Convert comma separated string into json array

Question

I have the following string in bash

"3.8,3.9,3.10" 

Is there a way using shell to convert it into a json array, i.e.

["3.8", "3.9", "3.10"] 

Answer 1

Since the string (including its double quotes) seems to be a properly formatted JSON string, we could pass it, as JSON, to the JSON processor jq and split it on the commas:

$ echo '"3.8,3.9,3.10"' | jq 'split(",")' [ "3.8", "3.9", "3.10" ] 

Use jq with -c to get "compact output":

$ echo '"3.8,3.9,3.10"' | jq -c 'split(",")' ["3.8","3.9","3.10"] 

Giving it to an internal jq variable on the command line and then splitting that variable's value:

$ jq -c -n --argjson str '"3.8,3.9,3.10"' '$str|split(",")' ["3.8","3.9","3.10"]