The keys syntax turns a whole API response into just the values you want to display. It works identically in the shortcode’s keys attribute and in the keys runtime argument of huxx_api() — with one exception: the [] wildcard is PHP-only, because WordPress ends a shortcode at the first ]. This page works every pattern against the same live response; the formal rules are in the keys Syntax Reference.

Quick version:

keys="products.0.title"                        → single value
keys="{products.0.title},{products.0.price}"   → several values, keyed by path
keys="products.[].title"                       → that value from every list item (PHP only)
keys="products.[].reviews.[].rating"           → nested wildcards, flattened (PHP only)

The response we’re extracting from#

All examples below run against the DummyJSON demo configuration (API demo_api, endpoint get_products, GET https://dummyjson.com/products), which returns:

{
    "products": [
        { "id": 1, "title": "Essence Mascara Lash Princess", "price": 9.99, "category": "beauty" },
        { "id": 2, "title": "Eyeshadow Palette with Mirror", "price": 19.99, "category": "beauty" }
    ],
    "total": 194,
    "skip": 0,
    "limit": 30
}

JSON responses nest lists inside objects inside lists. A dot path is just directions for walking down that nesting, one level per dot. How HuxxConnect Works explains the request-to-response flow.

Extract one value with a dot path#

Each dot moves one level deeper. List positions are numeric and start at 0.

Shortcode:

PHP:

<?php
$title = huxx_api( 'demo_api', 'get_products', array( 'keys' => 'products.0.title' ) );
echo esc_html( $title );

Output:

Essence Mascara Lash Princess

A path that doesn’t exist in the response returns null — the shortcode renders it as null inside the response <pre> block so you can see the miss.

Extract several values with a brace list#

Wrap each path in { } and separate with commas. The result is an associative array keyed by the full dot path, so you always know which value came from where.

Shortcode:

PHP:

<?php
$values = huxx_api( 'demo_api', 'get_products', array(
    'keys' => array( 'products.0.title', 'products.0.price' ),
) );
echo esc_html( $values['products.0.title'] );

Shortcode output:

{
    "products.0.title": "Essence Mascara Lash Princess",
    "products.0.price": 9.99
}

Paths that resolve to null are omitted from a multi-key result rather than included as empty entries. Bare comma lists without braces (keys="products.0.title,products.0.price") parse the same way; the brace form is preferred because it stays unambiguous.

Extract from every list item with []#

A [] segment fans out across all items of a list, applies the rest of the path to each one, and flattens the results into a single array.

Warning: [] cannot be used inside a shortcode attribute. WordPress ends a shortcode at the first ] it finds, so keys="products.[].title" cuts the tag off mid-attribute and the keys path is never applied. Use the PHP huxx_api() function for wildcard paths.

PHP:

<?php
$titles = huxx_api( 'demo_api', 'get_products', array( 'keys' => 'products.[].title' ) );
foreach ( $titles as $title ) {
    echo '<li>' . esc_html( $title ) . '</li>';
}

$titles (truncated):

[
    "Essence Mascara Lash Princess",
    "Eyeshadow Palette with Mirror"
]

Wildcards nest: each product in the DummyJSON response carries a reviews list, so products.[].reviews.[].rating collects every rating from every product into one flat array. A [] only fans out over sequential lists — applying it to a keyed object returns null.

Choose string or array form in PHP#

In PHP, keys accepts either the same string the shortcode uses (braces and all) or a plain array of paths:

<?php
// String form — parsed exactly like the shortcode attribute.
$one  = huxx_api( 'demo_api', 'get_products', array( 'keys' => '{products.0.title}' ) );

// Array form — no parsing; each entry is a dot path.
$many = huxx_api( 'demo_api', 'get_products', array( 'keys' => array( 'total', 'limit' ) ) );

Output:

$one  = "Essence Mascara Lash Princess"
$many = [ 'total' => 194, 'limit' => 30 ]

A single-entry array behaves like a single string path: it returns the raw value, not a one-entry array. Extraction only runs when the response is an array — endpoints whose Results Format is JSON String or Raw return text, and keys is skipped.

If it didn’t work#

• The result is null. The path doesn’t match the structure. Render the response without keys first, then rebuild the path level by level — remember list indexes are numeric and the wrapper key (here products) counts as a level.
• A multi-key result is missing one of the paths. That path resolved to null (missing key, or a key whose value is literally null) and was dropped. Check the spelling of that one path against the raw response.
• [] returns null even though the data is there. The segment before [] points at a keyed object, not a list. Move the [] to the level that is actually a sequential list (e.g. products.[], not [].products).