30 && @.price <= 40)]  → mid-priced books

7. Combine filters with wildcards

Filters produce arrays, so you can keep chaining.

$.store.books[?(@.inStock)].title           → titles of in-stock books
$.store.books[?(@.price > 30)].author       → authors of pricier books

8. Check for a key's existence

In many implementations, referencing @.key inside a filter returns falsy when the key is missing.

$..books[?(@.discount)]        → only books that have a 'discount' field

9. String matches and regex (implementation-dependent)

Not every JSONPath library supports these, but jsonpath-plus and Goessner-flavored parsers usually do.

$..books[?(@.title =~ /clean/i)]   → titles containing 'clean' (case-insensitive)
$..books[?(@.tags.indexOf('dev') > -1)]  → tagged 'dev'

10. The union operator — [a, b]

Pick multiple specific children in one query.

$.store.books[0, 2]                → first and third book
$.store.books[*]['title', 'price']  → title and price of every book

Common traps

Filters must be wrapped in [?(...)] — the ? and parentheses are required.
Recursive descent (..) is powerful but slow on huge documents — prefer explicit paths when you know them.
JSONPath is not standardized. Different libraries handle edge cases differently (especially script expressions and regex). Test in the library you'll actually ship with.
@ is the current item inside a filter — it's easy to confuse with $ (the root).
Slice syntax uses colons (0:2), not commas — commas are the union operator.

Test any of these in seconds

Paste your JSON and try the expressions above in our free JSONPath tester — it runs entirely in your browser, no data leaves your device, and results highlight in real time. Perfect for exploring an unfamiliar API response.

JSONPath Cheatsheet: 20 Expressions Every Developer Needs