Format JSON in Vim with JQ

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 00:00:00 UTC

We can use

:%!jq .

To instantly format a json file opened in vim/neovim. I relied on online foramtter and opening vscode for formatting. But this quick tool just saves a lot of hassle. Opening VS Co** == shutting down the laptop, it clogs the memory badly, so I avoid opening VS Co** as much as possible.

Yes, to use this, you need to have jq installed on your system.

If you are elsewhere and want to format json file using jq, you can quickly do this:

jq . input.json | sponge input.json

# OR

jq . input.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json input.json

If you are in Vim and want to format other file, just add ! at the start of the command and that will run in the shell for you, so you don't have to exit vim.

Meet Gor - Tag: jq

Format JSON in Vim with JQ