save json jq output as seperate variables or as an array

Question

I am currently working with i3 and would like to parse the visible workspaces with i3-msg -t get_workspaces, to "save the workspace" and return to them when my pomodoro break is over, problem is I've never worked with json in bash before (aside from a couple quick examples maybe an hour ago). basically I am trying to return the name value of the visible workspaces.

[
  {
    "id": 94475011596992,
    "num": 6,
    "name": "6:NoteTaking",
    "visible": false,
    "focused": false,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 65,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-2",
    "urgent": false
  },
  {
    "id": 94475011603104,
    "num": 7,
    "name": "7:Entertainment",
    "visible": false,
    "focused": false,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 65,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-2",
    "urgent": false
  },
  {
    "id": 94475011612464,
    "num": 9,
    "name": "9",
    "visible": true,
    "focused": true,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 65,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-2",
    "urgent": false
  },
  {
    "id": 94475011631328,
    "num": 1,
    "name": "1:Browsing",
    "visible": true,
    "focused": false,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 1145,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-1",
    "urgent": false
  },
  {
    "id": 94475011637712,
    "num": 2,
    "name": "2:Messaging",
    "visible": false,
    "focused": false,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 1145,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-1",
    "urgent": false
  },
  {
    "id": 94475011644096,
    "num": 3,
    "name": "3",
    "visible": false,
    "focused": false,
    "rect": {
      "x": 40,
      "y": 1145,
      "width": 1840,
      "height": 975
    },
    "output": "DisplayPort-1",
    "urgent": false
  }
]

Currently I have this line doing most of the heavy lifting,

  local currentWorkspaces=$(i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq -r 'map(select(.visible == true)).name')

it's returning the right values (granted they are in quotes.)

[
  "9",
  "1:Browsing"
]

I've been trying to call them with a simple array (never worked with arrays either so might be messing stuff up) i3-msg workspace "$currentWorkspaces[@]"

currently I have no idea how to move forward, and any help would be appreciated (-r the option I thought would return the values without quotes isn't doing so)

Answer 1

Assuming the values in .name have no spaces or certain other characters, you would be able to get away with something along the lines of the following:

X=($(i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq -r '.[] | select(.visible == true).name' ))

for var in "${X[@]}"
do
  echo "$var"
done 

Output:

9
1:Browsing

More robustly, if your shell has readarray:

readarray -t X < <(... | jq -r '.[] | select(.visible == true).name ')

Otherwise, you could use the idiom:

vars=(); while IFS= read -r line; do vars+=("$line"); done < .....

Answer 2

the ideal solution would be to have it stored in a array

Assuming you mean a bash array, you can use declare to declare it, and use jq's @sh to properly escape the contents.

For an indexed array, use declare -a:

$ declare -a cw="($(i3-msg … | jq -r '.[]  | select(.visible).name | @sh'))"

$ declare -p cw  # print for testing
declare -a cw=([0]="9" [1]="1:Browsing")

For an associative array, use declare -A, and output each keys before its value:

$ declare -A cw="($(i3-msg … | jq -r '.[]  | select(.visible) | .output, .name | @sh'))"

$ declare -p cw  # print for testing
declare -A cw=([DisplayPort-2]="9" [DisplayPort-1]="1:Browsing" )