convert bash `ls` output to json array

If you know that no filename contains newlines, use jq:

ls | jq -R -s -c 'split("\n")[:-1]'

Short explanation of the flags to jq:

• -R treats the input as string instead of JSON
• -s joins all lines into an array
• -c creates a compact output
• [:-1] removes the last empty string in the output array

This requires version 1.4 or later of jq. Try this if it doesn’t work for you:

ls | jq -R '[.]' | jq -s -c 'add'