Can this be used as jo for HCL?

[nikolay]

https://manpages.org/jo

[minamijoyo]

Could you describe your use case and what feature you expect? I have not used jo before, so I'm unsure what you are trying.

[nikolay]

The use case is creating valid HCL from shell scripts.

[antonbabenko]

We call hcledit to manage HCL files in shell scripts like this:

# Create content of temporary main.tf file
hcledit attribute append module.wrapper.source "\"${relative_source_path}${module_dir}\"" --newline -f "$tmp_file_tf" -u
hcledit attribute append module.wrapper.for_each var.items --newline -f "$tmp_file_tf" -u

https://github.com/antonbabenko/pre-commit-terraform/blob/66a1469a7c7954d8469d7a6f79f4ffb8c9ae09bf/hooks/terraform_wrapper_module_for_each.sh#L350-L352

I am unsure what else jo offers but hcledit does not.

[nikolay]

@antonbabenko Doesn't really work:

$ echo 'locals {}' | hcledit attribute append module.wrapper.source test --newline
locals {}

[antonbabenko]

Works for me:

$ echo 'locals {}' | hcledit attribute append locals.test "\"test\"" --newline
locals {
  test = "test"
}

The syntax can be a bit tricky to get right (especially for deeply nested structures).

[nikolay]

@antonbabenko But I want to add a new element in the root. We need the equivalent of jo and eventually jq so that HCL becomes a first-class citizen and eliminate the need for temporary files.

[antonbabenko]

Yes, there are some limitations around making root blocks. I usually make a file with a placeholder and then modify it.

[nikolay]

Sorry, I know everything's possible, but the idea I brought up, jo is the tool's ergonomics. Sadly, there's no sane JSON to HCL converter that outputs Terraform-like HCL, not just a twisted version of the JSON. A valid JSON is a valid HCL, so those conversion tools are useless unless the tool converts JSON to readable and meaningful like what every one of us writes for Terraform.

[minamijoyo]

What I understand is that apparently you like the comfort of jo, but I don't know how you want to improve hcledit specifically. Unless you can analyze the ergonomics of jo and make more specific requests, I don't know what to do.