[[json-processor]]
=== JSON processor
++++
<titleabbrev>JSON</titleabbrev>
++++

Converts a JSON string into a structured JSON object.

[[json-options]]
.Json Options
[options="header"]
|======
| Name                            | Required  | Default   | Description
| `field`                         | yes       | -         | The field to be parsed.
| `target_field`                  | no        | `field`   | The field that the converted structured object will be written into. Any existing content in this field will be overwritten.
| `add_to_root`                   | no        | false     | Flag that forces the parsed JSON to be added at the top level of the document. `target_field` must not be set when this option is chosen.
| `add_to_root_conflict_strategy` | no        | `replace` | When set to `replace`, root fields that conflict with fields from the parsed JSON will be overridden. When set to `merge`, conflicting fields will be merged. Only applicable if `add_to_root` is set to `true`.
| `allow_duplicate_keys`          | no        | false     | When set to `true`, the JSON parser will not fail if the JSON contains duplicate keys. Instead, the last encountered value for any duplicate key wins.
| `strict_json_parsing`           | no        | true      | When set to `true`, the JSON parser will strictly parse the field value. When set to `false`, the JSON parser will be more lenient but also more likely to drop parts of the field value. For example if `strict_json_parsing` is set to `true` and the field value is `123 "foo"` then the processor will throw an IllegalArgumentException. But if `strict_json_parsing` is set to `false` then the field value will be parsed as `123`.
include::common-options.asciidoc[]
|======

All JSON-supported types will be parsed (null, boolean, number, array, object, string).

Suppose you provide this configuration of the `json` processor:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "json" : {
    "field" : "string_source",
    "target_field" : "json_target"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

If the following document is processed:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "string_source": "{\"foo\": 2000}"
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

after the `json` processor operates on it, it will look like:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "string_source": "{\"foo\": 2000}",
  "json_target": {
    "foo": 2000
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

If the following configuration is provided, omitting the optional `target_field` setting:
[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "json" : {
    "field" : "source_and_target"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

then after the `json` processor operates on this document:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "source_and_target": "{\"foo\": 2000}"
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

it will look like:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "source_and_target": {
    "foo": 2000
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

This illustrates that, unless it is explicitly named in the processor configuration, the `target_field`
is the same field provided in the required `field` configuration.