How to merge two simple JSON arrays together with JQ

I want to merge to arrays together.

$ cat file.json
[1,2,3,4]
[5,6,7,8]
$ # command
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]

What should # command be?

Another simple way, using just add:

jq -s 'add' input.json

^{[Documentation]}

• JqPlay Demo

• Local shell example

  $ cat input.json
  [1,2,3,4]
  [5,6,7,8]
  $
  $ jq -s 'add' input.json
  [
    1,
    2,
    3,
    4,
    5,
    6,
    7,
    8
  ]
  $
  

jq -s 'flatten(1)' file.json

Explanation:

• flatten(1) de-nests arrays with depth of 1.
• -s runs the command on all the items (ie. both lists) rather than each item independently.

Yet another way

jq -n '[inputs[]]' file.json

Demo

The c option prints to one line. Also if you want to merge the two arrays and keep them sorted you can do this:

jq -cn '[inputs[]] | sort' file.json

For example, it will still be in order in the case below:

$ cat file.json
[1,2,3,5]
[4,6,7,8]
$ jq -cn '[inputs[]] | sort '  file.json
[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]