[SOLVED] SED: removing block of lines if condition is met?

Issue

Is it feasible to remove a block of lines (including starting { and ending },) only if "is_staff": true?

The text file content would be always in this format:

[
{
  "model": "accounts.account",
  "pk": 2,
  "fields": {
    "password": "pbkdf2_sha256$320000$5vD4W5YDuvMmyyVRN5ub6U$weJzPTlN1Hrd7dlpjeO2Lw29a8ej+60Ib09vEifi4Qk=",
    "last_login": "2022-09-08T14:20:45.106Z",
    "is_superuser": false,
    "licence": "dde0af69-154a-4b8c-b393-bd59730b5947",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Marco",
    "last_name": "Rossi",
    "piva": "02375050511",
    "is_active": true,
    "is_staff": false,
    "date_joined": "2022-09-07T14:10:22.456Z",
    "groups": [
      1
    ],
    "user_permissions": []
  }
},
{
  "model": "accounts.account",
  "pk": 1,
  "fields": {
    "password": "pbkdf2_sha256$320000$mh3UDxtwhiROEecrz8XH3o$NmqWo9epps2EQnYYTe8bKm72HqfHImxUE/eVSZWQ/1U=",
    "last_login": "2022-09-09T13:54:09.498Z",
    "is_superuser": true,
    "licence": null,
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "",
    "last_name": "",
    "piva": "",
    "is_active": true,
    "is_staff": true,
    "date_joined": "2022-09-07T14:05:03.213Z",
    "groups": [],
    "user_permissions": []
  }
},
{
  "model": "accounts.account",
  "pk": 3,
  "fields": {
    "password": "pbkdf2_sha256$320000$n4PRBAgTo8AejcTf66LTEr$SxhmWFvIcf+gWDyzNXpWz0MrfjemaX1a2msBxUZNvBc=",
    "last_login": null,
    "is_superuser": false,
    "licence": "dde0af69-154a-4b8c-b393-bd59730b5947",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Alessandro",
    "last_name": "Bianchi",
    "piva": "",
    "is_active": true,
    "is_staff": false,
    "date_joined": "2022-09-07T14:11:39.207Z",
    "groups": [
      3
    ],
    "user_permissions": []
  }
},
{
...
}
]

Preferred result:

[
{
  "model": "accounts.account",
  "pk": 2,
  "fields": {
    "password": "pbkdf2_sha256$320000$5vD4W5YDuvMmyyVRN5ub6U$weJzPTlN1Hrd7dlpjeO2Lw29a8ej+60Ib09vEifi4Qk=",
    "last_login": "2022-09-08T14:20:45.106Z",
    "is_superuser": false,
    "licence": "dde0af69-154a-4b8c-b393-bd59730b5947",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Marco",
    "last_name": "Rossi",
    "piva": "02375050511",
    "is_active": true,
    "is_staff": false,
    "date_joined": "2022-09-07T14:10:22.456Z",
    "groups": [
      1
    ],
    "user_permissions": []
  }
},
{
  "model": "accounts.account",
  "pk": 3,
  "fields": {
    "password": "pbkdf2_sha256$320000$n4PRBAgTo8AejcTf66LTEr$SxhmWFvIcf+gWDyzNXpWz0MrfjemaX1a2msBxUZNvBc=",
    "last_login": null,
    "is_superuser": false,
    "licence": "dde0af69-154a-4b8c-b393-bd59730b5947",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Alessandro",
    "last_name": "Bianchi",
    "piva": "",
    "is_active": true,
    "is_staff": false,
    "date_joined": "2022-09-07T14:11:39.207Z",
    "groups": [
      3
    ],
    "user_permissions": []
  }
},
{
...
}
]

Solution

As you have now changed the format of your input to actual JSON, it is much simpler and more reliable to use a json-aware tool such as jq:

jq '[ .[] | select(.fields.is_staff!=true) ]' <infile >outfile

This will pretty-print, so output will be indented differently from the input sample. However, it does not change the meaning of the JSON.

Answered By - jhnc

Answer Checked By - Katrina (WPSolving Volunteer)