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<p>Druid supports nested columns, which provide optimized storage and indexes for nested data structures. See <a href="/docs/latest/querying/nested-columns.html">Nested columns</a> for more information.</p>
<p>You can use the following JSON functions to extract, transform, and create <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> values.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Function</th><th>Notes</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td><code>JSON_KEYS(expr, path)</code></td><td>Returns an array of field names from <code>expr</code> at the specified <code>path</code>.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>JSON_OBJECT(KEY expr1 VALUE expr2[, KEY expr3 VALUE expr4, ...])</code></td><td>Constructs a new <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> object. The <code>KEY</code> expressions must evaluate to string types. The <code>VALUE</code> expressions can be composed of any input type, including other <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> values. <code>JSON_OBJECT</code> can accept colon-separated key-value pairs. The following syntax is equivalent: <code>JSON_OBJECT(expr1:expr2[, expr3:expr4, ...])</code>.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>JSON_PATHS(expr)</code></td><td>Returns an array of all paths which refer to literal values in <code>expr</code> in JSONPath format.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>JSON_QUERY(expr, path)</code></td><td>Extracts a <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> value from <code>expr</code>, at the specified <code>path</code>.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>JSON_VALUE(expr, path [RETURNING sqlType])</code></td><td>Extracts a literal value from <code>expr</code> at the specified <code>path</code>. If you specify <code>RETURNING</code> and an SQL type name (such as <code>VARCHAR</code>, <code>BIGINT</code>, <code>DOUBLE</code>, etc) the function plans the query using the suggested type. Otherwise, it attempts to infer the type based on the context. If it can't infer the type, it defaults to <code>VARCHAR</code>.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>PARSE_JSON(expr)</code></td><td>Parses <code>expr</code> into a <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> object. This operator deserializes JSON values when processing them, translating stringified JSON into a nested structure. If the input is not a <code>VARCHAR</code> or it is invalid JSON, this function will result in an error.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>TRY_PARSE_JSON(expr)</code></td><td>Parses <code>expr</code> into a <code>COMPLEX&lt;json&gt;</code> object. This operator deserializes JSON values when processing them, translating stringified JSON into a nested structure. If the input is not a <code>VARCHAR</code> or it is invalid JSON, this function will result in a <code>NULL</code> value.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>TO_JSON_STRING(expr)</code></td><td>Serializes <code>expr</code> into a JSON string.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3><a class="anchor" aria-hidden="true" id="jsonpath-syntax"></a><a href="#jsonpath-syntax" aria-hidden="true" class="hash-link"><svg class="hash-link-icon" aria-hidden="true" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>JSONPath syntax</h3>
<p>Druid supports a subset of the <a href="https://github.com/json-path/JsonPath/blob/master/README.md">JSONPath syntax</a> operators, primarily limited to extracting individual values from nested data structures.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>Operator</th><th>Description</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td><code>$</code></td><td>Root element. All JSONPath expressions start with this operator.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>.&lt;name&gt;</code></td><td>Child element in dot notation.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>['&lt;name&gt;']</code></td><td>Child element in bracket notation.</td></tr>
<tr><td><code>[&lt;number&gt;]</code></td><td>Array index.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Consider the following example input JSON:</p>
<pre><code class="hljs css language-json">{<span class="hljs-attr">"x"</span>:<span class="hljs-number">1</span>, <span class="hljs-attr">"y"</span>:[<span class="hljs-number">1</span>, <span class="hljs-number">2</span>, <span class="hljs-number">3</span>]}
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>To return the entire JSON object:<br />
<code>$</code>      -&gt; <code>{&quot;x&quot;:1, &quot;y&quot;:[1, 2, 3]}</code></li>
<li>To return the value of the key &quot;x&quot;:<br />
<code>$.x</code>    -&gt; <code>1</code></li>
<li>For a key that contains an array, to return the entire array:<br />
<code>$['y']</code> -&gt; <code>[1, 2, 3]</code></li>
<li>For a key that contains an array, to return an item in the array:<br />
<code>$.y[1]</code> -&gt; <code>2</code></li>
</ul>
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