remove-square-brackets-from-json-without-array-wrapper-option.md

title	Remove Square Brackets from JSON - WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER Option | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom	SQL2016_New_Updated
ms.date	06/02/2016
ms.prod	sql-server-2016
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ms.technology	dbe-json
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helpviewer_keywords	WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER
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Remove Square Brackets from JSON - WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER Option

[!INCLUDEtsql-appliesto-ss2016-asdb-xxxx-xxx_md]

To remove the square brackets that surround the JSON output of the FOR JSON clause by default, specify the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option. Use this option to generate a single JSON object as output instead of an array.

If you don't specify this option, the JSON output is enclosed within square brackets.

Examples

The following example shows the output of the FOR JSON clause with and without the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option.

Query

SELECT 2015 as year, 12 as month, 15 as day  
FOR JSON PATH, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER 

Result with the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option

{
	"year": 2015,
	"month": 12,
	"day": 15
} 

Result without the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option

[{
	"year": 2015,
	"month": 12,
	"day": 15
}]

Here's another example of a FOR JSON clause with and without the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option.

Query

SELECT TOP 1 SalesOrderNumber, OrderDate, Status  
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader  
ORDER BY ModifiedDate  
FOR JSON PATH, WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER 

Result with the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option

{
	"SalesOrderNumber": "SO43660",
	"OrderDate": "2011-05-31T00:00:00",
	"Status": 5
} 

Result without the WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER option

[{
	"SalesOrderNumber": "SO43660",
	"OrderDate": "2011-05-31T00:00:00",
	"Status": 5
}]

See Also

FOR Clause (Transact-SQL)