Curl throws error "There was an error parsing JSON"

[Jehan Bhathena]

I'm trying to search for the issues that we get out of a JQL query using CURL. I'm substituting the field name with a variable I fetch in the previous steps.

Variable is a migrated custom field eg."Field Name (migrated)"

curl --request POST --url 'https://<baseURL>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/search' \
--header "Content-Type: application/json" \
--header 'Accept: application/json' \
--header "Authorization: Basic ${token}" \
--data "{\"jql\": \"\"${VAR}\" IS NOT EMPTY\"}"

 Error :

{"errorMessages":["There was an error parsing JSON. Check that your request body is valid."]}

When I try this with single quoted for the data it works, but I need to use double quotes so that the Variable can be expanded, does anyone know if the API request needs any updating

[Jehan Bhathena · Accepted solution]

Syntax that solved the issue for me: 

Explanation for the above syntax:

My input variable was a string like this : "Custom Field (migrated)", since this string contains whitespaces and a round bracket when I did not use the addition double quotes around it, bash assumed those needed to be considered as individual arguments and thus ended up making 3 different sub-vars (not the right term but for the ease of explanation adding it)

Reference : https://stackoverflow.com/a/10067297

Thanks to @Wagner Santos for hinting at using single quotes for all the parts that remain consistent.

[Wagner Santos]

I have replaced --data with --json, and it worked for me. Could you please try it out?

--json '{"jql":"'$VAR' IS NOT EMPTY"}'

[Jehan Bhathena]

Hi @Wagner Santos ,

Thank you for the response, unfortunately this too did not work.

Below is the syntax :

I think it is the round brackets in the custom field name that is causing the issue.

[Wagner Santos]

Glad to hear you have found a solution already!

Regarding the --json unknown error, it seems to be related to your curl client version. --json parameter was introduced on version 7.82.0. So you might want to update it.

I also realized this parameter is just a shortcut to make your curl code cleaner when working with JSON. 😆 https://github.com/curl/curl/pull/8314 

curl --version can be used to check your client version.