diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/expression_processing_test.go b/pkg/yqlib/expression_processing_test.go
index b170de00..9e38eff3 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/expression_processing_test.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/expression_processing_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ var pathTests = []struct {
 	expectedTokens  []interface{}
 	expectedPostFix []interface{}
 }{
+	{
+		`.["cat"].["dog"]`,
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "cat (string)", "]", "SHORT_PIPE", "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "dog (string)", "]"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "SELF", "cat (string)", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SELF", "dog (string)", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE"),
+	},
+	{
+		`.["cat"]`,
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "cat (string)", "]"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "SELF", "cat (string)", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY"),
+	},
 	{
 		"with(.a;.=3)",
 		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "WITH", "(", "a", "BLOCK", "SELF", "ASSIGN", "3 (int64)", ")"),
@@ -127,8 +137,8 @@ var pathTests = []struct {
 	},
 	{
 		`.a.[]`,
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]"),
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "SHORT_PIPE", "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "SELF", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE"),
 	},
 	{
 		`.a[0]`,
@@ -142,8 +152,8 @@ var pathTests = []struct {
 	},
 	{
 		`.a.[0]`,
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "0 (int64)", "]"),
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "0 (int64)", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "SHORT_PIPE", "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "0 (int64)", "]"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "SELF", "0 (int64)", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE"),
 	},
 	{
 		`.a[].c`,
@@ -217,8 +227,8 @@ var pathTests = []struct {
 	},
 	{
 		`{.a: .c, .b.[]: .f.g[]}`,
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "{", "a", "CREATE_MAP", "c", "UNION", "b", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]", "CREATE_MAP", "f", "SHORT_PIPE", "g", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]", "}"),
-		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "c", "CREATE_MAP", "b", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "f", "g", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE", "CREATE_MAP", "UNION", "COLLECT_OBJECT", "SHORT_PIPE"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "{", "a", "CREATE_MAP", "c", "UNION", "b", "SHORT_PIPE", "SELF", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]", "CREATE_MAP", "f", "SHORT_PIPE", "g", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "[", "EMPTY", "]", "}"),
+		append(make([]interface{}, 0), "a", "c", "CREATE_MAP", "b", "SELF", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE", "f", "g", "EMPTY", "COLLECT", "SHORT_PIPE", "TRAVERSE_ARRAY", "SHORT_PIPE", "CREATE_MAP", "UNION", "COLLECT_OBJECT", "SHORT_PIPE"),
 	},
 	{
 		`explode(.a.b)`,
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/expression_tokeniser.go b/pkg/yqlib/expression_tokeniser.go
index f19c5447..88ef892b 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/expression_tokeniser.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/expression_tokeniser.go
@@ -437,17 +437,16 @@ func (p *expressionTokeniserImpl) handleToken(tokens []*token, index int, postPr
 	log.Debug("processing %v", currentToken.toString(true))
 
 	if currentToken.TokenType == traverseArrayCollect {
+		// `.[exp]`` works by creating a traversal array of [self, exp] and piping that into the traverse array operator
 		//need to put a traverse array then a collect currentToken
 		// do this by adding traverse then converting currentToken to collect
 
-		if index == 0 || tokens[index-1].TokenType != operationToken ||
-			tokens[index-1].Operation.OperationType != traversePathOpType {
-			log.Debug("  adding self")
-			op := &Operation{OperationType: selfReferenceOpType, StringValue: "SELF"}
-			postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})
-		}
+		log.Debug("  adding self")
+		op := &Operation{OperationType: selfReferenceOpType, StringValue: "SELF"}
+		postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})
+
 		log.Debug("  adding traverse array")
-		op := &Operation{OperationType: traverseArrayOpType, StringValue: "TRAVERSE_ARRAY"}
+		op = &Operation{OperationType: traverseArrayOpType, StringValue: "TRAVERSE_ARRAY"}
 		postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})
 
 		currentToken = &token{TokenType: openCollect}
@@ -475,20 +474,15 @@ func (p *expressionTokeniserImpl) handleToken(tokens []*token, index int, postPr
 	}
 
 	if index != len(tokens)-1 && currentToken.CheckForPostTraverse &&
-		tokens[index+1].TokenType == operationToken &&
-		tokens[index+1].Operation.OperationType == traversePathOpType {
+		((tokens[index+1].TokenType == operationToken && (tokens[index+1].Operation.OperationType == traversePathOpType)) ||
+			(tokens[index+1].TokenType == traverseArrayCollect)) {
 		log.Debug("  adding pipe because the next thing is traverse")
-		op := &Operation{OperationType: shortPipeOpType, Value: "PIPE"}
+		op := &Operation{OperationType: shortPipeOpType, Value: "PIPE", StringValue: "."}
 		postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})
 	}
 	if index != len(tokens)-1 && currentToken.CheckForPostTraverse &&
 		tokens[index+1].TokenType == openCollect {
 
-		// if tokens[index].TokenType == closeCollect {
-		// 	log.Debug("  adding pipe because next is opencollect")
-		// 	op := &Operation{OperationType: shortPipeOpType, Value: "PIPE"}
-		// 	postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})
-		// }
 		log.Debug("  adding traverArray because next is opencollect")
 		op := &Operation{OperationType: traverseArrayOpType}
 		postProcessedTokens = append(postProcessedTokens, &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op})