AWS CLI: Error parsing parameter '--item': Invalid JSON:

Question

I am trying to run the following command

aws dynamodb put-item \
--table-name TABLENAME \
--item file://accounts.json \
--profile ACCOUNTID \
--region us-east-1

TABLENAME and ACCOUNTID aren't variables. Just scrubbing their actual names.

The json file looks like this

[
{
    "accountid": {"N": "ACCOUNTID"},
    "accountname": {"S": "ACCOUNTNAME"}
},
{
    "accountid": {"N": "ACCOUNTID"},
    "accountname": {"S": "ACCOUNTNAME"}
}
]

Account info is also scrubbed for this example

And I keep getting

Error parsing parameter '--item': Invalid JSON:

I've checked the JSON on various validators and it's showing it's correct.

I also have used the following json file

{
    "accountid": {"N": "090697449863"},
    "accountname": {"S": "awc-n-sf-devops"}
}

To put one item in the table and it works fine.

What am I missing in the json file putting 2 items, that causing the error?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

As if now put-item does not support inserting multiple items. You have to use batch-write-item

Below example can help you about how to use batch-write-item in your case.

Content of accounts.json file

{
  "test-table": [
    {
      "PutRequest": {
        "Item": {
          "accountid": {
            "S": "100"
          },
          "accountname": {
            "S": "ACCOUNTNAME1"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "PutRequest": {
        "Item": {
          "accountid": {
            "S": "101"
          },
          "accountname": {
            "S": "ACCOUNTNAME2"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

CLI Command

aws dynamodb batch-write-item --region us-east-1 --profile ACCOUNTID --request-items file://accounts.json

It will insert all the items mentioned in the accounts.json file.

Below is the attached image of inserted items after running the above command:

There is a way to use put-item too to insert multiple items, but you need to iterate through all the items one by one and insert it into table(You can use any SDK). I believe it won't be an optimal solution because you would make multiple calls to the put-item API.

Answer 2

The put-item feature allows you to put an item, not multiple items.

Use batch-write-item for multiple items, or call put-item once per item.