diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go b/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
index 493fb118..6f698c41 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ type CandidateNode struct {
 	LeadingContent  string
 	TrailingContent string
 
-	Path     []interface{} /// the path we took to get to this node
-	Document uint          // the document index of this node
+	Document uint // the document index of this node
 	Filename string
 
 	Line   int
@@ -95,13 +94,13 @@ type CandidateNode struct {
 	IsMapKey         bool
 }
 
-func (n *CandidateNode) GetKey() string {
-	keyPrefix := ""
-	if n.IsMapKey {
-		keyPrefix = "key-"
-	}
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%v%v - %v", keyPrefix, n.Document, n.Path)
-}
+// func (n *CandidateNode) GetKey() string {
+// 	keyPrefix := ""
+// 	if n.IsMapKey {
+// 		keyPrefix = "key-"
+// 	}
+// 	return fmt.Sprintf("%v%v - %v", keyPrefix, n.Document, n.Path)
+// }
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) unwrapDocument() *CandidateNode {
 	if n.Kind == DocumentNode {
@@ -114,15 +113,47 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) GetNiceTag() string {
 	return n.unwrapDocument().Tag
 }
 
-func (n *CandidateNode) GetNicePath() string {
-	if n.Path != nil && len(n.Path) >= 0 {
-		pathStr := make([]string, len(n.Path))
-		for i, v := range n.Path {
-			pathStr[i] = fmt.Sprintf("%v", v)
-		}
-		return strings.Join(pathStr, ".")
+func (n *CandidateNode) getParsedKey() interface{} {
+	if n.Key == nil {
+		return nil
 	}
-	return ""
+	if n.Key.Tag == "!!str" {
+		return n.Key.Value
+	}
+	index, err := parseInt(n.Key.Value)
+	if err != nil {
+		return n.Key.Value
+	}
+	return index
+
+}
+
+func (n *CandidateNode) GetPath() []interface{} {
+	if n.Parent != nil {
+		return append(n.Parent.GetPath(), n.getParsedKey())
+	}
+	return []interface{}{n.getParsedKey()}
+}
+
+func (n *CandidateNode) GetNicePath() string {
+	var sb strings.Builder
+	path := n.GetPath()
+	for i, element := range path {
+		elementStr := fmt.Sprintf("%v", element)
+		switch element.(type) {
+		case int:
+			sb.WriteString("[" + elementStr + "]")
+		default:
+			if i == 0 {
+				sb.WriteString(elementStr)
+			} else if strings.ContainsRune(elementStr, '.') {
+				sb.WriteString("[" + elementStr + "]")
+			} else {
+				sb.WriteString("." + elementStr)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return sb.String()
 }
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) AsList() *list.List {
@@ -178,7 +209,6 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) guessTagFromCustomType() string {
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) CreateReplacement(kind Kind, tag string, value string) *CandidateNode {
 	return &CandidateNode{
-		Path:      n.createChildPath(nil),
 		Parent:    n.Parent,
 		Key:       n.Key,
 		IsMapKey:  n.IsMapKey,
@@ -199,20 +229,6 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) CreateReplacementWithDocWrappers(kind Kind, tag string,
 	return replacement
 }
 
-func (n *CandidateNode) createChildPath(path interface{}) []interface{} {
-	if path == nil {
-		newPath := make([]interface{}, len(n.Path))
-		copy(newPath, n.Path)
-		return newPath
-	}
-
-	//don't use append as they may actually modify the path of the orignal node!
-	newPath := make([]interface{}, len(n.Path)+1)
-	copy(newPath, n.Path)
-	newPath[len(n.Path)] = path
-	return newPath
-}
-
 func (n *CandidateNode) CopyChildren() []*CandidateNode {
 	clonedKids := make([]*CandidateNode, len(n.Content))
 	for i, child := range n.Content {
@@ -258,7 +274,6 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) doCopy(cloneContent bool) *CandidateNode {
 		LeadingContent:  n.LeadingContent,
 		TrailingContent: n.TrailingContent,
 
-		Path:     n.Path,
 		Document: n.Document,
 		Filename: n.Filename,
 
@@ -290,7 +305,7 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) UpdateFrom(other *CandidateNode, prefs assignPreferences
 }
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) UpdateAttributesFrom(other *CandidateNode, prefs assignPreferences) {
-	log.Debug("UpdateAttributesFrom: n: %v other: %v", n.GetKey(), other.GetKey())
+	log.Debug("UpdateAttributesFrom: n: %v other: %v", n.Key.Value, other.Key.Value)
 	if n.Kind != other.Kind {
 		// clear out the contents when switching to a different type
 		// e.g. map to array
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator.go b/pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator.go
index 4b834de3..c18ba2fb 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ type DataTreeNavigator interface {
 	// a new context of matching candidates
 	GetMatchingNodes(context Context, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (Context, error)
 
-	DeeplyAssign(context Context, rhsNode *CandidateNode) error
+	DeeplyAssign(context Context, path []interface{}, rhsNode *CandidateNode) error
 }
 
 type dataTreeNavigator struct {
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ func NewDataTreeNavigator() DataTreeNavigator {
 	return &dataTreeNavigator{}
 }
 
-func (d *dataTreeNavigator) DeeplyAssign(context Context, rhsCandidateNode *CandidateNode) error {
+func (d *dataTreeNavigator) DeeplyAssign(context Context, path []interface{}, rhsCandidateNode *CandidateNode) error {
 
 	assignmentOp := &Operation{OperationType: assignOpType, Preferences: assignPreferences{}}
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func (d *dataTreeNavigator) DeeplyAssign(context Context, rhsCandidateNode *Cand
 
 	assignmentOpNode := &ExpressionNode{
 		Operation: assignmentOp,
-		LHS:       createTraversalTree(rhsCandidateNode.Path, traversePreferences{}, false),
+		LHS:       createTraversalTree(path, traversePreferences{}, false),
 		RHS:       &ExpressionNode{Operation: rhsOp},
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_properties.go b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_properties.go
index 0c34fb52..6c428be8 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_properties.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_properties.go
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ func (dec *propertiesDecoder) applyPropertyComments(context Context, path []inte
 	assignmentOp := &Operation{OperationType: assignOpType, Preferences: assignPreferences{}}
 
 	rhsCandidateNode := &CandidateNode{
-		Path:        path,
 		Tag:         "!!str",
 		Value:       fmt.Sprintf("%v", path[len(path)-1]),
 		HeadComment: dec.processComment(strings.Join(comments, "\n")),
@@ -86,9 +85,8 @@ func (dec *propertiesDecoder) applyProperty(context Context, properties *propert
 
 	rhsNode := createStringScalarNode(value)
 	rhsNode.Tag = rhsNode.guessTagFromCustomType()
-	rhsNode.Path = path
 
-	return dec.d.DeeplyAssign(context, rhsNode)
+	return dec.d.DeeplyAssign(context, path, rhsNode)
 }
 
 func (dec *propertiesDecoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go
index f0f27f08..92614a1c 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go
@@ -62,12 +62,11 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processKeyValueIntoMap(rootMap *CandidateNode, tomlNode
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	valueNode.Path = path
 
 	context := Context{}
 	context = context.SingleChildContext(rootMap)
 
-	return dec.d.DeeplyAssign(context, valueNode)
+	return dec.d.DeeplyAssign(context, path, valueNode)
 }
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(rootMap *CandidateNode, tomlNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
@@ -279,7 +278,6 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 	tableNodeValue := &CandidateNode{
 		Kind: MappingNode,
 		Tag:  "!!map",
-		Path: fullPath,
 	}
 
 	tableValue := dec.parser.Expression()
@@ -296,7 +294,7 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 	c := Context{}
 
 	c = c.SingleChildContext(dec.rootMap)
-	err = dec.d.DeeplyAssign(c, tableNodeValue)
+	err = dec.d.DeeplyAssign(c, fullPath, tableNodeValue)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
@@ -305,7 +303,6 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) arrayAppend(context Context, path []interface{}, rhsNode *CandidateNode) error {
 	rhsCandidateNode := &CandidateNode{
-		Path:    path,
 		Kind:    SequenceNode,
 		Tag:     "!!seq",
 		Content: []*CandidateNode{rhsNode},
@@ -341,7 +338,6 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processArrayTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error)
 	tableNodeValue := &CandidateNode{
 		Kind: MappingNode,
 		Tag:  "!!map",
-		Path: fullPath,
 	}
 
 	tableValue := dec.parser.Expression()
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_create_map.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_create_map.go
index 775451b1..4390ce60 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_create_map.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_create_map.go
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ func createMapOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Ex
 	//each matchingNodes entry should turn into a sequence of keys to create.
 	//then collect object should do a cross function of the same index sequence for all matches.
 
-	var path []interface{}
-
 	var document uint
 
 	sequences := list.New()
@@ -36,19 +34,16 @@ func createMapOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Ex
 
 	node := listToNodeSeq(sequences)
 	node.Document = document
-	node.Path = path
 
 	return context.SingleChildContext(node), nil
 
 }
 
 func sequenceFor(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, matchingNode *CandidateNode, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (*CandidateNode, error) {
-	var path []interface{}
 	var document uint
 	var matches = list.New()
 
 	if matchingNode != nil {
-		path = matchingNode.Path
 		document = matchingNode.Document
 		matches.PushBack(matchingNode)
 	}
@@ -63,7 +58,6 @@ func sequenceFor(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, matchingNode *CandidateN
 				rhs.unwrapDocument(),
 			}
 			node.Document = document
-			node.Path = path
 
 			return &node, nil
 		}, false)
@@ -74,7 +68,6 @@ func sequenceFor(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, matchingNode *CandidateN
 	innerList := listToNodeSeq(mapPairs.MatchingNodes)
 	innerList.Style = FlowStyle
 	innerList.Document = document
-	innerList.Path = path
 	return innerList, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go
index da56f186..46d359fb 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_datetime.go
@@ -88,8 +88,9 @@ func formatDateTime(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expre
 			}
 		}
 		node.Document = candidate.Document
+		node.Parent = candidate.Parent
+		node.Key = candidate.Key
 		node.FileIndex = candidate.FileIndex
-		node.Path = candidate.Path
 		results.PushBack(node)
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_delete.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_delete.go
index ea89aa29..1d0f4c56 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_delete.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_delete.go
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ func deleteChildOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *
 		}
 
 		parentNode := candidate.Parent
-		childPath := candidate.Path[len(candidate.Path)-1]
+		parentPath := parentNode.GetPath()
+		childPath := parentPath[len(parentPath)-1]
 
 		if parentNode.Kind == MappingNode {
 			deleteFromMap(candidate.Parent, childPath)
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ func deleteFromMap(candidate *CandidateNode, childPath interface{}) {
 
 		shouldDelete := key.Value == childPath
 
-		log.Debugf("shouldDelete %v ? %v", value.GetKey(), shouldDelete)
+		log.Debugf("shouldDelete %v ? %v", value.ToDebugString(), shouldDelete)
 
 		if !shouldDelete {
 			newContents = append(newContents, key, value)
diff --git a/pkg/yqlib/operator_path.go b/pkg/yqlib/operator_path.go
index c956f353..07a97e30 100644
--- a/pkg/yqlib/operator_path.go
+++ b/pkg/yqlib/operator_path.go
@@ -156,9 +156,11 @@ func getPathOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expr
 		candidate := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)
 		node := candidate.CreateReplacement(SequenceNode, "!!seq", "")
 
-		content := make([]*CandidateNode, len(candidate.Path))
-		for pathIndex := 0; pathIndex < len(candidate.Path); pathIndex++ {
-			path := candidate.Path[pathIndex]
+		path := candidate.GetPath()
+
+		content := make([]*CandidateNode, len(path))
+		for pathIndex := 0; pathIndex < len(path); pathIndex++ {
+			path := path[pathIndex]
 			content[pathIndex] = createPathNodeFor(path)
 		}
 		node.Content = content