Recursive Descent

The recursive descent operator (..) allows you to search deeply through the entire document tree, starting at the current node, and return all matching keys, indices, or values.

This operator is most commonly used to extract values from nested objects and arrays without knowing their exact path.

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Syntax

..KEY

Return all values of the given KEY, recursively.

..[INDEX]

Return the element at INDEX for every array found, recursively.

..*

Return all values (map values, array elements, scalars) at any depth.

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Behaviour

• .. performs a depth-first traversal of the current node.

• For objects/maps:

  • ..KEY finds all values where the key is KEY.

  • ..* finds all values (for all keys).

• For arrays:

  • ..[INDEX] selects the element at INDEX from every array found.

  • ..* selects every element from every array found.

• Scalars (strings, numbers, booleans, nulls) are included when using ..*.

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Examples

Example Input

{
  "user": {
    "name": "Alice",
    "roles": ["admin", "editor"],
    "meta": {
      "active": true,
      "score": 42
    }
  },
  "tags": ["x", "y"],
  "count": 10
}

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1. Recursive Key Search

Get all values with the key name:

'..name'

Output:

["Alice"]

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2. Recursive Array Index Search

Get the first element ([0]) of every array:

'..[0]'

Output:

["admin", "x"]

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3. Recursive Wildcard (..*)

Get all values at any depth:

'..*'

Output:

[
  "Alice",
  "admin",
  "editor",
  true,
  42,
  "x",
  "y",
  10
]

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Notes

• .. is shorthand for recursive search by key or index.

• For more complex filtering (e.g. values where a key exists, or by type), use the search operator.

• The .. operator is widely known as the recursive descent operator, and is similar to:

  • // in XPath

  • .. in JSONPath and yq

  • .. in jq