command merge

merge

Replace {{key}} template placeholders in Office documents with JSON data.

Synopsis

officecli merge <template> <output> --data <data> [--force] [--json]

Arguments

Name	Type	Required	Description
template	FileInfo	Yes	Source template document (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx)
output	FileInfo	Yes	Output file path

Options

Name	Type	Required	Description
--data	string	Yes	Inline JSON object or path to a .json file. Not positional — data must follow --data; a bare third argument is rejected as unrecognized.
--force	bool	No	Overwrite an existing output file
--json	bool	No	Output as structured JSON

Behavior

• Copies the template to the output path, then replaces all {{key}} placeholders with values from the JSON data.
• Works across all text content: paragraphs, runs, table cells, shapes, headers, footers, chart titles, etc.
• Returns the count of replacements and lists any unresolved {{...}} placeholders still remaining.

Examples

# Inline JSON data
officecli merge template.docx output.docx --data '{"name":"Alice","dept":"Sales","date":"2026-03-26"}'

# JSON file
officecli merge template.pptx report.pptx --data data.json

# Excel template
officecli merge budget-template.xlsx q4-budget.xlsx --data '{"quarter":"Q4","year":"2026"}'

Template Format

Place {{key}} markers anywhere in the document text:

Dear {{name}},

Your department ({{dept}}) budget for {{quarter}} {{year}} has been approved.

Keys are case-sensitive and must match the JSON property names exactly.

Nested objects

Nested JSON objects are addressable via dot-path placeholders:

{"customer":{"name":"Alice","address":{"city":"Berlin"}},"order":{"total":"1200"}}

Dear {{customer.name}}, ship to {{customer.address.city}}. Total: {{order.total}}.

Arrays must be flattened by the caller into named slots ({{items.0.name}} is not auto-resolved).

See Also

• Command Reference - All commands
• batch - Batch multiple operations

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Based on OfficeCLI v1.0.139