A useful utility for searching through a JSON object with XPath-like expressions

README.md

jsonPath(obj, expr [, args])

Parameters

• obj (object|array): Object representing the JSON structure.
• expr (string): JSONPath expression string.
• args (object|undefined): Object controlling path evaluation and output. Currently only one member is supported.
• args.resultType ("VALUE"|"PATH"): causes the result to be either matching values (default) or normalized path expressions.
• return value: (array|false): Array holding either values or normalized path expressions matching the input path expression, which can be used for lazy evaluation. false in case of no match.

Documentation

XPath	JSONPath	Description
/	$	the root object/element
.	@	the current object/element
/	. or []	child operator
..	n/a	parent operator
//	..	recursive descent. JSONPath borrows this syntax from E4X.
*	*	wildcard. All objects/elements regardless their names.
@	n/a	attribute access. JSON structures don't have attributes.
[]	[]	subscript operator. XPath uses it to iterate over element collections and for predicates. In Javascript and JSON it is the native array operator.
		[,]
n/a	[start:end:step]	array slice operator borrowed from ES4.
[]	?()	applies a filter (script) expression.
n/a	()	script expression, using the underlying script engine.
()	n/a	grouping in Xpath

Example

var o = { /*...*/ },  // the 'store' JSON object from above
    res1 = jsonPath(o, "$..author"),
    res2 = jsonPath(o, "$..author", {resultType:"PATH"})

Another Example

{ "store": {
    "book": [ 
      { "category": "reference",
        "author": "Nigel Rees",
        "title": "Sayings of the Century",
        "price": 8.95
      },
      { "category": "fiction",
        "author": "Evelyn Waugh",
        "title": "Sword of Honour",
        "price": 12.99
      },
      { "category": "fiction",
        "author": "Herman Melville",
        "title": "Moby Dick",
        "isbn": "0-553-21311-3",
        "price": 8.99
      },
      { "category": "fiction",
        "author": "J. R. R. Tolkien",
        "title": "The Lord of the Rings",
        "isbn": "0-395-19395-8",
        "price": 22.99
      }
    ],
    "bicycle": {
      "color": "red",
      "price": 19.95
    }
  }
}

XPath	JSONPath	Result
/store/book/author	$.store.book[*].author	the authors of all books in the store
//author	$..author	all authors
/store/*	$.store.*	all things in store, which are some books and a red bicycle.
/store//price	$.store..price	the price of everything in the store.
//book[3]	$..book[2]	the third book
//book[last()]	$..book[(@.length-1)]
$..book[-1:]	the last book in order.
//book[position()<3]	$..book[0,1]
$..book[:2]	the first two books
//book[isbn]	$..book[?(@.isbn)]	filter all books with isbn number
//book[price<10]	$..book[?(@.price<10)]	filter all books cheapier than 10
//*	$..*	all Elements in XML document. All members of JSON structure.

JSONPath.js

/* JSONPath 0.8.0 - XPath for JSON
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2007 Stefan Goessner (goessner.net)
 * Licensed under the MIT (MIT-LICENSE.txt) licence.
 */
function jsonPath(obj, expr, arg) {
   var P = {
      resultType: arg && arg.resultType || "VALUE",
      result: [],
      normalize: function(expr) {
         var subx = [];
         return expr.replace(/[\['](\??\(.*?\))[\]']/g, function($0,$1){return "[#"+(subx.push($1)-1)+"]";})
                    .replace(/'?\.'?|\['?/g, ";")
                    .replace(/;;;|;;/g, ";..;")
                    .replace(/;$|'?\]|'$/g, "")
                    .replace(/#([0-9]+)/g, function($0,$1){return subx[$1];});
      },
      asPath: function(path) {
         var x = path.split(";"), p = "$";
         for (var i=1,n=x.length; i<n; i++)
            p += /^[0-9*]+$/.test(x[i]) ? ("["+x[i]+"]") : ("['"+x[i]+"']");
         return p;
      },
      store: function(p, v) {
         if (p) P.result[P.result.length] = P.resultType == "PATH" ? P.asPath(p) : v;
         return !!p;
      },
      trace: function(expr, val, path) {
         if (expr) {
            var x = expr.split(";"), loc = x.shift();
            x = x.join(";");
            if (val && val.hasOwnProperty(loc))
               P.trace(x, val[loc], path + ";" + loc);
            else if (loc === "*")
               P.walk(loc, x, val, path, function(m,l,x,v,p) { P.trace(m+";"+x,v,p); });
            else if (loc === "..") {
               P.trace(x, val, path);
               P.walk(loc, x, val, path, function(m,l,x,v,p) { typeof v[m] === "object" && P.trace("..;"+x,v[m],p+";"+m); });
            }
            else if (/,/.test(loc)) { // [name1,name2,...]
               for (var s=loc.split(/'?,'?/),i=0,n=s.length; i<n; i++)
                  P.trace(s[i]+";"+x, val, path);
            }
            else if (/^\(.*?\)$/.test(loc)) // [(expr)]
               P.trace(P.eval(loc, val, path.substr(path.lastIndexOf(";")+1))+";"+x, val, path);
            else if (/^\?\(.*?\)$/.test(loc)) // [?(expr)]
               P.walk(loc, x, val, path, function(m,l,x,v,p) { if (P.eval(l.replace(/^\?\((.*?)\)$/,"$1"),v[m],m)) P.trace(m+";"+x,v,p); });
            else if (/^(-?[0-9]*):(-?[0-9]*):?([0-9]*)$/.test(loc)) // [start:end:step]  phyton slice syntax
               P.slice(loc, x, val, path);
         }
         else
            P.store(path, val);
      },
      walk: function(loc, expr, val, path, f) {
         if (val instanceof Array) {
            for (var i=0,n=val.length; i<n; i++)
               if (i in val)
                  f(i,loc,expr,val,path);
         }
         else if (typeof val === "object") {
            for (var m in val)
               if (val.hasOwnProperty(m))
                  f(m,loc,expr,val,path);
         }
      },
      slice: function(loc, expr, val, path) {
         if (val instanceof Array) {
            var len=val.length, start=0, end=len, step=1;
            loc.replace(/^(-?[0-9]*):(-?[0-9]*):?(-?[0-9]*)$/g, function($0,$1,$2,$3){start=parseInt($1||start);end=parseInt($2||end);step=parseInt($3||step);});
            start = (start < 0) ? Math.max(0,start+len) : Math.min(len,start);
            end   = (end < 0)   ? Math.max(0,end+len)   : Math.min(len,end);
            for (var i=start; i<end; i+=step)
               P.trace(i+";"+expr, val, path);
         }
      },
      eval: function(x, _v, _vname) {
         try { return $ && _v && eval(x.replace(/@/g, "_v")); }
         catch(e) { throw new SyntaxError("jsonPath: " + e.message + ": " + x.replace(/@/g, "_v").replace(/\^/g, "_a")); }
      }
   };

   var $ = obj;
   if (expr && obj && (P.resultType == "VALUE" || P.resultType == "PATH")) {
      P.trace(P.normalize(expr).replace(/^\$;/,""), obj, "$");
      return P.result.length ? P.result : false;
   }
} 

can the obj be read directly from an external file such as kept on google cloud storage