jq: error (at <stdin>:131): Cannot iterate over string ("Files") - jq

Question

I am trying to parse JSON and getting stuck when it comes to iterating over a array.
[
{
"severity": "low",
"name": "AWS IAM policy attached to users",
"rule": "$.resource[*].aws_iam_policy_attachment[*].*[*].users exists and $.resource[*].aws_iam_policy_attachment[*].*[*].users[*] is not empty",
"files": [
"main.tf"
],
"id": "1903f355-b68f-4d9c-84dd-c46abe4f8673"
},
{
"severity": "medium",
"name": "AWS VPC allows unauthorized peering",
"rule": "$.resource[*].aws_vpc_peering_connection[*].*[*].peer_vpc_id does not equal $.resource[*].aws_vpc_peering_connection[*].*[*].vpc_id",
"files": [
"vpcpeering.tf",
"main.tf"
],
"id": "59356130-d856-470d-a08e-b2a0ba2a4ac7"
}
]
. += [{"severity": "Severity","name": "Name","files": "Files","id": "0"}, {"severity": "--------","name": "------------------------------------","files": "--------","id": "01"}] | sort_by(.id) | .[] | ["| " + .severity, "| " + .name, "| " + (.files | join (",")) , "| " ]
jq: error (at <stdin>:131): Cannot iterate over string ("Files")
exit status 5
https://jqplay.org/s/KzNXa7NqKq
I am trying to print the results in tabular format.
Severity. Name. Files
low AWS IAM policy attached to users. main.tf
low AWS VPC allows unauthorized peering. vpcpeering.tf, main.tf

Answer 1

Since the number of items in the .files array is variable, the following will focus on producing TSV (tab-separated values). You can easily adapt this solution to your requirements regarding a table with a variable number of columns.
First, ignoring the headers, note that the following filter, when used in conjunction with the -r command-line option, produces the output as shown:
map({id, severity, name, files})
| sort_by(.id)[]
| [.severity, .name, .files[]]
| #tsv
Output
low AWS IAM policy attached to users main.tf
medium AWS S3 object versioning is disabled cloudtrail.tf.json cloudtrail.tf
medium AWS VPC NACL allows traffic from blocked ports SG.tf
medium AWS security group allow egress traffic from blocked ports - 21,22,135,137-139,445,69 securitygroup22.tf
medium AWS Access logging not enabled on S3 buckets cloudtrail.tf.json cloudtrail.tf
medium AWS VPC allows unauthorized peering vpcpeering.tf
medium AWS IAM password policy does not have a minimum of 14 characters iampassword.tf
medium AWS security group allows traffic from blocked ports securitygroup22.tf
high AWS Security Groups allow internet traffic to SSH port (22) securitygroup22.tf
medium AWS EC2 instance have SSH port open to internet securitygroup22.tf
medium AWS IAM password policy allows password reuse iampassword.tf
medium AWS VPC NACL allow egress traffic from blocked ports SG.tf
high AWS Security Groups with Inbound rule overly permissive to All Traffic securitygroup22.tf
Headers
A modular way to deal with the header row is to define headers, e.g. along these lines:
def headers:
["Severity","Name","Files"],
["--------","----","-----"] ;
With this def, we essentially just add headers to the previous jq program:
headers,
(map({id, severity, name, files})
| sort_by(.id)[]
| [.severity, .name, .files[]])
| #tsv
Using a different "join" character for .files
Instead of the line:
[.severity, .name, .files[]]
you might wish to use a different "join" character for the files, e.g.
[.severity, .name, (.files|join(";"))]
Season to taste.