column->path

MySQL 8.4

The -> operator serves as an alias for the JSON_EXTRACT() function when used with two arguments, a column identifier on the left and a JSON path (a string literal) on the right that is evaluated against the JSON document (the column value). You can use such expressions in place of column references wherever they occur in SQL statements.

Syntax

MYSQL

SELECT c, JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id"), g
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id") > 1
     > ORDER BY JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.name");
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 |
| {"id": "4", "name": "Betty"}  | "4"       |    4 |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SELECT c, c->"$.id", g
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE c->"$.id" > 1
     > ORDER BY c->"$.name";
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 |
| {"id": "4", "name": "Betty"}  | "4"       |    4 |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Examples

Example

The two SELECT statements shown here produce the same output:

MYSQL

SELECT c, JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id"), g
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id") > 1
     > ORDER BY JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.name");
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 |
| {"id": "4", "name": "Betty"}  | "4"       |    4 |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SELECT c, c->"$.id", g
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE c->"$.id" > 1
     > ORDER BY c->"$.name";
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 |
| {"id": "4", "name": "Betty"}  | "4"       |    4 |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Example 2

This functionality is not limited to SELECT, as shown here:

MYSQL

ALTER TABLE jemp ADD COLUMN n INT;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.68 sec)
Records: 0  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

UPDATE jemp SET n=1 WHERE c->"$.id" = "4";
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.04 sec)
Rows matched: 1  Changed: 1  Warnings: 0

SELECT c, c->"$.id", g, n
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id") > 1
     > ORDER BY c->"$.name";
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    | n    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 | NULL |
| {"id": "4", "name": "Betty"}  | "4"       |    4 |    1 |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 | NULL |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

DELETE FROM jemp WHERE c->"$.id" = "4";
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.04 sec)

SELECT c, c->"$.id", g, n
     > FROM jemp
     > WHERE JSON_EXTRACT(c, "$.id") > 1
     > ORDER BY c->"$.name";
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
| c                             | c->"$.id" | g    | n    |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
| {"id": "3", "name": "Barney"} | "3"       |    3 | NULL |
| {"id": "2", "name": "Wilma"}  | "2"       |    2 | NULL |
+-------------------------------+-----------+------+------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Example 3

(See Indexing a Generated Column to Provide a JSON Column Index, for the statements used to create and populate the table just shown.)

MYSQL

CREATE TABLE tj10 (a JSON, b INT);
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.26 sec)

INSERT INTO tj10
     > VALUES ("[3,10,5,17,44]", 33), ("[3,10,5,17,[22,44,66]]", 0);
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.04 sec)

SELECT a->"$[4]" FROM tj10;
+--------------+
| a->"$[4]"    |
+--------------+
| 44           |
| [22, 44, 66] |
+--------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SELECT * FROM tj10 WHERE a->"$[0]" = 3;
+------------------------------+------+
| a                            | b    |
+------------------------------+------+
| [3, 10, 5, 17, 44]           |   33 |
| [3, 10, 5, 17, [22, 44, 66]] |    0 |
+------------------------------+------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Example 4

This also works with JSON array values, as shown here:

MYSQL

SELECT * FROM tj10 WHERE a->"$[4][1]" IS NOT NULL;
+------------------------------+------+
| a                            | b    |
+------------------------------+------+
| [3, 10, 5, 17, [22, 44, 66]] |    0 |
+------------------------------+------+

SELECT a->"$[4][1]" FROM tj10;
+--------------+
| a->"$[4][1]" |
+--------------+
| NULL         |
| 44           |
+--------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Example 5

Nested arrays are supported. An expression using -> evaluates as NULL if no matching key is found in the target JSON document, as shown here:

MYSQL

SELECT JSON_EXTRACT(a, "$[4][1]") FROM tj10;
+----------------------------+
| JSON_EXTRACT(a, "$[4][1]") |
+----------------------------+
| NULL                       |
| 44                         |
+----------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)