From 4bbffa90225a9295346ae130922b33155031b656 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mike Farah <mikefarah@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2026 15:44:50 +1100
Subject: [PATCH] Fixed merge globbing wildcards in keys #2564

---
 pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go       |  1 +
 pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go      |  2 +-
 pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go |  9 +++++++--
 4 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go b/pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go
index d4451257..b99f6e37 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go
@@ -451,6 +451,7 @@ func multiplyWithPrefs(op *operationType) yqAction {
 			prefs.AssignPrefs.ClobberCustomTags = true
 		}
 		prefs.TraversePrefs.DontFollowAlias = true
+		prefs.TraversePrefs.ExactKeyMatch = true
 		op := &Operation{OperationType: op, Value: multiplyOpType.Type, StringValue: options, Preferences: prefs}
 		return &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op}, nil
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go
index 73e9a6c9..8ea69a18 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ func mergeObjects(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, lhs *CandidateNode, rhs
 
 	// only need to recurse the array if we are doing a deep merge
 	prefs := recursiveDescentPreferences{RecurseArray: preferences.DeepMergeArrays,
-		TraversePreferences: traversePreferences{DontFollowAlias: true, IncludeMapKeys: true}}
+		TraversePreferences: traversePreferences{DontFollowAlias: true, IncludeMapKeys: true, ExactKeyMatch: true}}
 	log.Debugf("merge - preferences.DeepMergeArrays %v", preferences.DeepMergeArrays)
 	log.Debugf("merge - preferences.AppendArrays %v", preferences.AppendArrays)
 	err := recursiveDecent(results, context.SingleChildContext(rhs), prefs)
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go
index 49a3b6eb..1c7eca32 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go
@@ -86,7 +86,26 @@ c:
   <<: *cat
 `
 
+var mergeWithGlobA = `
+"**cat": things,
+"meow**cat": stuff
+`
+
+var mergeWithGlobB = `
+"**cat": newThings,
+`
+
 var multiplyOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		description: "glob keys are treated as literals when merging",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    mergeWithGlobA,
+		document2:   mergeWithGlobB,
+		expression:  `select(fi == 0) * select(fi == 1)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::\n\"**cat\": newThings,\n\"meow**cat\": stuff\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   mergeArrayWithAnchors,
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go
index 3cd9fd51..28ca09a9 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ type traversePreferences struct {
 	DontAutoCreate       bool // by default, we automatically create entries on the fly.
 	DontIncludeMapValues bool
 	OptionalTraverse     bool // e.g. .adf?
+	ExactKeyMatch        bool // by default we let wild/glob patterns. Don't do that for merge though.
 }
 
 func splat(context Context, prefs traversePreferences) (Context, error) {
@@ -216,7 +217,11 @@ func traverseArrayWithIndices(node *CandidateNode, indices []*CandidateNode, pre
 	return newMatches, nil
 }
 
-func keyMatches(key *CandidateNode, wantedKey string) bool {
+func keyMatches(key *CandidateNode, wantedKey string, exactKeyMatch bool) bool {
+	if exactKeyMatch {
+		// this is used for merge
+		return key.Value == wantedKey
+	}
 	return matchKey(key.Value, wantedKey)
 }
 
@@ -303,7 +308,7 @@ func doTraverseMap(newMatches *orderedmap.OrderedMap, node *CandidateNode, wante
 					return err
 				}
 			}
-		} else if splat || keyMatches(key, wantedKey) {
+		} else if splat || keyMatches(key, wantedKey, prefs.ExactKeyMatch) {
 			log.Debug("MATCHED")
 			if prefs.IncludeMapKeys {
 				log.Debug("including key")