Use ghcr.io instead of ghrc.io

Bumps [github.com/spf13/pflag](https://github.com/spf13/pflag) from 1.0.6 to 1.0.7.
- [Release notes](https://github.com/spf13/pflag/releases)
- [Commits](https://github.com/spf13/pflag/compare/v1.0.6...v1.0.7)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: github.com/spf13/pflag
  dependency-version: 1.0.7
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report_v3.md

@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
----
-name: Bug report - V3
-about: Create a report to help us improve
-title: ''
-labels: bug, v3
-assignees: ''
-
----
-
-**Describe the bug**
-A clear and concise description of what the bug is.
-
-Note that any how to questions should be posted in the discussion board and not raised as an issue.
-
-Version of yq: 3.X.X
-Operating system: mac/linux/windows/....
-Installed via: docker/binary release/homebrew/snap/...
-
-**Input Yaml**
-Concise yaml document(s) (as simple as possible to show the bug, please keep it to 10 lines or less)
-data1.yml:
-```yaml
-this: should really work
-```
-
-data2.yml:
-```yaml
-but: it strangely didn't
-```
-
-**Command**
-The command you ran:
-```
-yq merge data1.yml data2.yml
-```
-
-**Actual behavior**
-
-```yaml
-cat: meow
-```
-
-**Expected behavior**
-
-```yaml
-this: should really work
-but: it strangely didn't
-```
-
-**Additional context**
-Add any other context about the problem here.

.github/workflows/docker-release.yml

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
           IMAGE_VERSION=${VERSION:1}
           echo "IMAGE_VERSION: ${IMAGE_VERSION}"
 
-          PLATFORMS="linux/amd64,linux/ppc64le,linux/arm64,linux/arm/v7"
+          PLATFORMS="linux/amd64,linux/ppc64le,linux/arm64,linux/arm/v7,linux/s390x"
 
           echo "Building and pushing version ${IMAGE_VERSION} of image ${IMAGE_NAME}"
           docker buildx build \
@@ -95,6 +95,6 @@ jobs:
             -t "${IMAGE_NAME}:4-githubaction" \
             -t "${IMAGE_NAME}:latest-githubaction" \
             -t "ghcr.io/${IMAGE_NAME}:${IMAGE_VERSION}-githubaction" \
-            -t "ghrc.io/${IMAGE_NAME}:4-githubaction" \
+            -t "ghcr.io/${IMAGE_NAME}:4-githubaction" \
             -t "ghcr.io/${IMAGE_NAME}:latest-githubaction" \
             .

.golangci.bck.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+run:
+  timeout: 5m
+linters:
+  enable:
+    - asciicheck
+    - depguard
+    - errorlint
+    - gci
+    - gochecknoinits
+    - gofmt
+    - goimports
+    - gosec
+    - gosimple
+    - staticcheck
+    - unused
+    - misspell
+    - nakedret
+    - nolintlint
+    - predeclared
+    - revive
+    - unconvert
+    - unparam
+linters-settings:
+  depguard:
+    rules:
+      prevent_unmaintained_packages:
+        list-mode: lax
+        files:
+          - $all
+          - "!$test"
+        deny:
+          - pkg: io/ioutil
+            desc: "replaced by io and os packages since Go 1.16: https://tip.golang.org/doc/go1.16#ioutil"
+issues:
+  exclude-rules:
+  - linters:
+    - revive
+    text: "var-naming"

.golangci.yml

@@ -1,18 +1,11 @@
-run:
-  timeout: 5m
+version: "2"
 linters:
   enable:
     - asciicheck
     - depguard
     - errorlint
-    - gci
     - gochecknoinits
-    - gofmt
-    - goimports
     - gosec
-    - gosimple
-    - staticcheck
-    - unused
     - misspell
     - nakedret
     - nolintlint
@@ -20,19 +13,40 @@ linters:
     - revive
     - unconvert
     - unparam
-linters-settings:
-  depguard:
+  settings:
+    depguard:
+      rules:
+        prevent_unmaintained_packages:
+          list-mode: lax
+          files:
+            - $all
+            - '!$test'
+          deny:
+            - pkg: io/ioutil
+              desc: 'replaced by io and os packages since Go 1.16: https://tip.golang.org/doc/go1.16#ioutil'
+  exclusions:
+    generated: lax
+    presets:
+      - comments
+      - common-false-positives
+      - legacy
+      - std-error-handling
     rules:
-      prevent_unmaintained_packages:
-        list-mode: lax
-        files:
-          - $all
-          - "!$test"
-        deny:
-          - pkg: io/ioutil
-            desc: "replaced by io and os packages since Go 1.16: https://tip.golang.org/doc/go1.16#ioutil"
-issues:
-  exclude-rules:
-  - linters:
-    - revive
-    text: "var-naming"
+      - linters:
+          - revive
+        text: var-naming
+    paths:
+      - third_party$
+      - builtin$
+      - examples$
+formatters:
+  enable:
+    - gci
+    - gofmt
+    - goimports
+  exclusions:
+    generated: lax
+    paths:
+      - third_party$
+      - builtin$
+      - examples$

.goreleaser.yaml

@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ builds:
       - openbsd_amd64
       - windows_386
       - windows_amd64
+      - windows_arm
+      - windows_arm64
 
     no_unique_dist_dir: true
 

Dockerfile

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.24.1 AS builder
+FROM golang:1.24.5 AS builder
 
 WORKDIR /go/src/mikefarah/yq
 

Dockerfile.dev

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.24.1
+FROM golang:1.24.5
 
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y npm && \

README.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ![Build](https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/workflows/Build/badge.svg)  ![Docker Pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/mikefarah/yq.svg) ![Github Releases (by Release)](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/mikefarah/yq/total.svg) ![Go Report](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/mikefarah/yq) ![CodeQL](https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/workflows/CodeQL/badge.svg)
 
 
-a lightweight and portable command-line YAML, JSON and XML processor. `yq` uses [jq](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) like syntax but works with yaml files as well as json, xml, properties, csv and tsv. It doesn't yet support everything `jq` does - but it does support the most common operations and functions, and more is being added continuously.
+a lightweight and portable command-line YAML, JSON, INI and XML processor. `yq` uses [jq](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) like syntax but works with yaml files as well as json, xml, ini, properties, csv and tsv. It doesn't yet support everything `jq` does - but it does support the most common operations and functions, and more is being added continuously.
 
 yq is written in go - so you can download a dependency free binary for your platform and you are good to go! If you prefer there are a variety of package managers that can be used as well as Docker and Podman, all listed below.
 
@@ -76,21 +76,21 @@ For instance, VERSION=v4.2.0 and BINARY=yq_linux_amd64
 #### Compressed via tar.gz
 ```bash
 wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/${VERSION}/${BINARY}.tar.gz -O - |\
-  tar xz && mv ${BINARY} /usr/bin/yq
+  tar xz && mv ${BINARY} /usr/local/bin/yq
 ```
 
 #### Plain binary
 
 ```bash
-wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/${VERSION}/${BINARY} -O /usr/bin/yq &&\
-    chmod +x /usr/bin/yq
+wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/download/${VERSION}/${BINARY} -O /usr/local/bin/yq &&\
+    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq
 ```
 
 #### Latest version
 
 ```bash
-wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest/download/yq_linux_amd64 -O /usr/bin/yq &&\
-    chmod +x /usr/bin/yq
+wget https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/releases/latest/download/yq_linux_amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/yq &&\
+    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yq
 ```
 
 ### MacOS / Linux via Homebrew:
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ flox install yq
 ## Features
 - [Detailed documentation with many examples](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/)
 - Written in portable go, so you can download a lovely dependency free binary
-- Uses similar syntax as `jq` but works with YAML, [JSON](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/convert) and [XML](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/xml) files
+- Uses similar syntax as `jq` but works with YAML, INI, [JSON](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/convert) and [XML](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/xml) files
 - Fully supports multi document yaml files
 - Supports yaml [front matter](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/front-matter) blocks (e.g. jekyll/assemble)
 - Colorized yaml output
@@ -366,31 +366,52 @@ yq -i '.stuff = "foo"' myfile.yml # update myfile.yml in place
 
 
 Available Commands:
-  completion       Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
-  eval             (default) Apply the expression to each document in each yaml file in sequence
-  eval-all         Loads _all_ yaml documents of _all_ yaml files and runs expression once
-  help             Help about any command
+  completion  Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
+  eval        (default) Apply the expression to each document in each yaml file in sequence
+  eval-all    Loads _all_ yaml documents of _all_ yaml files and runs expression once
+  help        Help about any command
 
 Flags:
   -C, --colors                        force print with colors
+      --csv-auto-parse                parse CSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
+      --csv-separator char            CSV Separator character (default ,)
   -e, --exit-status                   set exit status if there are no matches or null or false is returned
+      --expression string             forcibly set the expression argument. Useful when yq argument detection thinks your expression is a file.
+      --from-file string              Load expression from specified file.
   -f, --front-matter string           (extract|process) first input as yaml front-matter. Extract will pull out the yaml content, process will run the expression against the yaml content, leaving the remaining data intact
       --header-preprocess             Slurp any header comments and separators before processing expression. (default true)
   -h, --help                          help for yq
   -I, --indent int                    sets indent level for output (default 2)
   -i, --inplace                       update the file in place of first file given.
-  -p, --input-format string           [yaml|y|xml|x] parse format for input. Note that json is a subset of yaml. (default "yaml")
+  -p, --input-format string           [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|lua|l|ini|i] parse format for input. (default "auto")
+      --lua-globals                   output keys as top-level global variables
+      --lua-prefix string             prefix (default "return ")
+      --lua-suffix string             suffix (default ";\n")
+      --lua-unquoted                  output unquoted string keys (e.g. {foo="bar"})
   -M, --no-colors                     force print with no colors
   -N, --no-doc                        Don't print document separators (---)
+  -0, --nul-output                    Use NUL char to separate values. If unwrap scalar is also set, fail if unwrapped scalar contains NUL char.
   -n, --null-input                    Don't read input, simply evaluate the expression given. Useful for creating docs from scratch.
-  -o, --output-format string          [yaml|y|json|j|props|p|xml|x] output format type. (default "yaml")
+  -o, --output-format string          [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|shell|s|lua|l|ini|i] output format type. (default "auto")
   -P, --prettyPrint                   pretty print, shorthand for '... style = ""'
-  -s, --split-exp string              print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter.
-      --unwrapScalar                  unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colors or comments (default true)
+      --properties-array-brackets     use [x] in array paths (e.g. for SpringBoot)
+      --properties-separator string   separator to use between keys and values (default " = ")
+  -s, --split-exp string              print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter. The necessary directories will be created.
+      --split-exp-file string         Use a file to specify the split-exp expression.
+      --string-interpolation          Toggles strings interpolation of \(exp) (default true)
+      --tsv-auto-parse                parse TSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
+  -r, --unwrapScalar                  unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colors or comments. Defaults to true for yaml (default true)
   -v, --verbose                       verbose mode
   -V, --version                       Print version information and quit
-      --xml-attribute-prefix string   prefix for xml attributes (default "+")
+      --xml-attribute-prefix string   prefix for xml attributes (default "+@")
       --xml-content-name string       name for xml content (if no attribute name is present). (default "+content")
+      --xml-directive-name string     name for xml directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>) (default "+directive")
+      --xml-keep-namespace            enables keeping namespace after parsing attributes (default true)
+      --xml-proc-inst-prefix string   prefix for xml processing instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>) (default "+p_")
+      --xml-raw-token                 enables using RawToken method instead Token. Commonly disables namespace translations. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml#Decoder.RawToken for details. (default true)
+      --xml-skip-directives           skip over directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>)
+      --xml-skip-proc-inst            skip over process instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>)
+      --xml-strict-mode               enables strict parsing of XML. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml for more details.
 
 Use "yq [command] --help" for more information about a command.
 ```

acceptance_tests/load-file.sh

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 testLoadFileNotExist() {
   result=$(./yq e -n 'load("cat.yml")' 2>&1)
   assertEquals 1 $?
-  assertEquals "Error: Failed to load cat.yml: open cat.yml: no such file or directory" "$result"
+  assertEquals "Error: failed to load cat.yml: open cat.yml: no such file or directory" "$result"
 }
 
 testLoadFileExpNotExist() {
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ testLoadFileExpNotExist() {
 testStrLoadFileNotExist() {
   result=$(./yq e -n 'strload("cat.yml")' 2>&1)
   assertEquals 1 $?
-  assertEquals "Error: Failed to load cat.yml: open cat.yml: no such file or directory" "$result"
+  assertEquals "Error: failed to load cat.yml: open cat.yml: no such file or directory" "$result"
 }
 
 testStrLoadFileExpNotExist() {

cmd/constant.go

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package cmd
 
 var unwrapScalarFlag = newUnwrapFlag()
 
+var printNodeInfo = false
+
 var unwrapScalar = false
 
 var writeInplace = false

cmd/evaluate_sequence_command.go

@@ -105,6 +105,11 @@ func evaluateSequence(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (cmdError error) {
 	}
 
 	printer := yqlib.NewPrinter(encoder, printerWriter)
+
+	if printNodeInfo {
+		printer = yqlib.NewNodeInfoPrinter(printerWriter)
+	}
+
 	if nulSepOutput {
 		printer.SetNulSepOutput(true)
 	}

cmd/root.go

@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ yq -P -oy sample.json
 	}
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&verbose, "verbose", "v", false, "verbose mode")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&printNodeInfo, "debug-node-info", "", false, "debug node info")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&outputToJSON, "tojson", "j", false, "(deprecated) output as json. Set indent to 0 to print json in one line.")
 	err := rootCmd.PersistentFlags().MarkDeprecated("tojson", "please use -o=json instead")
@@ -196,6 +197,7 @@ yq -P -oy sample.json
 		panic(err)
 	}
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.LeadingContentPreProcessing, "header-preprocess", "", true, "Slurp any header comments and separators before processing expression.")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec, "yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec", "", false, "Fix merge anchor to match YAML spec. Will default to true in late 2025")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&splitFileExp, "split-exp", "s", "", "print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter. The necessary directories will be created.")
 	if err = rootCmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc("split-exp", cobra.NoFileCompletions); err != nil {

cmd/utils.go

@@ -18,52 +18,100 @@ func isAutomaticOutputFormat() bool {
 func initCommand(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (string, []string, error) {
 	cmd.SilenceUsage = true
 
-	fileInfo, _ := os.Stdout.Stat()
-
-	if forceColor || (!forceNoColor && (fileInfo.Mode()&os.ModeCharDevice) != 0) {
-		colorsEnabled = true
-	}
+	setupColors()
 
 	expression, args, err := processArgs(args)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", nil, err
 	}
 
+	if err := loadSplitFileExpression(); err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+
+	handleBackwardsCompatibility()
+
+	if err := validateCommandFlags(args); err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+
+	if err := configureFormats(args); err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+
+	configureUnwrapScalar()
+
+	return expression, args, nil
+}
+
+func setupColors() {
+	fileInfo, _ := os.Stdout.Stat()
+
+	if forceColor || (!forceNoColor && (fileInfo.Mode()&os.ModeCharDevice) != 0) {
+		colorsEnabled = true
+	}
+}
+
+func loadSplitFileExpression() error {
 	if splitFileExpFile != "" {
 		splitExpressionBytes, err := os.ReadFile(splitFileExpFile)
 		if err != nil {
-			return "", nil, err
+			return err
 		}
 		splitFileExp = string(splitExpressionBytes)
 	}
+	return nil
+}
 
+func handleBackwardsCompatibility() {
 	// backwards compatibility
 	if outputToJSON {
 		outputFormat = "json"
 	}
+}
 
+func validateCommandFlags(args []string) error {
 	if writeInplace && (len(args) == 0 || args[0] == "-") {
-		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("write in place flag only applicable when giving an expression and at least one file")
+		return fmt.Errorf("write in place flag only applicable when giving an expression and at least one file")
 	}
 
 	if frontMatter != "" && len(args) == 0 {
-		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("front matter flag only applicable when giving an expression and at least one file")
+		return fmt.Errorf("front matter flag only applicable when giving an expression and at least one file")
 	}
 
 	if writeInplace && splitFileExp != "" {
-		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("write in place cannot be used with split file")
+		return fmt.Errorf("write in place cannot be used with split file")
 	}
 
 	if nullInput && len(args) > 0 {
-		return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot pass files in when using null-input flag")
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot pass files in when using null-input flag")
 	}
 
+	return nil
+}
+
+func configureFormats(args []string) error {
 	inputFilename := ""
 	if len(args) > 0 {
 		inputFilename = args[0]
 	}
-	if inputFormat == "" || inputFormat == "auto" || inputFormat == "a" {
 
+	if err := configureInputFormat(inputFilename); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if err := configureOutputFormat(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	yqlib.GetLogger().Debug("Using input format %v", inputFormat)
+	yqlib.GetLogger().Debug("Using output format %v", outputFormat)
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func configureInputFormat(inputFilename string) error {
+	if inputFormat == "" || inputFormat == "auto" || inputFormat == "a" {
 		inputFormat = yqlib.FormatStringFromFilename(inputFilename)
 
 		_, err := yqlib.FormatFromString(inputFormat)
@@ -88,24 +136,27 @@ func initCommand(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (string, []string, error) {
 		}
 		outputFormat = "yaml"
 	}
+	return nil
+}
 
+func configureOutputFormat() error {
 	outputFormatType, err := yqlib.FormatFromString(outputFormat)
-
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", nil, err
+		return err
 	}
-	yqlib.GetLogger().Debug("Using input format %v", inputFormat)
-	yqlib.GetLogger().Debug("Using output format %v", outputFormat)
 
 	if outputFormatType == yqlib.YamlFormat ||
 		outputFormatType == yqlib.PropertiesFormat {
 		unwrapScalar = true
 	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func configureUnwrapScalar() {
 	if unwrapScalarFlag.IsExplicitlySet() {
 		unwrapScalar = unwrapScalarFlag.IsSet()
 	}
-
-	return expression, args, nil
 }
 
 func configureDecoder(evaluateTogether bool) (yqlib.Decoder, error) {

cmd/version.go

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ var (
 	GitDescribe string
 
 	// Version is main version number that is being run at the moment.
-	Version = "v4.45.1"
+	Version = "v4.47.1"
 
 	// VersionPrerelease is a pre-release marker for the version. If this is "" (empty string)
 	// then it means that it is a final release. Otherwise, this is a pre-release
@@ -45,5 +45,5 @@ func getHumanVersion() string {
 	}
 
 	// Strip off any single quotes added by the git information.
-	return strings.Replace(version, "'", "", -1)
+	return strings.ReplaceAll(version, "'", "")
 }

examples/data1.yaml

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
-Foo: 3
-apple: 1
-bar: 2
+# 001
+---
+abc:  # 001
+- 1   # one
+- 2   # two
+
+---
+def   # 002

examples/front-matter.yaml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 a: apple
-b: bannana
+b: banana
 ---
 hello there
 apples: great

examples/sample.ini

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+
+; This is a INI document
+
+[owner]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+
+[database]
+db_host = "localhost"
+db_port = 5432
+db_user = "postgres"
+db_password = ""
+db_name = "postgres"
+

examples/sample_no_sections.ini

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+; This is a INI document
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+enabled = true
+ip = "10.0.0.1"
+role = "frontend"
+treads = 4

go.mod

@@ -1,32 +1,35 @@
 module github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4
 
 require (
-	github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.2
-	github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.1
-	github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.4.0
+	github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.3
+	github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.4
+	github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.5.1
 	github.com/dimchansky/utfbom v1.1.1
 	github.com/elliotchance/orderedmap v1.8.0
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0
+	github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0
 	github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5
-	github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.13.3
+	github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0
 	github.com/jinzhu/copier v0.4.0
-	github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.9
-	github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.3
+	github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.10
+	github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4
 	github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e
-	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1
-	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.6
+	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.9.1
+	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.7
 	github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1
-	golang.org/x/net v0.34.0
-	golang.org/x/text v0.23.0
+	go.yaml.in/yaml/v3 v3.0.4
+	golang.org/x/net v0.42.0
+	golang.org/x/text v0.27.0
 	gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1 v1.0.0-20160211212156-b2cb9fa56473
-	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
 )
 
 require (
 	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 // indirect
-	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.13 // indirect
+	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/sys v0.29.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.34.0 // indirect
 )
 
-go 1.23.0
+go 1.24
+
+toolchain go1.24.1

go.sum

@@ -1,78 +1,64 @@
-github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.2 h1:4yWIHXOLEJHQEFd4UjrWDrYeYlV7ncFWJOCBRLOZHQg=
-github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.2/go.mod h1:MVUTQNGQ3tsjOOtKCNd+fl8RzhsXcDvvAEzkhGtlsbY=
-github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.3.0 h1:mAsH2wmvjsuvyBvAmCtm7zFsBlb8mIHx5ySLVdDZXL0=
-github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.3.0/go.mod h1:pXcQ2Asjp247dahGEmsZ6ru0UVwnkhktn7S0bBDLxvQ=
-github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.1 h1:hrjKESvSqGHzRb4yW1ciisFJ4p3MGYih6icjJvbsmV8=
-github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.1/go.mod h1:Y1+hAs8DHPmc3YUFzqllV+eSQ9ljPTk0ZkPMtEdAx2c=
-github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.4.0 h1:GhI2A8MACjfegCPVq9f1FLvIBS+DrQ2KQBFZP1iFzXc=
-github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.4.0/go.mod h1:Fr0507jx4eOXV7AlPV6AVZLYrLIuIeSOWtW57eE/O/4=
-github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.4/go.mod h1:tgQtvFlXSQOSOSIRvRPT7W67SCa46tRHOmNcaadrF8o=
+github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.3 h1:kDF7paGK8QACWYaQo6KtyYBozY2jhQrTuNNuUxQkhJY=
+github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.3/go.mod h1:4jjHWQlZoaXPoLQUb7H2qT4iLkZDdmEQiOUogdUmqVU=
+github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.11.0 h1:2Q9r3ki8+JYXvGsDyBXwH3LcJ+WK5D0gc5E8vS6K3D0=
+github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.11.0/go.mod h1:Bze95FyfUr7x34QZrjL+XP+0qgp/zg8yS+TtBj1WA3k=
+github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.4 h1:W/H79S8Sat/krZ3el6sQMvMaahJ+XcM9WSI2naI7w2U=
+github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.4/go.mod h1:8tqVbpTX20Ru4NfYQgZf4mP18eXPTBViyMWiArNEgGI=
+github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.5.1 h1:E3G4t2QbHTSNpPKBgMTln5KLkZHLOcU7r37J4pXBuIg=
+github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.5.1/go.mod h1:Fr0507jx4eOXV7AlPV6AVZLYrLIuIeSOWtW57eE/O/4=
+github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.6/go.mod h1:oOW0eioCTA6cOiMLiUPZOpcVxMig6NIQQ7OS05n1F4g=
+github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0 h1:ZDRjVQ15GmhC3fiQ8ni8+OwkZQO4DARzQgrnXU1Liz8=
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
-github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1 h1:vj9j/u1bqnvCEfJOwUhtlOARqs3+rkHYY13jYWTU97c=
-github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
 github.com/dimchansky/utfbom v1.1.1 h1:vV6w1AhK4VMnhBno/TPVCoK9U/LP0PkLCS9tbxHdi/U=
 github.com/dimchansky/utfbom v1.1.1/go.mod h1:SxdoEBH5qIqFocHMyGOXVAybYJdr71b1Q/j0mACtrfE=
 github.com/elliotchance/orderedmap v1.8.0 h1:TrOREecvh3JbS+NCgwposXG5ZTFHtEsQiCGOhPElnMw=
 github.com/elliotchance/orderedmap v1.8.0/go.mod h1:wsDwEaX5jEoyhbs7x93zk2H/qv0zwuhg4inXhDkYqys=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0 h1:S8gINlzdQ840/4pfAwic/ZE0djQEH3wM94VfqLTZcOM=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0/go.mod h1:4FelSpRwEGDpQ12mAdzqdOukCy4u8WUtOY6lkT/6HfU=
-github.com/gabriel-vasile/mimetype v1.4.3 h1:in2uUcidCuFcDKtdcBxlR0rJ1+fsokWf+uqxgUFjbI0=
-github.com/gabriel-vasile/mimetype v1.4.3/go.mod h1:d8uq/6HKRL6CGdk+aubisF/M5GcPfT7nKyLpA0lbSSk=
-github.com/go-playground/locales v0.14.1 h1:EWaQ/wswjilfKLTECiXz7Rh+3BjFhfDFKv/oXslEjJA=
-github.com/go-playground/locales v0.14.1/go.mod h1:hxrqLVvrK65+Rwrd5Fc6F2O76J/NuW9t0sjnWqG1slY=
-github.com/go-playground/universal-translator v0.18.1 h1:Bcnm0ZwsGyWbCzImXv+pAJnYK9S473LQFuzCbDbfSFY=
-github.com/go-playground/universal-translator v0.18.1/go.mod h1:xekY+UJKNuX9WP91TpwSH2VMlDf28Uj24BCp08ZFTUY=
-github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.22.1 h1:40JcKH+bBNGFczGuoBYgX4I6m/i27HYW8P9FDk5PbgA=
-github.com/go-playground/validator/v10 v10.22.1/go.mod h1:dbuPbCMFw/DrkbEynArYaCwl3amGuJotoKCe95atGMM=
+github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0 h1:z6ZrTEZqSWOTyH2FlglNbNgARyHG8oLW9gMELqKr06A=
+github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0/go.mod h1:ByCAeIL28uOIIG0E3PJtZPDL8WnHpFKFOtgjp+3Ies8=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5 h1:Fq85nIqj+gXn/S5ahsiTlK3TmC85qgirsdTP/+DeaC4=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5/go.mod h1:oq7eo15ShAhp70Anwd5lgX2pLfOS3QCiwU/PULtXL6M=
-github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.13.3 h1:IXRULR8mAa0MXQobzzp0VOfMUJ8EnaQ4x3jhf7S0/nI=
-github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.13.3/go.mod h1:IjYwxUiJDoqpx2RmbdjMUceGHZwYLon3sfOGl5Hi9lc=
-github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0 h1:ofyhxvXcZhMsU5ulbFiLKl/XBFqE1GSq7atu8tAmTRI=
-github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
+github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0 h1:8W7wMFS12Pcas7KU+VVkaiCng+kG8QiFeFwzFb+rwuw=
+github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0/go.mod h1:XBurs7gK8ATbW4ZPGKgcbrY1Br56PdM69F7LkFRi1kA=
 github.com/hexops/gotextdiff v1.0.3 h1:gitA9+qJrrTCsiCl7+kh75nPqQt1cx4ZkudSTLoUqJM=
 github.com/hexops/gotextdiff v1.0.3/go.mod h1:pSWU5MAI3yDq+fZBTazCSJysOMbxWL1BSow5/V2vxeg=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 h1:wN+x4NVGpMsO7ErUn/mUI3vEoE6Jt13X2s0bqwp9tc8=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0/go.mod h1:vpF70FUmC8bwa3OWnCshd2FqLfsEA9PFc4w1p2J65bw=
 github.com/jinzhu/copier v0.4.0 h1:w3ciUoD19shMCRargcpm0cm91ytaBhDvuRpz1ODO/U8=
 github.com/jinzhu/copier v0.4.0/go.mod h1:DfbEm0FYsaqBcKcFuvmOZb218JkPGtvSHsKg8S8hyyg=
-github.com/leodido/go-urn v1.4.0 h1:WT9HwE9SGECu3lg4d/dIA+jxlljEa1/ffXKmRjqdmIQ=
-github.com/leodido/go-urn v1.4.0/go.mod h1:bvxc+MVxLKB4z00jd1z+Dvzr47oO32F/QSNjSBOlFxI=
-github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.9 h1:nWcCbLq1N2v/cpNsy5WvQ37Fb+YElfq20WJ/a8RkpQM=
-github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.9/go.mod h1:Dhd985XPs7jluiymwWYZ0G4Z61jb3vdS329zhj2hYo0=
-github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.13 h1:fFA4WZxdEF4tXPZVKMLwD8oUnCTTo08duU7wxecdEvA=
-github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.13/go.mod h1:7S9/ev0klgBDR4GtXTXX8a3vIGJpMovkB8vQcUbaXHg=
-github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.16/go.mod h1:kYGgaQfpe5nmfYZH+SKPsOc2e4SrIfOl2e/yFXSvRLM=
+github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.10 h1:s31yESBquKXCV9a/ScB3ESkOjUYYv+X0rg8SYxI99mE=
+github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.10/go.mod h1:Dhd985XPs7jluiymwWYZ0G4Z61jb3vdS329zhj2hYo0=
+github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14 h1:9A9LHSqF/7dyVVX6g0U9cwm9pG3kP9gSzcuIPHPsaIE=
+github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14/go.mod h1:6LmQG8QLFO4G5z1gPvYEzlUgJ2wF+stgPZH1UqBm1s8=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 h1:xfD0iDuEKnDkl03q4limB+vH+GxLEtL/jb4xVJSWWEY=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20/go.mod h1:W+V8PltTTMOvKvAeJH7IuucS94S2C6jfK/D7dTCTo3Y=
-github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.3 h1:YmeHyLY8mFWbdkNWwpr+qIL2bEqT0o95WSdkNHvL12M=
-github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.3/go.mod h1:MfCQTFTvCcUyyvvwm1+G6H/jORL20Xlb6rzQu9GuUkc=
+github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4 h1:mye9XuhQ6gvn5h28+VilKrrPoQVanw5PMw/TB0t5Ec4=
+github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4/go.mod h1:2gIqNv+qfxSVS7cM2xJQKtLSTLUE9V8t9Stt+h56mCY=
 github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e h1:aoZm08cpOy4WuID//EZDgcC4zIxODThtZNPirFr42+A=
 github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e/go.mod h1:pJLUxLENpZxwdsKMEsNbx1VGcRFpLqf3715MtcvvzbA=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
-github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1 h1:e5/vxKd/rZsfSJMUX1agtjeTDf+qv1/JdBF8gg5k9ZM=
-github.com/spf13/cobra v1.8.1/go.mod h1:wHxEcudfqmLYa8iTfL+OuZPbBZkmvliBWKIezN3kD9Y=
-github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.5/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
-github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.6 h1:jFzHGLGAlb3ruxLB8MhbI6A8+AQX/2eW4qeyNZXNp2o=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.9.1 h1:CXSaggrXdbHK9CF+8ywj8Amf7PBRmPCOJugH954Nnlo=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.9.1/go.mod h1:nDyEzZ8ogv936Cinf6g1RU9MRY64Ir93oCnqb9wxYW0=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.6/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
+github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.7 h1:vN6T9TfwStFPFM5XzjsvmzZkLuaLX+HS+0SeFLRgU6M=
+github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.7/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=
+github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0 h1:nwc3DEeHmmLAfoZucVR881uASk0Mfjw8xYJ99tb5CcY=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0/go.mod h1:6Fq8oRcR53rry900zMqJjRRixrwX3KX962/h/Wwjteg=
-github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0 h1:HtqpIVDClZ4nwg75+f6Lvsy/wHu+3BoSGCbBAcpTsTg=
-github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0/go.mod h1:r2ic/lqez/lEtzL7wO/rwa5dbSLXVDPFyf8C91i36aY=
 github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1 h1:kYKnWBjvbNP4XLT3+bPEwAXJx262OhaHDWDVOPjL46M=
 github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1/go.mod h1:GBR0iDaNXjAgGg9zfCvksxSRnQx76gclCIb7kdAd1Pw=
-golang.org/x/crypto v0.32.0 h1:euUpcYgM8WcP71gNpTqQCn6rC2t6ULUPiOzfWaXVVfc=
-golang.org/x/crypto v0.32.0/go.mod h1:ZnnJkOaASj8g0AjIduWNlq2NRxL0PlBrbKVyZ6V/Ugc=
-golang.org/x/net v0.34.0 h1:Mb7Mrk043xzHgnRM88suvJFwzVrRfHEHJEl5/71CKw0=
-golang.org/x/net v0.34.0/go.mod h1:di0qlW3YNM5oh6GqDGQr92MyTozJPmybPK4Ev/Gm31k=
-golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20220811171246-fbc7d0a398ab/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
+go.yaml.in/yaml/v3 v3.0.4 h1:tfq32ie2Jv2UxXFdLJdh3jXuOzWiL1fo0bu/FbuKpbc=
+go.yaml.in/yaml/v3 v3.0.4/go.mod h1:DhzuOOF2ATzADvBadXxruRBLzYTpT36CKvDb3+aBEFg=
+golang.org/x/net v0.42.0 h1:jzkYrhi3YQWD6MLBJcsklgQsoAcw89EcZbJw8Z614hs=
+golang.org/x/net v0.42.0/go.mod h1:FF1RA5d3u7nAYA4z2TkclSCKh68eSXtiFwcWQpPXdt8=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.6.0/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
-golang.org/x/sys v0.29.0 h1:TPYlXGxvx1MGTn2GiZDhnjPA9wZzZeGKHHmKhHYvgaU=
-golang.org/x/sys v0.29.0/go.mod h1:/VUhepiaJMQUp4+oa/7Zr1D23ma6VTLIYjOOTFZPUcA=
-golang.org/x/text v0.23.0 h1:D71I7dUrlY+VX0gQShAThNGHFxZ13dGLBHQLVl1mJlY=
-golang.org/x/text v0.23.0/go.mod h1:/BLNzu4aZCJ1+kcD0DNRotWKage4q2rGVAg4o22unh4=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.34.0 h1:H5Y5sJ2L2JRdyv7ROF1he/lPdvFsd0mJHFw2ThKHxLA=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.34.0/go.mod h1:BJP2sWEmIv4KK5OTEluFJCKSidICx8ciO85XgH3Ak8k=
+golang.org/x/text v0.27.0 h1:4fGWRpyh641NLlecmyl4LOe6yDdfaYNrGb2zdfo4JV4=
+golang.org/x/text v0.27.0/go.mod h1:1D28KMCvyooCX9hBiosv5Tz/+YLxj0j7XhWjpSUF7CU=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405 h1:yhCVgyC4o1eVCa2tZl7eS0r+SDo693bJlVdllGtEeKM=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
 gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1 v1.0.0-20160211212156-b2cb9fa56473 h1:6D+BvnJ/j6e222UW8s2qTSe3wGBtvo0MbVQG/c5k8RE=

pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go

@@ -53,6 +53,20 @@ func createScalarNode(value interface{}, stringValue string) *CandidateNode {
 	return node
 }
 
+type NodeInfo struct {
+	Kind        string      `yaml:"kind"`
+	Style       string      `yaml:"style,omitempty"`
+	Anchor      string      `yaml:"anchor,omitempty"`
+	Tag         string      `yaml:"tag,omitempty"`
+	HeadComment string      `yaml:"headComment,omitempty"`
+	LineComment string      `yaml:"lineComment,omitempty"`
+	FootComment string      `yaml:"footComment,omitempty"`
+	Value       string      `yaml:"value,omitempty"`
+	Line        int         `yaml:"line,omitempty"`
+	Column      int         `yaml:"column,omitempty"`
+	Content     []*NodeInfo `yaml:"content,omitempty"`
+}
+
 type CandidateNode struct {
 	Kind  Kind
 	Style Style
@@ -155,6 +169,18 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) getParsedKey() interface{} {
 
 }
 
+func (n *CandidateNode) FilterMapContentByKey(keyPredicate func(*CandidateNode) bool) []*CandidateNode {
+	var result []*CandidateNode
+	for index := 0; index < len(n.Content); index = index + 2 {
+		keyNode := n.Content[index]
+		valueNode := n.Content[index+1]
+		if keyPredicate(keyNode) {
+			result = append(result, keyNode, valueNode)
+		}
+	}
+	return result
+}
+
 func (n *CandidateNode) GetPath() []interface{} {
 	key := n.getParsedKey()
 	if n.Parent != nil && key != nil {
@@ -201,13 +227,14 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) SetParent(parent *CandidateNode) {
 type ValueVisitor func(*CandidateNode) error
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) VisitValues(visitor ValueVisitor) error {
-	if n.Kind == MappingNode {
+	switch n.Kind {
+	case MappingNode:
 		for i := 1; i < len(n.Content); i = i + 2 {
 			if err := visitor(n.Content[i]); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 		}
-	} else if n.Kind == SequenceNode {
+	case SequenceNode:
 		for i := 0; i < len(n.Content); i = i + 1 {
 			if err := visitor(n.Content[i]); err != nil {
 				return err
@@ -238,14 +265,13 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) AddKeyValueChild(rawKey *CandidateNode, rawValue *Candid
 func (n *CandidateNode) AddChild(rawChild *CandidateNode) {
 	value := rawChild.Copy()
 	value.SetParent(n)
-	if value.Key != nil {
-		value.Key.SetParent(n)
-	} else {
-		index := len(n.Content)
-		keyNode := createScalarNode(index, fmt.Sprintf("%v", index))
-		keyNode.SetParent(n)
-		value.Key = keyNode
-	}
+	value.IsMapKey = false
+
+	index := len(n.Content)
+	keyNode := createScalarNode(index, fmt.Sprintf("%v", index))
+	keyNode.SetParent(n)
+	value.Key = keyNode
+
 	n.Content = append(n.Content, value)
 }
 
@@ -451,3 +477,64 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) UpdateAttributesFrom(other *CandidateNode, prefs assignP
 		n.LineComment = other.LineComment
 	}
 }
+
+func (n *CandidateNode) ConvertToNodeInfo() *NodeInfo {
+	info := &NodeInfo{
+		Kind:        kindToString(n.Kind),
+		Style:       styleToString(n.Style),
+		Anchor:      n.Anchor,
+		Tag:         n.Tag,
+		HeadComment: n.HeadComment,
+		LineComment: n.LineComment,
+		FootComment: n.FootComment,
+		Value:       n.Value,
+		Line:        n.Line,
+		Column:      n.Column,
+	}
+	if len(n.Content) > 0 {
+		info.Content = make([]*NodeInfo, len(n.Content))
+		for i, child := range n.Content {
+			info.Content[i] = child.ConvertToNodeInfo()
+		}
+	}
+	return info
+}
+
+// Helper functions to convert Kind and Style to string for NodeInfo
+func kindToString(k Kind) string {
+	switch k {
+	case SequenceNode:
+		return "SequenceNode"
+	case MappingNode:
+		return "MappingNode"
+	case ScalarNode:
+		return "ScalarNode"
+	case AliasNode:
+		return "AliasNode"
+	default:
+		return "Unknown"
+	}
+}
+
+func styleToString(s Style) string {
+	var styles []string
+	if s&TaggedStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "TaggedStyle")
+	}
+	if s&DoubleQuotedStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "DoubleQuotedStyle")
+	}
+	if s&SingleQuotedStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "SingleQuotedStyle")
+	}
+	if s&LiteralStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "LiteralStyle")
+	}
+	if s&FoldedStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "FoldedStyle")
+	}
+	if s&FlowStyle != 0 {
+		styles = append(styles, "FlowStyle")
+	}
+	return strings.Join(styles, ",")
+}

pkg/yqlib/candidate_node_goccy_yaml.go

@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ import (
 	goccyToken "github.com/goccy/go-yaml/token"
 )
 
-func (o *CandidateNode) goccyDecodeIntoChild(childNode ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) (*CandidateNode, error) {
+func (o *CandidateNode) goccyDecodeIntoChild(childNode ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap, anchorMap map[string]*CandidateNode) (*CandidateNode, error) {
 	newChild := o.CreateChild()
 
-	err := newChild.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(childNode, cm)
+	err := newChild.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(childNode, cm, anchorMap)
 	return newChild, err
 }
 
-func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) error {
+func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap, anchorMap map[string]*CandidateNode) error {
 	log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML %v", node)
 	log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML %v", node.Type().String())
 	log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML Node Value: %v", node.String())
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 	}
 
 	o.Value = node.String()
+	o.Line = node.GetToken().Position.Line
+	o.Column = node.GetToken().Position.Column
+
 	switch node.Type() {
 	case ast.IntegerType:
 		o.Kind = ScalarNode
@@ -62,9 +65,13 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 		o.Kind = ScalarNode
 		o.Tag = "!!bool"
 	case ast.NullType:
+		log.Debugf("its a null type with value %v", node.GetToken().Value)
 		o.Kind = ScalarNode
 		o.Tag = "!!null"
 		o.Value = node.GetToken().Value
+		if node.GetToken().Type == goccyToken.ImplicitNullType {
+			o.Value = ""
+		}
 	case ast.StringType:
 		o.Kind = ScalarNode
 		o.Tag = "!!str"
@@ -92,7 +99,7 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 		// to solve the multiline > problem
 		o.Value = astLiteral.Value.Value
 	case ast.TagType:
-		if err := o.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node.(*ast.TagNode).Value, cm); err != nil {
+		if err := o.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node.(*ast.TagNode).Value, cm, anchorMap); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		o.Tag = node.(*ast.TagNode).Start.Value
@@ -106,9 +113,9 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 			o.Style = FlowStyle
 		}
 		for _, mappingValueNode := range mappingNode.Values {
-			err := o.goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingValueNode, cm)
+			err := o.goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingValueNode, cm, anchorMap)
 			if err != nil {
-				return ast.ErrInvalidAnchorName
+				return err
 			}
 		}
 		if mappingNode.FootComment != nil {
@@ -120,9 +127,9 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 		o.Kind = MappingNode
 		o.Tag = "!!map"
 		mappingValueNode := node.(*ast.MappingValueNode)
-		err := o.goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingValueNode, cm)
+		err := o.goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingValueNode, cm, anchorMap)
 		if err != nil {
-			return ast.ErrInvalidAnchorName
+			return err
 		}
 	case ast.SequenceType:
 		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  a sequence node")
@@ -141,7 +148,7 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 			keyNode.Kind = ScalarNode
 			keyNode.Value = fmt.Sprintf("%v", i)
 
-			valueNode, err := o.goccyDecodeIntoChild(astSeq[i], cm)
+			valueNode, err := o.goccyDecodeIntoChild(astSeq[i], cm, anchorMap)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -149,32 +156,55 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) UnmarshalGoccyYAML(node ast.Node, cm yaml.CommentMap) er
 			valueNode.Key = keyNode
 			o.Content[i] = valueNode
 		}
+	case ast.AnchorType:
+		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  an anchor node")
+		anchorNode := node.(*ast.AnchorNode)
+		err := o.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(anchorNode.Value, cm, anchorMap)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		o.Anchor = anchorNode.Name.String()
+		anchorMap[o.Anchor] = o
+
+	case ast.AliasType:
+		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  an alias node")
+		aliasNode := node.(*ast.AliasNode)
+		o.Kind = AliasNode
+		o.Value = aliasNode.Value.String()
+		o.Alias = anchorMap[o.Value]
+
+	case ast.MergeKeyType:
+		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  a merge key")
+		o.Kind = ScalarNode
+		o.Tag = "!!merge" // note - I should be able to get rid of this.
+		o.Value = "<<"
 
 	default:
-		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  node idea of the type!!")
+		log.Debugf("UnmarshalYAML -  no idea of the type!!\n%v: %v", node.Type(), node.String())
 	}
 	log.Debugf("KIND: %v", o.Kind)
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (o *CandidateNode) goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingEntry *ast.MappingValueNode, cm yaml.CommentMap) error {
+func (o *CandidateNode) goccyProcessMappingValueNode(mappingEntry *ast.MappingValueNode, cm yaml.CommentMap, anchorMap map[string]*CandidateNode) error {
 	log.Debug("UnmarshalYAML MAP KEY entry %v", mappingEntry.Key)
-	keyNode, err := o.goccyDecodeIntoChild(mappingEntry.Key, cm)
-	if err != nil {
+
+	// AddKeyValueFirst because it clones the nodes, and we want to have the real refs when Unmarshalling
+	// particularly for the anchorMap
+	keyNode, valueNode := o.AddKeyValueChild(&CandidateNode{}, &CandidateNode{})
+
+	if err := keyNode.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(mappingEntry.Key, cm, anchorMap); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	keyNode.IsMapKey = true
 
 	log.Debug("UnmarshalYAML MAP VALUE entry %v", mappingEntry.Value)
-	valueNode, err := o.goccyDecodeIntoChild(mappingEntry.Value, cm)
-	if err != nil {
+	if err := valueNode.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(mappingEntry.Value, cm, anchorMap); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
 	if mappingEntry.FootComment != nil {
 		valueNode.FootComment = mappingEntry.FootComment.String()
 	}
-	o.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valueNode)
 
 	return nil
 }

pkg/yqlib/candidate_node_test.go

@@ -160,3 +160,47 @@ func TestCandidateNodeAddKeyValueChild(t *testing.T) {
 	test.AssertResult(t, key.IsMapKey, true)
 
 }
+
+func TestConvertToNodeInfo(t *testing.T) {
+	child := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:   ScalarNode,
+		Style:  DoubleQuotedStyle,
+		Tag:    "!!str",
+		Value:  "childValue",
+		Line:   2,
+		Column: 3,
+	}
+	parent := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:        MappingNode,
+		Style:       TaggedStyle,
+		Tag:         "!!map",
+		Value:       "",
+		Line:        1,
+		Column:      1,
+		Content:     []*CandidateNode{child},
+		HeadComment: "head",
+		LineComment: "line",
+		FootComment: "foot",
+		Anchor:      "anchor",
+	}
+	info := parent.ConvertToNodeInfo()
+	test.AssertResult(t, "MappingNode", info.Kind)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "TaggedStyle", info.Style)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "!!map", info.Tag)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "head", info.HeadComment)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "line", info.LineComment)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "foot", info.FootComment)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "anchor", info.Anchor)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 1, info.Line)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 1, info.Column)
+	if len(info.Content) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected 1 child, got %d", len(info.Content))
+	}
+	childInfo := info.Content[0]
+	test.AssertResult(t, "ScalarNode", childInfo.Kind)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "DoubleQuotedStyle", childInfo.Style)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "!!str", childInfo.Tag)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "childValue", childInfo.Value)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 2, childInfo.Line)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 3, childInfo.Column)
+}

pkg/yqlib/candidate_node_yaml.go

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ package yqlib
 import (
 	"fmt"
 
-	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+	yaml "go.yaml.in/yaml/v3"
 )
 
 func MapYamlStyle(original yaml.Style) Style {
@@ -78,9 +78,6 @@ func (o *CandidateNode) copyToYamlNode(node *yaml.Node) {
 	node.Value = o.Value
 	node.Anchor = o.Anchor
 
-	// node.Alias = TODO - find Alias in our own structure
-	// might need to be a post process thing
-
 	node.HeadComment = o.HeadComment
 
 	node.LineComment = o.LineComment

pkg/yqlib/candidiate_node_json.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nojson
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/context_test.go

@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ package yqlib
 
 import (
 	"container/list"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+	logging "gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1"
 )
 
 func TestChildContext(t *testing.T) {
@@ -49,3 +51,211 @@ func TestChildContextNoVariables(t *testing.T) {
 	test.AssertResultComplex(t, make(map[string]*list.List), clone.Variables)
 
 }
+
+func TestSingleReadonlyChildContext(t *testing.T) {
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: false,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+	}
+
+	candidate := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	clone := original.SingleReadonlyChildContext(candidate)
+
+	// Should have DontAutoCreate set to true
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+
+	// Should have the candidate node in MatchingNodes
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, 1, clone.MatchingNodes.Len())
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, candidate, clone.MatchingNodes.Front().Value)
+}
+
+func TestSingleChildContext(t *testing.T) {
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: true,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+	}
+
+	candidate := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	clone := original.SingleChildContext(candidate)
+
+	// Should preserve DontAutoCreate
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+
+	// Should have the candidate node in MatchingNodes
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, 1, clone.MatchingNodes.Len())
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, candidate, clone.MatchingNodes.Front().Value)
+}
+
+func TestSetDateTimeLayout(t *testing.T) {
+	context := Context{}
+
+	// Test setting datetime layout
+	context.SetDateTimeLayout("2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00")
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00", context.datetimeLayout)
+}
+
+func TestGetDateTimeLayout(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test with custom layout
+	context := Context{datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02"}
+	result := context.GetDateTimeLayout()
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "2006-01-02", result)
+
+	// Test with empty layout (should return default)
+	context = Context{}
+	result = context.GetDateTimeLayout()
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00", result)
+}
+
+func TestGetVariable(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test with nil Variables
+	context := Context{}
+	result := context.GetVariable("nonexistent")
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, (*list.List)(nil), result)
+
+	// Test with existing variable
+	variables := make(map[string]*list.List)
+	variables["test"] = list.New()
+	variables["test"].PushBack(&CandidateNode{Value: "value"})
+
+	context = Context{Variables: variables}
+	result = context.GetVariable("test")
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, variables["test"], result)
+
+	// Test with non-existent variable
+	result = context.GetVariable("nonexistent")
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, (*list.List)(nil), result)
+}
+
+func TestSetVariable(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test setting variable when Variables is nil
+	context := Context{}
+	value := list.New()
+	value.PushBack(&CandidateNode{Value: "test"})
+
+	context.SetVariable("key", value)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, value, context.Variables["key"])
+
+	// Test setting variable when Variables already exists
+	context.SetVariable("key2", value)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, value, context.Variables["key2"])
+}
+
+func TestToString(t *testing.T) {
+	context := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: true,
+		MatchingNodes:  list.New(),
+	}
+
+	// Add a node to test the full string representation
+	node := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	// Test with debug logging disabled (default)
+	result := context.ToString()
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "", result)
+
+	// Test with debug logging enabled
+	logging.SetLevel(logging.DEBUG, "")
+	defer logging.SetLevel(logging.INFO, "") // Reset to default
+
+	result2 := context.ToString()
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, len(result2) > 0)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, strings.Contains(result2, "Context"))
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, strings.Contains(result2, "DontAutoCreate: true"))
+}
+
+func TestDeepClone(t *testing.T) {
+	// Create original context with variables and matching nodes
+	originalVariables := make(map[string]*list.List)
+	originalVariables["test"] = list.New()
+	originalVariables["test"].PushBack(&CandidateNode{Value: "original"})
+
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: true,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+		Variables:      originalVariables,
+		MatchingNodes:  list.New(),
+	}
+
+	// Add a node to MatchingNodes
+	node := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	original.MatchingNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	clone := original.DeepClone()
+
+	// Should preserve DontAutoCreate and datetimeLayout
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.DontAutoCreate, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.datetimeLayout, clone.datetimeLayout)
+
+	// Should have copied variables
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, 1, len(clone.Variables))
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "original", clone.Variables["test"].Front().Value.(*CandidateNode).Value)
+
+	// Should have deep copied MatchingNodes
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, 1, clone.MatchingNodes.Len())
+
+	// Verify it's a deep copy by modifying the original
+	original.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode).Value = "modified"
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, "test", clone.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode).Value)
+}
+
+func TestClone(t *testing.T) {
+	// Create original context
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: true,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+		MatchingNodes:  list.New(),
+	}
+
+	node := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	original.MatchingNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	clone := original.Clone()
+
+	// Should preserve DontAutoCreate and datetimeLayout
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.DontAutoCreate, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.datetimeLayout, clone.datetimeLayout)
+
+	// Should have the same MatchingNodes reference
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.MatchingNodes, clone.MatchingNodes)
+}
+
+func TestReadOnlyClone(t *testing.T) {
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: false,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+		MatchingNodes:  list.New(),
+	}
+
+	node := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	original.MatchingNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	clone := original.ReadOnlyClone()
+
+	// Should set DontAutoCreate to true
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, true, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+
+	// Should preserve other fields
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.datetimeLayout, clone.datetimeLayout)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.MatchingNodes, clone.MatchingNodes)
+}
+
+func TestWritableClone(t *testing.T) {
+	original := Context{
+		DontAutoCreate: true,
+		datetimeLayout: "2006-01-02",
+		MatchingNodes:  list.New(),
+	}
+
+	node := &CandidateNode{Value: "test"}
+	original.MatchingNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	clone := original.WritableClone()
+
+	// Should set DontAutoCreate to false
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, false, clone.DontAutoCreate)
+
+	// Should preserve other fields
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.datetimeLayout, clone.datetimeLayout)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, original.MatchingNodes, clone.MatchingNodes)
+}

pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator.go

@@ -64,6 +64,6 @@ func (d *dataTreeNavigator) GetMatchingNodes(context Context, expressionNode *Ex
 	if handler != nil {
 		return handler(d, context, expressionNode)
 	}
-	return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("Unknown operator %v", expressionNode.Operation.OperationType)
+	return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("unknown operator %v", expressionNode.Operation.OperationType.Type)
 
 }

pkg/yqlib/data_tree_navigator_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,437 @@
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"container/list"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+)
+
+func TestGetMatchingNodes_NilExpressionNode(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+
+	result, err := navigator.GetMatchingNodes(context, nil)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, context, result)
+}
+
+func TestGetMatchingNodes_UnknownOperator(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+
+	// Create an expression node with an unknown operation type
+	unknownOpType := &operationType{Type: "UNKNOWN", Handler: nil}
+	expressionNode := &ExpressionNode{
+		Operation: &Operation{OperationType: unknownOpType},
+	}
+
+	result, err := navigator.GetMatchingNodes(context, expressionNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, "unknown operator UNKNOWN", err.Error())
+	test.AssertResultComplex(t, Context{}, result)
+}
+
+func TestGetMatchingNodes_ValidOperator(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a simple context with a scalar node
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "test",
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(scalarNode)
+
+	// Create an expression node with a valid operation (self reference)
+	expressionNode := &ExpressionNode{
+		Operation: &Operation{OperationType: selfReferenceOpType},
+	}
+
+	result, err := navigator.GetMatchingNodes(context, expressionNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 1, result.MatchingNodes.Len())
+
+	// Verify the result contains the same node
+	resultNode := result.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode)
+	test.AssertResult(t, scalarNode, resultNode)
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_ScalarNode(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "existing", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "old_value"},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a scalar node to assign
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "new_value",
+	}
+
+	// Assign to path ["new_key"]
+	path := []interface{}{"new_key"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, scalarNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the assignment was made
+	// The root node should now have the new key-value pair
+	test.AssertResult(t, 4, len(rootNode.Content)) // 2 original + 2 new
+
+	// Find the new key-value pair
+	found := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(rootNode.Content)-1; i += 2 {
+		key := rootNode.Content[i]
+		value := rootNode.Content[i+1]
+		if key.Value == "new_key" && value.Value == "new_value" {
+			found = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, found)
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_MappingNode(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "existing", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "old_value"},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a mapping node to assign (this should trigger deep merge)
+	mappingNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "nested_key", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "nested_value"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	// Assign to path ["new_map"]
+	path := []interface{}{"new_map"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, mappingNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the assignment was made
+	// The root node should now have the new mapping
+	test.AssertResult(t, 4, len(rootNode.Content)) // 2 original + 2 new
+
+	// Find the new mapping
+	found := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(rootNode.Content); i += 2 {
+		if i+1 < len(rootNode.Content) {
+			key := rootNode.Content[i]
+			value := rootNode.Content[i+1]
+			if key.Value == "new_map" && value.Kind == MappingNode {
+				found = true
+				// Verify the nested content
+				test.AssertResult(t, 2, len(value.Content))
+				test.AssertResult(t, "nested_key", value.Content[0].Value)
+				test.AssertResult(t, "nested_value", value.Content[1].Value)
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, found)
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_DeepPath(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "level1", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: MappingNode, Tag: "!!map", Content: []*CandidateNode{}},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a scalar node to assign
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "deep_value",
+	}
+
+	// Assign to deep path ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
+	path := []interface{}{"level1", "level2", "level3"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, scalarNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the deep assignment was made
+	level1Node := rootNode.Content[1]                // The mapping node
+	test.AssertResult(t, 2, len(level1Node.Content)) // Should have level2 key-value
+
+	level2Key := level1Node.Content[0]
+	level2Value := level1Node.Content[1]
+	test.AssertResult(t, "level2", level2Key.Value)
+	test.AssertResult(t, MappingNode, level2Value.Kind)
+
+	level3Key := level2Value.Content[0]
+	level3Value := level2Value.Content[1]
+	test.AssertResult(t, "level3", level3Key.Value)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "deep_value", level3Value.Value)
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_ArrayPath(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node containing an array
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "array", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: SequenceNode, Tag: "!!seq", Content: []*CandidateNode{}},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a scalar node to assign
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "array_value",
+	}
+
+	// Assign to array path ["array", 0]
+	path := []interface{}{"array", 0}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, scalarNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the array assignment was made
+	arrayNode := rootNode.Content[1]                // The sequence node
+	test.AssertResult(t, 1, len(arrayNode.Content)) // Should have one element
+
+	arrayElement := arrayNode.Content[0]
+	test.AssertResult(t, "array_value", arrayElement.Value)
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_OverwriteExisting(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "key", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "old_value"},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a scalar node to assign
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "new_value",
+	}
+
+	// Assign to existing path ["key"]
+	path := []interface{}{"key"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, scalarNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the value was overwritten
+	test.AssertResult(t, 2, len(rootNode.Content)) // Should still have 2 elements
+
+	key := rootNode.Content[0]
+	value := rootNode.Content[1]
+	test.AssertResult(t, "key", key.Value)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "new_value", value.Value) // Should be overwritten
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_ErrorHandling(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a scalar node (not a mapping)
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "not_a_map",
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(scalarNode)
+
+	// Create a scalar node to assign
+	assignNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "value",
+	}
+
+	// Try to assign to a path on a scalar (should fail)
+	path := []interface{}{"key"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, assignNode)
+
+	// Print the actual error for debugging
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Logf("Actual error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// This should fail because we can't assign to a scalar
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+}
+
+func TestGetMatchingNodes_WithVariables(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with variables
+	variables := make(map[string]*list.List)
+	varList := list.New()
+	varList.PushBack(&CandidateNode{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "var_value"})
+	variables["test_var"] = varList
+
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+		Variables:     variables,
+	}
+
+	// Create an expression node that gets a variable
+	expressionNode := &ExpressionNode{
+		Operation: &Operation{OperationType: getVariableOpType, StringValue: "test_var"},
+	}
+
+	result, err := navigator.GetMatchingNodes(context, expressionNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 1, result.MatchingNodes.Len())
+
+	// Verify the variable was retrieved
+	resultNode := result.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "var_value", resultNode.Value)
+}
+
+func TestGetMatchingNodes_EmptyContext(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create an empty context
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+
+	// Create an expression node with self reference
+	expressionNode := &ExpressionNode{
+		Operation: &Operation{OperationType: selfReferenceOpType},
+	}
+
+	result, err := navigator.GetMatchingNodes(context, expressionNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, 0, result.MatchingNodes.Len())
+}
+
+func TestDeeplyAssign_ComplexMappingMerge(t *testing.T) {
+	navigator := NewDataTreeNavigator()
+
+	// Create a context with a root mapping node containing nested data
+	rootNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "config", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: MappingNode, Tag: "!!map", Content: []*CandidateNode{
+				{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "existing_key", IsMapKey: true},
+				{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "existing_value"},
+			}},
+		},
+	}
+	context := Context{
+		MatchingNodes: list.New(),
+	}
+	context.MatchingNodes.PushBack(rootNode)
+
+	// Create a mapping node to merge
+	mappingNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "new_key", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "new_value"},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "existing_key", IsMapKey: true},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "updated_value"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	// Assign to path ["config"] (should merge with existing mapping)
+	path := []interface{}{"config"}
+	err := navigator.DeeplyAssign(context, path, mappingNode)
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// Verify the merge was successful
+	configNode := rootNode.Content[1]                // The config mapping node
+	test.AssertResult(t, 4, len(configNode.Content)) // Should have 2 key-value pairs
+
+	// Check that both existing and new keys are present
+	foundExisting := false
+	foundNew := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(configNode.Content); i += 2 {
+		if i+1 < len(configNode.Content) {
+			key := configNode.Content[i]
+			value := configNode.Content[i+1]
+			switch key.Value {
+			case "existing_key":
+				foundExisting = true
+				test.AssertResult(t, "updated_value", value.Value) // Should be updated
+			case "new_key":
+				foundNew = true
+				test.AssertResult(t, "new_value", value.Value)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, foundExisting)
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, foundNew)
+}

pkg/yqlib/decoder_base64.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nobase64
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/decoder_csv_object.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nocsv
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/decoder_goccy_yaml.go

@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ import (
 type goccyYamlDecoder struct {
 	decoder yaml.Decoder
 	cm      yaml.CommentMap
+	// anchor map persists over multiple documents for convenience.
+	anchorMap map[string]*CandidateNode
 }
 
 func NewGoccyYAMLDecoder() Decoder {
@@ -25,6 +27,7 @@ func NewGoccyYAMLDecoder() Decoder {
 func (dec *goccyYamlDecoder) Init(reader io.Reader) error {
 	dec.cm = yaml.CommentMap{}
 	dec.decoder = *yaml.NewDecoder(reader, yaml.CommentToMap(dec.cm), yaml.UseOrderedMap())
+	dec.anchorMap = make(map[string]*CandidateNode)
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -38,7 +41,7 @@ func (dec *goccyYamlDecoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
 	}
 
 	candidateNode := &CandidateNode{}
-	if err := candidateNode.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(ast, dec.cm); err != nil {
+	if err := candidateNode.UnmarshalGoccyYAML(ast, dec.cm, dec.anchorMap); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 

pkg/yqlib/decoder_ini.go

@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+//go:build !yq_noini
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/go-ini/ini"
+)
+
+type iniDecoder struct {
+	reader   io.Reader
+	finished bool // Flag to signal completion of processing
+}
+
+func NewINIDecoder() Decoder {
+	return &iniDecoder{
+		finished: false, // Initialize the flag as false
+	}
+}
+
+func (dec *iniDecoder) Init(reader io.Reader) error {
+	// Store the reader for use in Decode
+	dec.reader = reader
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (dec *iniDecoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
+	// If processing is already finished, return io.EOF
+	if dec.finished {
+		return nil, io.EOF
+	}
+
+	// Read all content from the stored reader
+	content, err := io.ReadAll(dec.reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read INI content: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Parse the INI content
+	cfg, err := ini.Load(content)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse INI content: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Create a root CandidateNode as a MappingNode (since INI is key-value based)
+	root := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  MappingNode,
+		Tag:   "!!map",
+		Value: "",
+	}
+
+	// Process each section in the INI file
+	for _, section := range cfg.Sections() {
+		sectionName := section.Name()
+
+		if sectionName == ini.DefaultSection {
+			// For the default section, add key-value pairs directly to the root node
+			for _, key := range section.Keys() {
+				keyName := key.Name()
+				keyValue := key.String()
+
+				// Create a key node (scalar for the key name)
+				keyNode := createStringScalarNode(keyName)
+				// Create a value node (scalar for the value)
+				valueNode := createStringScalarNode(keyValue)
+
+				// Add key-value pair to the root node
+				root.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valueNode)
+			}
+		} else {
+			// For named sections, create a nested map
+			sectionNode := &CandidateNode{
+				Kind:  MappingNode,
+				Tag:   "!!map",
+				Value: "",
+			}
+
+			// Add key-value pairs to the section node
+			for _, key := range section.Keys() {
+				keyName := key.Name()
+				keyValue := key.String()
+
+				// Create a key node (scalar for the key name)
+				keyNode := createStringScalarNode(keyName)
+				// Create a value node (scalar for the value)
+				valueNode := createStringScalarNode(keyValue)
+
+				// Add key-value pair to the section node
+				sectionNode.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valueNode)
+			}
+
+			// Create a key node for the section name
+			sectionKeyNode := createStringScalarNode(sectionName)
+			// Add the section as a nested map to the root node
+			root.AddKeyValueChild(sectionKeyNode, sectionNode)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Set the finished flag to true to prevent further Decode calls
+	dec.finished = true
+
+	// Return the root node
+	return root, nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/decoder_properties.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_noprops
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/decoder_test.go

@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ func mustProcessFormatScenario(s formatScenario, decoder Decoder, encoder Encode
 
 	result, err := processFormatScenario(s, decoder, encoder)
 	if err != nil {
-		panic(fmt.Errorf("Bad scenario %v: %w", s.description, err))
+		log.Error("Bad scenario %v: %w", s.description, err)
+		return fmt.Sprintf("Bad scenario %v: %v", s.description, err.Error())
 	}
 	return result
 

pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go

@@ -249,11 +249,12 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTopLevelNode(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error
 	var runAgainstCurrentExp bool
 	var err error
 	log.Debug("processTopLevelNode: Going to process %v state is current %v", currentNode.Kind, NodeToString(dec.rootMap))
-	if currentNode.Kind == toml.Table {
+	switch currentNode.Kind {
+	case toml.Table:
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.processTable(currentNode)
-	} else if currentNode.Kind == toml.ArrayTable {
+	case toml.ArrayTable:
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.processArrayTable(currentNode)
-	} else {
+	default:
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(dec.rootMap, currentNode)
 	}
 

pkg/yqlib/decoder_uri.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nouri
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/decoder_xml.go

@@ -315,13 +315,14 @@ func (dec *xmlDecoder) decodeXML(root *xmlNode) error {
 		case xml.Comment:
 
 			commentStr := string(xml.CharData(se))
-			if elem.state == "started" {
+			switch elem.state {
+			case "started":
 				applyFootComment(elem, commentStr)
 
-			} else if elem.state == "chardata" {
+			case "chardata":
 				log.Debug("got a line comment for (%v) %v: [%v]", elem.state, elem.label, commentStr)
 				elem.n.LineComment = joinComments([]string{elem.n.LineComment, commentStr}, " ")
-			} else {
+			default:
 				log.Debug("got a head comment for (%v) %v: [%v]", elem.state, elem.label, commentStr)
 				elem.n.HeadComment = joinComments([]string{elem.n.HeadComment, commentStr}, " ")
 			}

pkg/yqlib/decoder_yaml.go

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
-	yaml "gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+	yaml "go.yaml.in/yaml/v3"
 )
 
 type yamlDecoder struct {

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/anchor-and-alias-operators.md

@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ Use the `alias` and `anchor` operators to read and write yaml aliases and anchor
 `yq` supports merge aliases (like `<<: *blah`) however this is no longer in the standard yaml spec (1.2) and so `yq` will automatically add the `!!merge` tag to these nodes as it is effectively a custom tag.
 
 
+## NOTE --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec flag
+`yq` doesn't merge anchors `<<:` to spec, in some circumstances it incorrectly overrides existing keys when the spec documents not to do that.
+
+To minimise disruption while still fixing the issue, a flag has been added to toggle this behaviour. This will first default to false; and log warnings to users. Then it will default to true (and still allow users to specify false if needed).
+
+This flag also enables advanced merging, like inline maps, as well as fixes to ensure when exploding a particular path, neighbours are not affect ed.
+
+Long story short, you should be setting this flag to true.
+
+See examples of the flag differences below, where LEGACY is with the flag off; and FIXED is with the flag on.
+
+
 ## Merge one map
 see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html
 
@@ -34,68 +46,6 @@ y: 2
 r: 10
 ```
 
-## Merge multiple maps
-see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html
-
-Given a sample.yml file of:
-```yaml
-- &CENTER
-  x: 1
-  y: 2
-- &LEFT
-  x: 0
-  y: 2
-- &BIG
-  r: 10
-- &SMALL
-  r: 1
-- !!merge <<:
-    - *CENTER
-    - *BIG
-```
-then
-```bash
-yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
-```
-will output
-```yaml
-r: 10
-x: 1
-y: 2
-```
-
-## Override
-see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html
-
-Given a sample.yml file of:
-```yaml
-- &CENTER
-  x: 1
-  y: 2
-- &LEFT
-  x: 0
-  y: 2
-- &BIG
-  r: 10
-- &SMALL
-  r: 1
-- !!merge <<:
-    - *BIG
-    - *LEFT
-    - *SMALL
-  x: 1
-```
-then
-```bash
-yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
-```
-will output
-```yaml
-r: 10
-x: 1
-y: 2
-```
-
 ## Get anchor
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
@@ -254,7 +204,39 @@ f:
   cat: b
 ```
 
-## Explode with merge anchors
+## Dereference and update a field
+Use explode with multiply to dereference an object
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+item_value: &item_value
+  value: true
+thingOne:
+  name: item_1
+  !!merge <<: *item_value
+thingTwo:
+  name: item_2
+  !!merge <<: *item_value
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.thingOne |= (explode(.) | sort_keys(.)) * {"value": false}' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+item_value: &item_value
+  value: true
+thingOne:
+  name: item_1
+  value: false
+thingTwo:
+  name: item_2
+  !!merge <<: *item_value
+```
+
+## LEGACY: Explode with merge anchors
+Caution: this is for when --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=false; it's not to YAML spec because the merge anchors incorrectly override the object values (foobarList.b is set to bar_b when it should still be foobarList_b). Flag will default to true in late 2025
+
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
 foo: &foo
@@ -301,33 +283,201 @@ foobar:
   thing: foobar_thing
 ```
 
-## Dereference and update a field
-Use explode with multiply to dereference an object
+## LEGACY: Merge multiple maps
+see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong key order; set --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true to fix the key order.
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-item_value: &item_value
-  value: true
-thingOne:
-  name: item_1
-  !!merge <<: *item_value
-thingTwo:
-  name: item_2
-  !!merge <<: *item_value
+- &CENTER
+  x: 1
+  y: 2
+- &LEFT
+  x: 0
+  y: 2
+- &BIG
+  r: 10
+- &SMALL
+  r: 1
+- !!merge <<:
+    - *CENTER
+    - *BIG
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq '.thingOne |= explode(.) * {"value": false}' sample.yml
+yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
-item_value: &item_value
-  value: true
-thingOne:
-  name: item_1
-  value: false
-thingTwo:
-  name: item_2
-  !!merge <<: *item_value
+r: 10
+x: 1
+y: 2
+```
+
+## LEGACY: Override
+see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong key order; set --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true to fix the key order.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+- &CENTER
+  x: 1
+  y: 2
+- &LEFT
+  x: 0
+  y: 2
+- &BIG
+  r: 10
+- &SMALL
+  r: 1
+- !!merge <<:
+    - *BIG
+    - *LEFT
+    - *SMALL
+  x: 1
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+r: 10
+x: 1
+y: 2
+```
+
+## FIXED: Explode with merge anchors
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour (flag will default to true in late 2025).
+Observe that foobarList.b property is still foobarList_b.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq 'explode(.)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+foo:
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar:
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+
+## FIXED: Merge multiple maps
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour (flag will default to true in late 2025).
+Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the correct key order.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+- &CENTER
+  x: 1
+  y: 2
+- &LEFT
+  x: 0
+  y: 2
+- &BIG
+  r: 10
+- &SMALL
+  r: 1
+- !!merge <<:
+    - *CENTER
+    - *BIG
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+x: 1
+y: 2
+r: 10
+```
+
+## FIXED: Override
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour (flag will default to true in late 2025).
+Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the correct key order.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+- &CENTER
+  x: 1
+  y: 2
+- &LEFT
+  x: 0
+  y: 2
+- &BIG
+  r: 10
+- &SMALL
+  r: 1
+- !!merge <<:
+    - *BIG
+    - *LEFT
+    - *SMALL
+  x: 1
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.[4] | explode(.)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+r: 10
+y: 2
+x: 1
+```
+
+## Exploding inline merge anchor
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour (flag will default to true in late 2025).
+
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a:
+  b: &b 42
+!!merge <<:
+  c: *b
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq 'explode(.) | sort_keys(.)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+a:
+  b: 42
+c: 42
 ```
 

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/entries.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Similar to the same named functions in `jq` these functions convert to/from an object and an array of key-value pairs. This is most useful for performing operations on keys of maps.
 
-Use `with_entries(op)` as a syntatic sugar for doing `to_entries | op | from_entries`.
+Use `with_entries(op)` as a syntactic sugar for doing `to_entries | op | from_entries`.
 
 ## to_entries Map
 Given a sample.yml file of:

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/anchor-and-alias-operators.md

@@ -4,3 +4,15 @@ Use the `alias` and `anchor` operators to read and write yaml aliases and anchor
 
 `yq` supports merge aliases (like `<<: *blah`) however this is no longer in the standard yaml spec (1.2) and so `yq` will automatically add the `!!merge` tag to these nodes as it is effectively a custom tag.
 
+
+## NOTE --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec flag
+`yq` doesn't merge anchors `<<:` to spec, in some circumstances it incorrectly overrides existing keys when the spec documents not to do that.
+
+To minimise disruption while still fixing the issue, a flag has been added to toggle this behaviour. This will first default to false; and log warnings to users. Then it will default to true (and still allow users to specify false if needed).
+
+This flag also enables advanced merging, like inline maps, as well as fixes to ensure when exploding a particular path, neighbours are not affect ed.
+
+Long story short, you should be setting this flag to true.
+
+See examples of the flag differences below, where LEGACY is with the flag off; and FIXED is with the flag on.
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/entries.md

@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 Similar to the same named functions in `jq` these functions convert to/from an object and an array of key-value pairs. This is most useful for performing operations on keys of maps.
 
-Use `with_entries(op)` as a syntatic sugar for doing `to_entries | op | from_entries`.
+Use `with_entries(op)` as a syntactic sugar for doing `to_entries | op | from_entries`.

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/string-operators.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ## RegEx
 This uses Golang's native regex functions under the hood - See their [docs](https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax) for the supported syntax.
 
-Case insensitive tip: prefix the regex with `(?i)` - e.g. `test("(?i)cats)"`.
+Case insensitive tip: prefix the regex with `(?i)` - e.g. `test("(?i)cats")`.
 
 ### match(regEx)
 This operator returns the substring match details of the given regEx.

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/traverse-read.md

@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
 # Traverse (Read)
 
 This is the simplest (and perhaps most used) operator. It is used to navigate deeply into yaml structures.
+
+
+## NOTE --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec flag
+`yq` doesn't merge anchors `<<:` to spec, in some circumstances it incorrectly overrides existing keys when the spec documents not to do that.
+
+To minimise disruption while still fixing the issue, a flag has been added to toggle this behaviour. This will first default to false; and log warnings to users. Then it will default to true (and still allow users to specify false if needed)
+
+See examples of the flag differences below, where LEGACY is the flag off; and FIXED is with the flag on.
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/string-operators.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ## RegEx
 This uses Golang's native regex functions under the hood - See their [docs](https://github.com/google/re2/wiki/Syntax) for the supported syntax.
 
-Case insensitive tip: prefix the regex with `(?i)` - e.g. `test("(?i)cats)"`.
+Case insensitive tip: prefix the regex with `(?i)` - e.g. `test("(?i)cats")`.
 
 ### match(regEx)
 This operator returns the substring match details of the given regEx.

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/traverse-read.md

@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
 
 This is the simplest (and perhaps most used) operator. It is used to navigate deeply into yaml structures.
 
+
+## NOTE --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec flag
+`yq` doesn't merge anchors `<<:` to spec, in some circumstances it incorrectly overrides existing keys when the spec documents not to do that.
+
+To minimise disruption while still fixing the issue, a flag has been added to toggle this behaviour. This will first default to false; and log warnings to users. Then it will default to true (and still allow users to specify false if needed)
+
+See examples of the flag differences below, where LEGACY is the flag off; and FIXED is with the flag on.
+
+
 ## Simple map navigation
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
@@ -303,37 +312,6 @@ will output
 foo_a
 ```
 
-## Traversing merge anchors with override
-Given a sample.yml file of:
-```yaml
-foo: &foo
-  a: foo_a
-  thing: foo_thing
-  c: foo_c
-bar: &bar
-  b: bar_b
-  thing: bar_thing
-  c: bar_c
-foobarList:
-  b: foobarList_b
-  !!merge <<:
-    - *foo
-    - *bar
-  c: foobarList_c
-foobar:
-  c: foobar_c
-  !!merge <<: *foo
-  thing: foobar_thing
-```
-then
-```bash
-yq '.foobar.c' sample.yml
-```
-will output
-```yaml
-foo_c
-```
-
 ## Traversing merge anchors with local override
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
@@ -365,7 +343,93 @@ will output
 foobar_thing
 ```
 
-## Splatting merge anchors
+## Select multiple indices
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a:
+  - a
+  - b
+  - c
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.a[0, 2]' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+a
+c
+```
+
+## LEGACY: Traversing merge anchors with override
+This is legacy behaviour, see --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.foobar.c' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+foo_c
+```
+
+## LEGACY: Traversing merge anchor lists
+Note that the later merge anchors override previous, but this is legacy behaviour, see --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.foobarList.thing' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+bar_thing
+```
+
+## LEGACY: Splatting merge anchors
+With legacy override behaviour, see --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec
+
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
 foo: &foo
@@ -398,40 +462,9 @@ foo_a
 foobar_thing
 ```
 
-## Traversing merge anchor lists
-Note that the later merge anchors override previous
+## LEGACY: Splatting merge anchor lists
+With legacy override behaviour, see --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec
 
-Given a sample.yml file of:
-```yaml
-foo: &foo
-  a: foo_a
-  thing: foo_thing
-  c: foo_c
-bar: &bar
-  b: bar_b
-  thing: bar_thing
-  c: bar_c
-foobarList:
-  b: foobarList_b
-  !!merge <<:
-    - *foo
-    - *bar
-  c: foobarList_c
-foobar:
-  c: foobar_c
-  !!merge <<: *foo
-  thing: foobar_thing
-```
-then
-```bash
-yq '.foobarList.thing' sample.yml
-```
-will output
-```yaml
-bar_thing
-```
-
-## Splatting merge anchor lists
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
 foo: &foo
@@ -465,21 +498,140 @@ bar_thing
 foobarList_c
 ```
 
-## Select multiple indices
+## FIXED: Traversing merge anchors with override
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour.
+
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-a:
-  - a
-  - b
-  - c
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq '.a[0, 2]' sample.yml
+yq '.foobar.c' sample.yml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
-a
-c
+foobar_c
+```
+
+## FIXED: Traversing merge anchor lists
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour. Note that the keys earlier in the merge anchors sequence override later ones
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.foobarList.thing' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+foo_thing
+```
+
+## FIXED: Splatting merge anchors
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour. Note that the keys earlier in the merge anchors sequence override later ones
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.foobar[]' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+foo_a
+foobar_thing
+foobar_c
+```
+
+## FIXED: Splatting merge anchor lists
+Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour. Note that the keys earlier in the merge anchors sequence override later ones
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+foo: &foo
+  a: foo_a
+  thing: foo_thing
+  c: foo_c
+bar: &bar
+  b: bar_b
+  thing: bar_thing
+  c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+  b: foobarList_b
+  !!merge <<:
+    - *foo
+    - *bar
+  c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+  c: foobar_c
+  !!merge <<: *foo
+  thing: foobar_thing
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.foobarList[]' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+foobarList_b
+foo_thing
+foobarList_c
+foo_a
 ```
 

pkg/yqlib/encoder_base64.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nobase64
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/encoder_csv.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nocsv
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/encoder_ini.go

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+//go:build !yq_noini
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+
+	"github.com/go-ini/ini"
+)
+
+type iniEncoder struct {
+	indentString string
+}
+
+// NewINIEncoder creates a new INI encoder
+func NewINIEncoder() Encoder {
+	// Hardcoded indent value of 0, meaning no additional spacing.
+	return &iniEncoder{""}
+}
+
+// CanHandleAliases indicates whether the encoder supports aliases. INI does not support aliases.
+func (ie *iniEncoder) CanHandleAliases() bool {
+	return false
+}
+
+// PrintDocumentSeparator is a no-op since INI does not support multiple documents.
+func (ie *iniEncoder) PrintDocumentSeparator(_ io.Writer) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+// PrintLeadingContent is a no-op since INI does not support leading content or comments at the encoder level.
+func (ie *iniEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(_ io.Writer, _ string) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Encode converts a CandidateNode into INI format and writes it to the provided writer.
+func (ie *iniEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	log.Debugf("I need to encode %v", NodeToString(node))
+	log.Debugf("kids %v", len(node.Content))
+
+	if node.Kind == ScalarNode {
+		return writeStringINI(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+	}
+
+	// Create a new INI configuration.
+	cfg := ini.Empty()
+
+	if node.Kind == MappingNode {
+		// Default section for key-value pairs at the root level.
+		defaultSection, err := cfg.NewSection(ini.DefaultSection)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		// Process the node's content.
+		for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+			keyNode := node.Content[i]
+			valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+			key := keyNode.Value
+
+			switch valueNode.Kind {
+			case ScalarNode:
+				// Add key-value pair to the default section.
+				_, err := defaultSection.NewKey(key, valueNode.Value)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			case MappingNode:
+				// Create a new section for nested MappingNode.
+				section, err := cfg.NewSection(key)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				// Process nested key-value pairs.
+				for j := 0; j < len(valueNode.Content); j += 2 {
+					nestedKeyNode := valueNode.Content[j]
+					nestedValueNode := valueNode.Content[j+1]
+					if nestedValueNode.Kind == ScalarNode {
+						_, err := section.NewKey(nestedKeyNode.Value, nestedValueNode.Value)
+						if err != nil {
+							return err
+						}
+					} else {
+						log.Debugf("Skipping nested non-scalar value for key %s: %v", nestedKeyNode.Value, nestedValueNode.Kind)
+					}
+				}
+			default:
+				log.Debugf("Skipping non-scalar value for key %s: %v", key, valueNode.Kind)
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		return fmt.Errorf("INI encoder supports only MappingNode at the root level, got %v", node.Kind)
+	}
+
+	// Use a buffer to store the INI output as the library doesn't support direct io.Writer with indent.
+	var buffer bytes.Buffer
+	_, err := cfg.WriteToIndent(&buffer, ie.indentString)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Write the buffer content to the provided writer.
+	_, err = writer.Write(buffer.Bytes())
+	return err
+}
+
+// writeStringINI is a helper function to write a string to the provided writer for INI encoder.
+func writeStringINI(writer io.Writer, content string) error {
+	_, err := writer.Write([]byte(content))
+	return err
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_lua.go

@@ -167,10 +167,14 @@ func needsQuoting(s string) bool {
 	// [%a_][%w_]*
 	for i, c := range s {
 		if i == 0 {
+			// keeping for legacy reasons, upgraded linter
+			//nolint:staticcheck
 			if !((c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z') || (c >= 'a' && c <= 'z') || c == '_') {
 				return true
 			}
 		} else {
+			// keeping for legacy reasons, upgraded linter
+			//nolint:staticcheck
 			if !((c >= '0' && c <= '9') || (c >= 'A' && c <= 'Z') || (c >= 'a' && c <= 'z') || c == '_') {
 				return true
 			}
@@ -299,10 +303,10 @@ func (le *luaEncoder) encodeAny(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
 				return writeString(writer, node.Value)
 			}
 		default:
-			return fmt.Errorf("Lua encoder NYI -- %s", node.Tag)
+			return fmt.Errorf("lua encoder NYI -- %s", node.Tag)
 		}
 	default:
-		return fmt.Errorf("Lua encoder NYI -- %s", node.Tag)
+		return fmt.Errorf("lua encoder NYI -- %s", node.Tag)
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/encoder_properties.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_noprops
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
@@ -107,7 +109,7 @@ func (pe *propertiesEncoder) doEncode(p *properties.Properties, node *CandidateN
 	case AliasNode:
 		return pe.doEncode(p, node.Alias, path, nil)
 	default:
-		return fmt.Errorf("Unsupported node %v", node.Tag)
+		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported node %v", node.Tag)
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/encoder_sh.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nosh
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/encoder_shellvariables.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_noshell
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ func (pe *shellVariablesEncoder) doEncode(w *io.Writer, node *CandidateNode, pat
 	case AliasNode:
 		return pe.doEncode(w, node.Alias, path)
 	default:
-		return fmt.Errorf("Unsupported node %v", node.Tag)
+		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported node %v", node.Tag)
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/encoder_uri.go

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+//go:build !yq_nouri
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (

pkg/yqlib/encoder_yaml.go

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/fatih/color"
-	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
+	"go.yaml.in/yaml/v3"
 )
 
 type yamlEncoder struct {

pkg/yqlib/expression_parser.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ type ExpressionNode struct {
 	Operation *Operation
 	LHS       *ExpressionNode
 	RHS       *ExpressionNode
+	Parent    *ExpressionNode
 }
 
 type ExpressionParserInterface interface {
@@ -50,20 +51,26 @@ func (p *expressionParserImpl) createExpressionTree(postFixPath []*Operation) (*
 		log.Debugf("pathTree %v ", Operation.toString())
 		if Operation.OperationType.NumArgs > 0 {
 			numArgs := Operation.OperationType.NumArgs
-			if numArgs == 1 {
+			switch numArgs {
+			case 1:
 				if len(stack) < 1 {
 					return nil, fmt.Errorf("'%v' expects 1 arg but received none", strings.TrimSpace(Operation.StringValue))
 				}
 				remaining, rhs := stack[:len(stack)-1], stack[len(stack)-1]
 				newNode.RHS = rhs
+				rhs.Parent = &newNode
 				stack = remaining
-			} else if numArgs == 2 {
+			case 2:
 				if len(stack) < 2 {
 					return nil, fmt.Errorf("'%v' expects 2 args but there is %v", strings.TrimSpace(Operation.StringValue), len(stack))
 				}
 				remaining, lhs, rhs := stack[:len(stack)-2], stack[len(stack)-2], stack[len(stack)-1]
 				newNode.LHS = lhs
+				lhs.Parent = &newNode
+
 				newNode.RHS = rhs
+				rhs.Parent = &newNode
+
 				stack = remaining
 			}
 		}

pkg/yqlib/expression_postfix.go

@@ -26,11 +26,12 @@ func popOpToResult(opStack []*token, result []*Operation) ([]*token, []*Operatio
 }
 
 func validateNoOpenTokens(token *token) error {
-	if token.TokenType == openCollect {
+	switch token.TokenType {
+	case openCollect:
 		return fmt.Errorf(("bad expression, could not find matching `]`"))
-	} else if token.TokenType == openCollectObject {
+	case openCollectObject:
 		return fmt.Errorf(("bad expression, could not find matching `}`"))
-	} else if token.TokenType == openBracket {
+	case openBracket:
 		return fmt.Errorf(("bad expression, could not find matching `)`"))
 	}
 	return nil
@@ -64,7 +65,7 @@ func (p *expressionPostFixerImpl) ConvertToPostfix(infixTokens []*token) ([]*Ope
 				opStack, result = popOpToResult(opStack, result)
 			}
 			if len(opStack) == 0 {
-				return nil, errors.New("Bad path expression, got close collect brackets without matching opening bracket")
+				return nil, errors.New("bad path expression, got close collect brackets without matching opening bracket")
 			}
 			// now we should have [ as the last element on the opStack, get rid of it
 			opStack = opStack[0 : len(opStack)-1]

pkg/yqlib/format.go

@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ var LuaFormat = &Format{"lua", []string{"l"},
 	func() Decoder { return NewLuaDecoder(ConfiguredLuaPreferences) },
 }
 
+var INIFormat = &Format{"ini", []string{"i"},
+	func() Encoder { return NewINIEncoder() },
+	func() Decoder { return NewINIDecoder() },
+}
+
 var Formats = []*Format{
 	YamlFormat,
 	JSONFormat,
@@ -90,6 +95,7 @@ var Formats = []*Format{
 	TomlFormat,
 	ShellVariablesFormat,
 	LuaFormat,
+	INIFormat,
 }
 
 func (f *Format) MatchesName(name string) bool {
@@ -107,7 +113,7 @@ func FormatStringFromFilename(filename string) string {
 	if filename != "" {
 		GetLogger().Debugf("checking filename '%s' for auto format detection", filename)
 		ext := filepath.Ext(filename)
-		if ext != "" && ext[0] == '.' {
+		if len(ext) >= 2 && ext[0] == '.' {
 			format := strings.ToLower(ext[1:])
 			GetLogger().Debugf("detected format '%s'", format)
 			return format

pkg/yqlib/goccy_yaml_test.go

@@ -97,12 +97,18 @@ var goccyYamlFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		input:       "a: meow # line comment\n",
 		expected:    "a: meow # line comment\n",
 	},
-	{
-		description: "basic - line comment",
-		skipDoc:     true,
-		input:       "# head comment\na: #line comment\n  meow\n",
-		expected:    "# head comment\na: meow #line comment\n", // go-yaml does this
-	},
+	// {
+	// 	description: "basic - head comment",
+	// 	skipDoc:     true,
+	// 	input:       "# head comment\na: meow\n",
+	// 	expected:    "# head comment\na: meow\n", // go-yaml does this
+	// },
+	// {
+	// 	description: "basic - head and line comment",
+	// 	skipDoc:     true,
+	// 	input:       "# head comment\na: #line comment\n  meow\n",
+	// 	expected:    "# head comment\na: meow #line comment\n", // go-yaml does this
+	// },
 	{
 		description: "basic - foot comment",
 		skipDoc:     true,
@@ -133,24 +139,136 @@ var goccyYamlFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		input:       "a: ~\n",
 		expected:    "a: ~\n",
 	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - ~",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "null\n",
+		expected:    "null\n",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "blank value round trip",
+		input:       "test:",
+		expected:    "test:\n",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "trailing comment",
+		input:       "test: null\n# this comment will be removed",
+		expected:    "test: null\n# this comment will be removed\n",
+	},
 	// {
-	// 	description: "basic - ~",
+	// 	description: "doc separator",
 	// 	skipDoc:     true,
-	// 	input:       "null\n",
-	// 	expected:    "null\n",
+	// 	input:       "# hi\n---\na: cat\n---",
+	// 	expected:    "---\na: cat\n",
 	// },
 	// {
+	// 	description: "scalar with doc separator",
 	// 	skipDoc:     true,
-	// 	description: "trailing comment",
-	// 	input:       "test:",
-	// 	expected:    "test:",
-	// },
-	// {
-	// 	skipDoc:     true,
-	// 	description: "trailing comment",
-	// 	input:       "test:\n# this comment will be removed",
-	// 	expected:    "test:\n# this comment will be removed",
+	// 	input:       "--- cat",
+	// 	expected:    "---\ncat\n",
 	// },
+	{
+		description: "scalar with doc separator",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "---cat",
+		expected:    "---cat\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - null",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "null",
+		expected:    "null\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - ~",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "~",
+		expected:    "~\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "octal",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "0o30",
+		expression:  "tag",
+		expected:    "!!int\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - [null]",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "[null]",
+		expected:    "[null]\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "multi document",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: mike\n---\nb: remember",
+		expected:    "a: mike\n---\nb: remember\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "single doc anchor map",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: &remember mike\nb: *remember",
+		expected:    "a: &remember mike\nb: *remember\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "explode doc anchor map",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: &remember mike\nb: *remember",
+		expression:  "explode(.)",
+		expected:    "a: mike\nb: mike\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "multi document anchor map",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: &remember mike\n---\nb: *remember",
+		expression:  "explode(.)",
+		expected:    "a: mike\n---\nb: mike\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "merge anchor",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: &remember\n  c: mike\nb:\n  <<: *remember",
+		// fine to have !!merge as that's what the current impl does
+		expected: "a: &remember\n  c: mike\nb:\n  !!merge <<: *remember\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "custom tag",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: !cat mike",
+		expected:    "a: !cat mike\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - [~]",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "[~]",
+		expected:    "[~]\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - null map value",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "a: null",
+		expected:    "a: null\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - number",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "3",
+		expected:    "3\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - float",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "3.1",
+		expected:    "3.1\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "basic - float",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "[1, 2]",
+		expected:    "[1, 2]\n",
+	},
 }
 
 func testGoccyYamlScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {

pkg/yqlib/ini.go

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package yqlib
+
+type INIPreferences struct {
+	ColorsEnabled bool
+}
+
+func NewDefaultINIPreferences() INIPreferences {
+	return INIPreferences{
+		ColorsEnabled: false,
+	}
+}
+
+func (p *INIPreferences) Copy() INIPreferences {
+	return INIPreferences{
+		ColorsEnabled: p.ColorsEnabled,
+	}
+}
+
+var ConfiguredINIPreferences = NewDefaultINIPreferences()

pkg/yqlib/ini_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+//go:build !yq_noini
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+)
+
+const simpleINIInput = `[section]
+key = value
+`
+
+const expectedSimpleINIOutput = `[section]
+key = value
+`
+
+const expectedSimpleINIYaml = `section:
+  key: value
+`
+
+var iniScenarios = []formatScenario{
+	{
+		description:  "Parse INI: simple",
+		input:        simpleINIInput,
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+		expected:     expectedSimpleINIYaml,
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Encode INI: simple",
+		input:        `section: {key: value}`,
+		expected:     expectedSimpleINIOutput,
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip INI: simple",
+		input:        simpleINIInput,
+		expected:     expectedSimpleINIOutput,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:   "bad ini",
+		input:         `[section\nkey = value`,
+		expectedError: `bad file 'sample.yml': failed to parse INI content: unclosed section: [section\nkey = value`,
+		scenarioType:  "decode-error",
+	},
+}
+
+func documentRoundtripINIScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.ini file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```ini\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+
+	expression := s.expression
+	if expression != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -p=ini -o=ini '%v' sample.ini\n```\n", expression))
+	} else {
+		writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq -p=ini -o=ini sample.ini\n```\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```ini\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewINIDecoder(), NewINIEncoder())))
+}
+
+func documentDecodeINIScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.ini file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```ini\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+
+	expression := s.expression
+	if expression != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -p=ini '%v' sample.ini\n```\n", expression))
+	} else {
+		writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq -p=ini sample.ini\n```\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewINIDecoder(), NewYamlEncoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences))))
+}
+
+func testINIScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "encode":
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences), NewINIEncoder()), s.description)
+	case "decode":
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewINIDecoder(), NewYamlEncoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences)), s.description)
+	case "roundtrip":
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewINIDecoder(), NewINIEncoder()), s.description)
+	case "decode-error":
+		result, err := processFormatScenario(s, NewINIDecoder(), NewINIEncoder())
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Expected error '%v' but it worked: %v", s.expectedError, result)
+		} else {
+			test.AssertResultComplexWithContext(t, s.expectedError, err.Error(), s.description)
+		}
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
+	}
+}
+
+func documentINIScenario(_ *testing.T, w *bufio.Writer, i interface{}) {
+	s := i.(formatScenario)
+	if s.skipDoc {
+		return
+	}
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "encode":
+		documentINIEncodeScenario(w, s)
+	case "decode":
+		documentDecodeINIScenario(w, s)
+	case "roundtrip":
+		documentRoundtripINIScenario(w, s)
+	case "decode-error":
+		documentDecodeErrorINIScenario(w, s)
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
+	}
+}
+
+func documentINIEncodeScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.yml file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+
+	expression := s.expression
+	if expression == "" {
+		expression = "."
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -o=ini '%v' sample.yml\n```\n", expression))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```ini\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences), NewINIEncoder())))
+}
+
+func documentDecodeErrorINIScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.ini file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```ini\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then an error is expected:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```\n%v\n```\n\n", s.expectedError))
+}
+
+func TestINIScenarios(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range iniScenarios {
+		testINIScenario(t, tt)
+	}
+	genericScenarios := make([]interface{}, len(iniScenarios))
+	for i, s := range iniScenarios {
+		genericScenarios[i] = s
+	}
+	documentScenarios(t, "usage", "convert", genericScenarios, documentINIScenario)
+}

pkg/yqlib/lexer.go

@@ -31,24 +31,25 @@ type token struct {
 }
 
 func (t *token) toString(detail bool) string {
-	if t.TokenType == operationToken {
+	switch t.TokenType {
+	case operationToken:
 		if detail {
 			return fmt.Sprintf("%v (%v)", t.Operation.toString(), t.Operation.OperationType.Precedence)
 		}
 		return t.Operation.toString()
-	} else if t.TokenType == openBracket {
+	case openBracket:
 		return "("
-	} else if t.TokenType == closeBracket {
+	case closeBracket:
 		return ")"
-	} else if t.TokenType == openCollect {
+	case openCollect:
 		return "["
-	} else if t.TokenType == closeCollect {
+	case closeCollect:
 		return "]"
-	} else if t.TokenType == openCollectObject {
+	case openCollectObject:
 		return "{"
-	} else if t.TokenType == closeCollectObject {
+	case closeCollectObject:
 		return "}"
-	} else if t.TokenType == traverseArrayCollect {
+	case traverseArrayCollect:
 		return ".["
 
 	}

pkg/yqlib/lib.go

@@ -28,6 +28,17 @@ func GetLogger() *logging.Logger {
 	return log
 }
 
+func getContentValueByKey(content []*CandidateNode, key string) *CandidateNode {
+	for index := 0; index < len(content); index = index + 2 {
+		keyNode := content[index]
+		valueNode := content[index+1]
+		if keyNode.Value == key {
+			return valueNode
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func recurseNodeArrayEqual(lhs *CandidateNode, rhs *CandidateNode) bool {
 	if len(lhs.Content) != len(rhs.Content) {
 		return false

pkg/yqlib/no_base64.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_nobase64
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewBase64Decoder() Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewBase64Encoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_csv.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_nocsv
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewCSVObjectDecoder(prefs CsvPreferences) Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewCsvEncoder(prefs CsvPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_ini.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_noini
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewINIDecoder() Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewINIEncoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_json.go

@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ func NewJSONDecoder() Decoder {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func NewJSONEncoder(indent int, colorise bool, unwrapScalar bool) Encoder {
+func NewJSONEncoder(prefs JsonPreferences) Encoder {
 	return nil
 }

pkg/yqlib/no_props.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_noprops
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewPropertiesDecoder() Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewPropertiesEncoder(prefs PropertiesPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_sh.go

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+//go:build yq_nosh
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewShEncoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_shellvariables.go

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+//go:build yq_noshell
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewShellVariablesEncoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_uri.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_nouri
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewUriDecoder() Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewUriEncoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_xml.go

@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ func NewXMLDecoder(prefs XmlPreferences) Decoder {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func NewXMLEncoder(indent int, prefs XmlPreferences) Encoder {
+func NewXMLEncoder(prefs XmlPreferences) Encoder {
 	return nil
 }

pkg/yqlib/operator_add.go

@@ -38,8 +38,11 @@ func toNodes(candidate *CandidateNode, lhs *CandidateNode) []*CandidateNode {
 
 func addOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (Context, error) {
 	log.Debugf("Add operator")
+	// only calculate when empty IF we are the root expression; OR
+	// calcWhenEmpty := expressionNode.Parent == nil || expressionNode.Parent.LHS == expressionNode
+	calcWhenEmpty := context.MatchingNodes.Len() > 0
 
-	return crossFunction(d, context.ReadOnlyClone(), expressionNode, add, true)
+	return crossFunction(d, context.ReadOnlyClone(), expressionNode, add, calcWhenEmpty)
 }
 
 func add(_ *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, lhs *CandidateNode, rhs *CandidateNode) (*CandidateNode, error) {

pkg/yqlib/operator_add_test.go

@@ -5,6 +5,107 @@ import (
 )
 
 var addOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `"foo" + "bar"`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!str)::foobar\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `[] | .[] | "foo" + .`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `[] | .[] | . + "foo"`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `select(.) | "foo" + "bar"`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!str)::foobar\n", // jq does not do this :/ - but yq has for quite some time.
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   "apples: 3",
+		expression: `.apples + 3`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[apples], (!!int)::6\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   "apples: 3",
+		expression: `.bobo + 3`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!int)::3\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `select(.) | "cat" + .`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `[]`,
+		expression: `.[] | (.a + "|" + .b)`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `[]`,
+		expression: `.[] | (.a + "|")`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `[]`,
+		expression: `.[] | ("|" + .a)`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `resources: [foo, bar, baz]`,
+		expression: `.missing + .resources | .[]`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[resources 0], (!!str)::foo\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 1], (!!str)::bar\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 2], (!!str)::baz\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `resources: [foo, bar, baz]`,
+		expression: `. | .missing + .resources | .[]`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[resources 0], (!!str)::foo\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 1], (!!str)::bar\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 2], (!!str)::baz\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `resources: [foo, bar, baz]`,
+		expression: `. | .missing + .resources`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[resources], (!!seq)::[foo, bar, baz]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `resources: [foo, bar, baz]`,
+		expression: `. | .missing + .resources | .[]`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[resources 0], (!!str)::foo\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 1], (!!str)::bar\n",
+			"D0, P[resources 2], (!!str)::baz\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   `[{a: foo, b: bar}, {a: 1, b: 2}]`,
@@ -310,6 +411,20 @@ var addOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a: !cat Saturday, 15-Dec-01 at 6:00AM GMT\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "empty add shouldn't add",
+		document:    `[]`,
+		expression:  `.[]  | (.a + "cat")`,
+		expected:    []string{},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "empty add shouldn't add",
+		document:    `[]`,
+		expression:  `.[]  | (.a + "cat" + .b)`,
+		expected:    []string{},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:        true,
 		description:    "Add to empty",

pkg/yqlib/operator_anchors_aliases.go

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 )
 
+var showMergeAnchorToSpecWarning = true
+
 func assignAliasOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (Context, error) {
 
 	log.Debugf("AssignAlias operator!")
@@ -138,6 +140,59 @@ func explodeOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expr
 	return context, nil
 }
 
+func fixedReconstructAliasedMap(node *CandidateNode) error {
+	var newContent = []*CandidateNode{}
+
+	for index := 0; index < len(node.Content); index = index + 2 {
+		keyNode := node.Content[index]
+		valueNode := node.Content[index+1]
+		if keyNode.Tag != "!!merge" {
+			// always add in plain nodes
+			// explode both the key and value nodes
+			if err := explodeNode(keyNode, Context{}); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := explodeNode(valueNode, Context{}); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			newContent = append(newContent, keyNode, valueNode)
+		} else {
+			sequence := valueNode
+			if sequence.Kind == AliasNode {
+				sequence = sequence.Alias
+			}
+			if sequence.Kind != SequenceNode {
+				sequence = &CandidateNode{Content: []*CandidateNode{sequence}}
+			}
+			for index := 0; index < len(sequence.Content); index = index + 1 {
+				// for merge anchors, we only set them if the key is not already in node or the newContent
+				mergeNodeSeq := sequence.Content[index]
+				if mergeNodeSeq.Kind == AliasNode {
+					mergeNodeSeq = mergeNodeSeq.Alias
+				}
+				if mergeNodeSeq.Kind != MappingNode {
+					return fmt.Errorf("can only use merge anchors with maps (!!map) or sequences (!!seq) of maps, but got sequence containing %v", mergeNodeSeq.Tag)
+				}
+				itemsToAdd := mergeNodeSeq.FilterMapContentByKey(func(keyNode *CandidateNode) bool {
+					return getContentValueByKey(node.Content, keyNode.Value) == nil &&
+						getContentValueByKey(newContent, keyNode.Value) == nil
+				})
+
+				for _, item := range itemsToAdd {
+					// copy to ensure exploding doesn't modify the original node
+					itemCopy := item.Copy()
+					if err := explodeNode(itemCopy, Context{}); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					newContent = append(newContent, itemCopy)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	node.Content = newContent
+	return nil
+}
+
 func reconstructAliasedMap(node *CandidateNode, context Context) error {
 	var newContent = list.New()
 	// can I short cut here by prechecking if there's an anchor in the map?
@@ -215,6 +270,13 @@ func explodeNode(node *CandidateNode, context Context) error {
 		}
 
 		if hasAlias {
+			if ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec {
+				return fixedReconstructAliasedMap(node)
+			}
+			if showMergeAnchorToSpecWarning {
+				log.Warning("--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec is false; causing merge anchors to override the existing values which isn't to the yaml spec. This flag will default to true in late 2025.")
+				showMergeAnchorToSpecWarning = false
+			}
 			// this is a slow op, which is why we want to check before running it.
 			return reconstructAliasedMap(node, context)
 		}
@@ -244,7 +306,7 @@ func applyAlias(node *CandidateNode, alias *CandidateNode, aliasIndex int, newCo
 	}
 	log.Debug("alias: %v", NodeToString(alias))
 	if alias.Kind != MappingNode {
-		return fmt.Errorf("merge anchor only supports maps, got %v instead", alias.Tag)
+		return fmt.Errorf("can only use merge anchors with maps (!!map) or sequences (!!seq) of maps, but got sequence containing %v", alias.Tag)
 	}
 	for index := 0; index < len(alias.Content); index = index + 2 {
 		keyNode := alias.Content[index]

pkg/yqlib/operator_anchors_aliases_test.go

@@ -34,6 +34,25 @@ thingTwo:
     !!merge <<: *item_value
 `
 
+var explodeMergeAnchorsFixedExpected = `D0, P[], (!!map)::foo:
+    a: foo_a
+    thing: foo_thing
+    c: foo_c
+bar:
+    b: bar_b
+    thing: bar_thing
+    c: bar_c
+foobarList:
+    b: foobarList_b
+    a: foo_a
+    thing: foo_thing
+    c: foobarList_c
+foobar:
+    c: foobar_c
+    a: foo_a
+    thing: foobar_thing
+`
+
 var explodeMergeAnchorsExpected = `D0, P[], (!!map)::foo:
     a: foo_a
     thing: foo_thing
@@ -53,12 +72,226 @@ foobar:
     thing: foobar_thing
 `
 
+var explodeWhenKeysExistDocument = `objects:
+  - &circle
+    name: circle
+    shape: round
+  - name: ellipse
+    !!merge <<: *circle
+  - !!merge <<: *circle
+    name: egg
+`
+
+var explodeWhenKeysExistLegacy = `D0, P[], (!!map)::objects:
+    - name: circle
+      shape: round
+    - name: circle
+      shape: round
+    - shape: round
+      name: egg
+`
+
+var explodeWhenKeysExistExpected = `D0, P[], (!!map)::objects:
+    - name: circle
+      shape: round
+    - name: ellipse
+      shape: round
+    - shape: round
+      name: egg
+`
+
+var fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		description:    "merge anchor after existing keys",
+		subdescription: "Does not override existing keys - note the name field in the second element is still ellipse.",
+		document:       explodeWhenKeysExistDocument,
+		expression:     "explode(.)",
+		expected:       []string{explodeWhenKeysExistExpected},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "FIXED: Explode with merge anchors",
+		subdescription: "Observe that foobarList.b property is still foobarList_b.",
+		document:       mergeDocSample,
+		expression:     `explode(.)`,
+		expected:       []string{explodeMergeAnchorsFixedExpected},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   mergeDocSample,
+		expression: `.foo* | explode(.) | (. style="flow")`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: foobarList_b, a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foobar_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   mergeDocSample,
+		expression: `.foo* | explode(explode(.)) | (. style="flow")`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: foobarList_b, a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foobar_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "FIXED: Merge multiple maps",
+		subdescription: "Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the correct key order.",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTER, *BIG ]\n",
+		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
+		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::x: 1\ny: 2\nr: 10\n"},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "FIXED: Override",
+		subdescription: "Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the correct key order.",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *BIG, *LEFT, *SMALL ]\n  x: 1\n",
+		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
+		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\ny: 2\nx: 1\n"},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "Exploding inline merge anchor",
+		// subdescription: "`<<` map must be exploded, otherwise `c: *b` will become invalid",
+		document:   `{a: {b: &b 42}, <<: {c: *b}}`,
+		expression: `explode(.) | sort_keys(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{a: {b: 42}, c: 42}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		description:    "Exploding inline merge anchor in sequence",
+		subdescription: "`<<` map must be exploded, otherwise `c: *b` will become invalid",
+		document:       `{a: {b: &b 42}, <<: [{c: *b}]}`,
+		expression:     `explode(.) | sort_keys(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{a: {b: 42}, c: 42}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		description:    "Exploding merge anchor should not explode neighbors",
+		subdescription: "b must not be exploded, as `r: *a` will become invalid",
+		document:       `{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {<<: *b}}`,
+		expression:     `explode(.c)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {a: 42}}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		description:    "Exploding sequence merge anchor should not explode neighbors",
+		subdescription: "b must not be exploded, as `r: *a` will become invalid",
+		document:       `{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {<<: [*b]}}`,
+		expression:     `explode(.c)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {a: 42}}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Merge anchor with inline map",
+		document:    `{<<: {a: 42}}`,
+		expression:  `explode(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{a: 42}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Merge anchor with sequence with inline map",
+		document:    `{<<: [{a: 42}]}`,
+		expression:  `explode(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{a: 42}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Merge anchor with aliased sequence with inline map",
+		document:    `{s: &s [{a: 42}], m: {<<: *s}}`,
+		expression:  `.m | explode(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[m], (!!map)::{a: 42}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "deleting after explode",
+		document:    "x: 37\na: &a\n  b: 42\n<<: *a",
+		expression:  `explode(.) | del(.x)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a:\n    b: 42\nb: 42\n",
+		},
+	},
+}
+
+var badAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true, // incorrect overrides
+		description: "LEGACY: merge anchor after existing keys",
+		document:    explodeWhenKeysExistDocument,
+		expression:  "explode(.)",
+		expected:    []string{explodeWhenKeysExistLegacy},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "LEGACY: Explode with merge anchors", // incorrect overrides
+		subdescription: "Caution: this is for when --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=false; it's not to YAML spec because the merge anchors incorrectly override the object values (foobarList.b is set to bar_b when it should still be foobarList_b). Flag will default to true in late 2025",
+		document:       mergeDocSample,
+		expression:     `explode(.)`,
+		expected:       []string{explodeMergeAnchorsExpected},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   mergeDocSample, // incorrect overrides
+		expression: `.foo* | explode(.) | (. style="flow")`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: bar_b, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c, a: foo_a}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foo_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   mergeDocSample,
+		expression: `.foo* | explode(explode(.)) | (. style="flow")`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: bar_b, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c, a: foo_a}\n",
+			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foo_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "LEGACY: Merge multiple maps",
+		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong key order; set --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true to fix the key order.",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTER, *BIG ]\n",
+		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
+		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\nx: 1\ny: 2\n"},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "LEGACY: Override",
+		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong key order; set --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true to fix the key order.",
+
+		document:   specDocument + "- << : [ *BIG, *LEFT, *SMALL ]\n  x: 1\n",
+		expression: ".[4] | explode(.)",
+		expected:   []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\nx: 1\ny: 2\n"},
+	},
+}
+
 var anchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "merge anchor to alias alias",
+		document:    "b: &b 10\na: &a { k:  *b }\nc:\n   <<: [*a]",
+		expression:  "explode(.)",
+		expected:    []string{"D0, P[], (!!map)::b: 10\na: {k: 10}\nc:\n    k: 10\n"},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:       true,
 		description:   "merge anchor not map",
 		document:      "a: &a\n  - 0\nc:\n  <<: [*a]\n",
-		expectedError: "merge anchor only supports maps, got !!seq instead",
+		expectedError: "can only use merge anchors with maps (!!map) or sequences (!!seq) of maps, but got sequence containing !!seq",
 		expression:    "explode(.)",
 	},
 	{
@@ -68,20 +301,7 @@ var anchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
 		expected:       []string{expectedSpecResult},
 	},
-	{
-		description:    "Merge multiple maps",
-		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html",
-		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTER, *BIG ]\n",
-		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
-		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\nx: 1\ny: 2\n"},
-	},
-	{
-		description:    "Override",
-		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html",
-		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *BIG, *LEFT, *SMALL ]\n  x: 1\n",
-		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
-		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\nx: 1\ny: 2\n"},
-	},
+
 	{
 		description: "Get anchor",
 		document:    `a: &billyBob cat`,
@@ -224,37 +444,22 @@ var anchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		},
 	},
 	{
-		description: "Explode with alias keys",
-		document:    `{f : {a: &a cat, *a: b}}`,
-		expression:  `explode(.f)`,
+		description:    "Explode with alias keys",
+		subdescription: "No space between alias",
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		document:       `{f : {a: &a cat, *a: b}}`,
+		expression:     `explode(.f)`,
 		expected: []string{
 			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{f: {a: cat, cat: b}}\n",
 		},
+		skipForGoccy: true, // can't handle no space between alias
 	},
 	{
-		description: "Explode with merge anchors",
-		document:    mergeDocSample,
-		expression:  `explode(.)`,
-		expected:    []string{explodeMergeAnchorsExpected},
-	},
-	{
-		skipDoc:    true,
-		document:   mergeDocSample,
-		expression: `.foo* | explode(.) | (. style="flow")`,
+		description: "Explode with alias keys",
+		document:    `{f : {a: &a cat, *a : b}}`,
+		expression:  `explode(.f)`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
-			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: bar_b, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c, a: foo_a}\n",
-			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foo_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		skipDoc:    true,
-		document:   mergeDocSample,
-		expression: `.foo* | explode(explode(.)) | (. style="flow")`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[foo], (!!map)::{a: foo_a, thing: foo_thing, c: foo_c}\n",
-			"D0, P[foobarList], (!!map)::{b: bar_b, thing: foo_thing, c: foobarList_c, a: foo_a}\n",
-			"D0, P[foobar], (!!map)::{c: foo_c, a: foo_a, thing: foobar_thing}\n",
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{f: {a: cat, cat: b}}\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{
@@ -269,14 +474,47 @@ var anchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		description:    "Dereference and update a field",
 		subdescription: "Use explode with multiply to dereference an object",
 		document:       simpleArrayRef,
-		expression:     `.thingOne |= explode(.) * {"value": false}`,
+		expression:     `.thingOne |= (explode(.) | sort_keys(.)) * {"value": false}`,
 		expected:       []string{expectedUpdatedArrayRef},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:        true,
+		description:    "Duplicate keys",
+		subdescription: "outside merge anchor",
+		document:       `{a: 1, a: 2}`,
+		expression:     `explode(.)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			// {a: 2} would also be fine
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{a: 1, a: 2}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "!!str << should not be treated as merge anchor",
+		document:    `{!!str <<: {a: 37}}`,
+		expression:  `explode(.).a`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[a], (!!null)::null\n",
+		},
+	},
 }
 
 func TestAnchorAliasOperatorScenarios(t *testing.T) {
-	for _, tt := range anchorOperatorScenarios {
+	for _, tt := range append(anchorOperatorScenarios, badAnchorOperatorScenarios...) {
 		testScenario(t, &tt)
 	}
-	documentOperatorScenarios(t, "anchor-and-alias-operators", anchorOperatorScenarios)
+	documentOperatorScenarios(t, "anchor-and-alias-operators", append(anchorOperatorScenarios, badAnchorOperatorScenarios...))
+}
+
+func TestAnchorAliasOperatorAlignedToSpecScenarios(t *testing.T) {
+	ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec = true
+	for _, tt := range append(fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios, anchorOperatorScenarios...) {
+		testScenario(t, &tt)
+	}
+
+	for i, tt := range fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios {
+		fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios[i].subdescription = "Set `--yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true` to get this correct merge behaviour (flag will default to true in late 2025).\n" + tt.subdescription
+	}
+	appendOperatorDocumentScenario(t, "anchor-and-alias-operators", fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios)
+	ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec = false
 }

pkg/yqlib/operator_collect_object.go

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package yqlib
 
 import (
 	"container/list"
+	"fmt"
 )
 
 /*
@@ -34,6 +35,9 @@ func collectObjectOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, originalContext Context, _ *Exp
 
 	for el := context.MatchingNodes.Front(); el != nil; el = el.Next() {
 		candidateNode := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)
+		if len(candidateNode.Content) < len(first.Content) {
+			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("CollectObject: mismatching node sizes; are you creating a map with mismatching key value pairs?")
+		}
 
 		for i := 0; i < len(first.Content); i++ {
 			log.Debugf("rotate[%v] = %v", i, NodeToString(candidateNode.Content[i]))

pkg/yqlib/operator_collect_object_test.go

@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ var collectObjectOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[name], (!!str)::mike\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:       true,
+		expression:    `{"c": "a", "b", "d"}`,
+		expectedError: "CollectObject: mismatching node sizes; are you creating a map with mismatching key value pairs?",
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		expression: `{"person": {"names": ["mike"]}} | .person.names[0]`,

pkg/yqlib/operator_delete.go

@@ -26,11 +26,12 @@ func deleteChildOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *
 		candidatePath := candidate.GetPath()
 		childPath := candidatePath[len(candidatePath)-1]
 
-		if parentNode.Kind == MappingNode {
+		switch parentNode.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
 			deleteFromMap(candidate.Parent, childPath)
-		} else if parentNode.Kind == SequenceNode {
+		case SequenceNode:
 			deleteFromArray(candidate.Parent, childPath)
-		} else {
+		default:
 			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot delete nodes from parent of tag %v", parentNode.Tag)
 		}
 	}

pkg/yqlib/operator_delete_test.go

@@ -119,6 +119,60 @@ var deleteOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a: []\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry appended to an array",
+		document:    `[1,2]`,
+		expression:  `. += [3] | del(.[2])`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[1, 2]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry after sorting an array",
+		document:    `[3,2,1]`,
+		expression:  `sort | del(.[2])`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[1, 2]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry after reversing an array",
+		document:    `[1,2,3]`,
+		expression:  `reverse | del(.[2])`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[3, 2]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry after shuffling an array",
+		document:    `[1,2,3]`,
+		expression:  `shuffle | del(.[2])`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[3, 1]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry from keys array",
+		document:    `{"a": 1, "b": 2, "c": 3}`,
+		expression:  `keys | del(.[] | select(.=="b"))`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::- \"a\"\n- \"c\"\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		description: "Delete entry after flattening an array",
+		document:    `[1,[2],[[3]]]`,
+		expression:  `flatten | del(.[2])`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[1, 2]\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   `a: [10,x,10, 10, x, 10]`,

pkg/yqlib/operator_flatten_test.go

@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ var flattenOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		expression:  `flatten[]`,
 		expected: []string{
 			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::1\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::2\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::3\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::2\n",
+			"D0, P[2], (!!int)::3\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ var flattenOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		expression:  `flatten(1)[]`,
 		expected: []string{
 			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::1\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::2\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!seq)::[3]\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::2\n",
+			"D0, P[2], (!!seq)::[3]\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{

pkg/yqlib/operator_keys.go

@@ -45,12 +45,13 @@ func keysOperator(_ *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, _ *ExpressionNode) (Con
 		candidate := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)
 
 		var targetNode *CandidateNode
-		if candidate.Kind == MappingNode {
+		switch candidate.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
 			targetNode = getMapKeys(candidate)
-		} else if candidate.Kind == SequenceNode {
+		case SequenceNode:
 			targetNode = getIndices(candidate)
-		} else {
-			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("Cannot get keys of %v, keys only works for maps and arrays", candidate.Tag)
+		default:
+			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot get keys of %v, keys only works for maps and arrays", candidate.Tag)
 		}
 
 		results.PushBack(targetNode)
@@ -64,19 +65,20 @@ func getMapKeys(node *CandidateNode) *CandidateNode {
 	for index := 0; index < len(node.Content); index = index + 2 {
 		contents = append(contents, node.Content[index])
 	}
-	return &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode, Tag: "!!seq", Content: contents}
+
+	seq := &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode, Tag: "!!seq"}
+	seq.AddChildren(contents)
+	return seq
 }
 
 func getIndices(node *CandidateNode) *CandidateNode {
 	var contents = make([]*CandidateNode, len(node.Content))
 
 	for index := range node.Content {
-		contents[index] = &CandidateNode{
-			Kind:  ScalarNode,
-			Tag:   "!!int",
-			Value: fmt.Sprintf("%v", index),
-		}
+		contents[index] = createScalarNode(index, fmt.Sprintf("%v", index))
 	}
 
-	return &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode, Tag: "!!seq", Content: contents}
+	seq := &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode, Tag: "!!seq"}
+	seq.AddChildren(contents)
+	return seq
 }

pkg/yqlib/operator_keys_test.go

@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ var keysOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    `{dog: woof, cat: meow}`,
 		expression:  `keys[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[dog], (!!str)::dog\n",
-			"D0, P[cat], (!!str)::cat\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!str)::dog\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!str)::cat\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{

pkg/yqlib/operator_load.go

@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ func loadStringOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *E
 
 		contentsCandidate, err := loadString(filename)
 		if err != nil {
-			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("Failed to load %v: %w", filename, err)
+			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to load %v: %w", filename, err)
 		}
 
 		results.PushBack(contentsCandidate)
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ func loadOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Express
 
 		contentsCandidate, err := loadWithDecoder(filename, loadPrefs.decoder)
 		if err != nil {
-			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("Failed to load %v: %w", filename, err)
+			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to load %v: %w", filename, err)
 		}
 
 		results.PushBack(contentsCandidate)

pkg/yqlib/operator_map.go

@@ -41,6 +41,10 @@ func mapOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expressi
 		if err != nil {
 			return Context{}, err
 		}
+		if splatted.MatchingNodes.Len() == 0 {
+			results.PushBack(candidate.Copy())
+			continue
+		}
 
 		result, err := d.GetMatchingNodes(splatted, expressionNode.RHS)
 		log.Debug("expressionNode.Rhs %v", expressionNode.RHS.Operation.OperationType)

pkg/yqlib/operator_map_test.go

@@ -15,6 +15,53 @@ var mapOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[6, 7, 8]\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		description: "mapping against an empty array should do nothing",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    `[]`,
+		document2:   `["cat"]`,
+		expression:  `map(3)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[]\n",
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[3]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "mapping against an empty array should do nothing",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    `[[], [5]]`,
+		expression:  `.[] |= map(3)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[[], [3]]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "mapping against an empty array should do nothing #2",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    `[]`,
+		document2:   `[5]`,
+		expression:  `map(3 + .)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[]\n",
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[8]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "mapping against an empty array should do nothing",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    `[[], [5]]`,
+		expression:  `.[] |= map(3 + .)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[[], [8]]\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		expression: `[] | map(. + 42)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[]\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   `[1,2]`,
@@ -32,6 +79,26 @@ var mapOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::[2, 3, 4]\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `{}`,
+		document2:  `{b: 12}`,
+		expression: `map_values(3)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{}\n",
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{b: 3}\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `{}`,
+		document2:  `{b: 12}`,
+		expression: `map_values(3 + .)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{}\n",
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::{b: 15}\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   `{a: 1, b: 2, c: 3}`,

pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go

@@ -154,9 +154,9 @@ func repeatString(lhs *CandidateNode, rhs *CandidateNode) (*CandidateNode, error
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	} else if count < 0 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Cannot repeat string by a negative number (%v)", count)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot repeat string by a negative number (%v)", count)
 	} else if count > 10000000 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Cannot repeat string by more than 100 million (%v)", count)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot repeat string by more than 100 million (%v)", count)
 	}
 	target.Value = strings.Repeat(stringNode.Value, count)
 

pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go

@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ var multiplyOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		skipDoc:       true,
 		document:      `n: -4`,
 		expression:    `"banana" * .n`,
-		expectedError: "Cannot repeat string by a negative number (-4)",
+		expectedError: "cannot repeat string by a negative number (-4)",
 	},
 	{
 		description: "Multiply string X by more than 100 million",
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ var multiplyOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		skipDoc:       true,
 		document:      `n: 100000001`,
 		expression:    `"banana" * .n`,
-		expectedError: "Cannot repeat string by more than 100 million (100000001)",
+		expectedError: "cannot repeat string by more than 100 million (100000001)",
 	},
 	{
 		description: "Multiply int node X string",

pkg/yqlib/operator_omit.go

@@ -58,11 +58,12 @@ func omitOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Express
 
 		var replacement *CandidateNode
 
-		if node.Kind == MappingNode {
+		switch node.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
 			replacement = omitMap(node, indicesToOmit)
-		} else if node.Kind == SequenceNode {
+		case SequenceNode:
 			replacement = omitSequence(node, indicesToOmit)
-		} else {
+		default:
 			log.Debugf("Omit from type %v (%v) is noop", node.Tag, node.GetNicePath())
 			return context, nil
 		}

pkg/yqlib/operator_path.go

@@ -22,15 +22,16 @@ func getPathArrayFromNode(funcName string, node *CandidateNode) ([]interface{},
 	path := make([]interface{}, len(node.Content))
 
 	for i, childNode := range node.Content {
-		if childNode.Tag == "!!str" {
+		switch childNode.Tag {
+		case "!!str":
 			path[i] = childNode.Value
-		} else if childNode.Tag == "!!int" {
+		case "!!int":
 			number, err := parseInt(childNode.Value)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, fmt.Errorf("%v: could not parse %v as an int: %w", funcName, childNode.Value, err)
 			}
 			path[i] = number
-		} else {
+		default:
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("%v: expected either a !!str or !!int in the path, found %v instead", funcName, childNode.Tag)
 		}
 

pkg/yqlib/operator_pick.go

@@ -64,15 +64,16 @@ func pickOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Express
 		node := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)
 
 		var replacement *CandidateNode
-		if node.Kind == MappingNode {
+		switch node.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
 			replacement = pickMap(node, indicesToPick)
-		} else if node.Kind == SequenceNode {
+		case SequenceNode:
 			replacement, err = pickSequence(node, indicesToPick)
 			if err != nil {
 				return Context{}, err
 			}
 
-		} else {
+		default:
 			return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot pick indices from type %v (%v)", node.Tag, node.GetNicePath())
 		}
 

pkg/yqlib/operator_reverse_test.go

@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ var reverseOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    "[1, 2]",
 		expression:  `reverse[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::2\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::1\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::2\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::1\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{

pkg/yqlib/operator_select_test.go

@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 var selectOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		skipDoc:    true,
+		document:   `cat: pants`,
+		expression: `select(.nope) | key + " why though?"`,
+		expected:   []string{},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   `cat`,

pkg/yqlib/operator_shuffle.go

@@ -26,7 +26,12 @@ func shuffleOperator(_ *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, _ *ExpressionNode) (
 
 		a := result.Content
 
-		myRand.Shuffle(len(a), func(i, j int) { a[i], a[j] = a[j], a[i] })
+		myRand.Shuffle(len(a), func(i, j int) {
+			a[i], a[j] = a[j], a[i]
+			oldIndex := a[i].Key.Value
+			a[i].Key.Value = a[j].Key.Value
+			a[j].Key.Value = oldIndex
+		})
 
 		results.PushBack(result)
 	}

pkg/yqlib/operator_shuffle_test.go

@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ var shuffleOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    "[1, 2, 3]",
 		expression:  `shuffle[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[2], (!!int)::3\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::1\n",
-			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::2\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::3\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::1\n",
+			"D0, P[2], (!!int)::2\n",
 		},
 	},
 

pkg/yqlib/operator_sort.go

@@ -47,11 +47,12 @@ func sortByOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expre
 		sort.Stable(sortableArray)
 
 		sortedList := candidate.CopyWithoutContent()
-		if candidate.Kind == MappingNode {
+		switch candidate.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
 			for _, sortedNode := range sortableArray {
 				sortedList.AddKeyValueChild(sortedNode.Node.Key, sortedNode.Node)
 			}
-		} else if candidate.Kind == SequenceNode {
+		case SequenceNode:
 			for _, sortedNode := range sortableArray {
 				sortedList.AddChild(sortedNode.Node)
 			}

pkg/yqlib/operator_sort_test.go

@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ var sortByOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    "[{a: banana},{a: apple}]",
 		expression:  `sort_by(.a)[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[1], (!!map)::{a: apple}\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!map)::{a: banana}\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!map)::{a: apple}\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!map)::{a: banana}\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ var sortByOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    "[{a: banana},null,{a: apple}]",
 		expression:  `sort_by(.a)[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[1], (!!null)::null\n",
-			"D0, P[2], (!!map)::{a: apple}\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!map)::{a: banana}\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!null)::null\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!map)::{a: apple}\n",
+			"D0, P[2], (!!map)::{a: banana}\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{
@@ -149,8 +149,8 @@ var sortByOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 		document:    "[8,null]",
 		expression:  `sort[]`,
 		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[1], (!!null)::null\n",
-			"D0, P[0], (!!int)::8\n",
+			"D0, P[0], (!!null)::null\n",
+			"D0, P[1], (!!int)::8\n",
 		},
 	},
 	{

pkg/yqlib/operator_strings.go

@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ func extractMatchArguments(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode
 			return nil, matchPrefs, fmt.Errorf(`'i' is not a valid option for match. To ignore case, use an expression like match("(?i)cat")`)
 		}
 		if len(paramText) > 0 {
-			return nil, matchPrefs, fmt.Errorf(`Unrecognised match params '%v', please see docs at https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/operators/string-operators`, paramText)
+			return nil, matchPrefs, fmt.Errorf(`unrecognised match params '%v', please see docs at https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/operators/string-operators`, paramText)
 		}
 	}
 

pkg/yqlib/operator_style.go

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ func parseStyle(customStyle string) (Style, error) {
 	} else if customStyle == "flow" {
 		return FlowStyle, nil
 	} else if customStyle != "" {
-		return 0, fmt.Errorf("Unknown style %v", customStyle)
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("unknown style %v", customStyle)
 	}
 	return 0, nil
 }