>From f6ddd3b797d6b0d92a1ffa0f5db59543ac7cdc11 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Simen=20Heggest=C3=B8yl?= <simenheg@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2015 14:44:59 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Add support for retrieving paths to JSON elements

Add support for retrieving the path to a JSON element. This can for
instance be useful to retrieve paths in deeply nested JSON
structures.

* lisp/json.el (json-path-to-position): New function for retrieving the
path to a JSON object at a given position.
(json--path-to-position, json--path): New variables, used internally by
`json-path-to-position'.
(json-read-object, json-read-array): Respect `json--path-to-position'.

* test/automated/json-tests.el (test-json-path-to-position-with-objects)
(test-json-path-to-position-with-arrays): New tests for
`json-path-to-position'.
---
 lisp/json.el                 | 67 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 test/automated/json-tests.el | 14 +++++++++
 2 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lisp/json.el b/lisp/json.el
index b23d12a..2c82eee 100644
--- a/lisp/json.el
+++ b/lisp/json.el
@@ -196,6 +196,49 @@ 'json-end-of-file
 
 
 
+;;; Paths
+
+(defvar json--path-to-position nil
+  "When set to a position, `json-read' will return the path to
+the JSON element at the specified position, instead of returning
+the parsed JSON object.")
+
+(defvar json--path '()
+  "Used internally by `json-path-to-position' to keep track of
+the path during recursive calls to `json-read'.")
+
+(defun json-path-to-position (position &optional string)
+  "Return the path to the JSON element at POSITION.
+
+When STRING is provided, return the path to the position in the
+string, else to the position in the current buffer.
+
+The return value is a property list with the following
+properties:
+
+:path        -- A list of strings and numbers forming the path to
+                the JSON element at the given position.  Strings
+                denote object names, while numbers denote array
+                indexes.
+
+:match-start -- Position where the matched JSON element begins.
+
+:match-end   -- Position where the matched JSON element ends.
+
+This can for instance be useful to determine the path to a JSON
+element in a deeply nested structure."
+  (save-excursion
+    (unless string
+      (goto-char (point-min)))
+    (let* ((json--path '())
+           (json--path-to-position position)
+           (path (catch :json-path
+                   (if string
+                       (json-read-from-string string)
+                     (json-read)))))
+      (when (plist-get path :path)
+        path))))
+
 ;;; Keywords
 
 (defvar json-keywords '("true" "false" "null")
@@ -399,11 +442,21 @@ json-read-object
     (while (not (char-equal (json-peek) ?}))
       (json-skip-whitespace)
       (setq key (json-read-string))
+      (when json--path-to-position
+        (push key json--path))
       (json-skip-whitespace)
       (if (char-equal (json-peek) ?:)
           (json-advance)
         (signal 'json-object-format (list ":" (json-peek))))
-      (setq value (json-read))
+      (json-skip-whitespace)
+      (let ((start (point)))
+        (setq value (json-read))
+        (when json--path-to-position
+          (when (< start json--path-to-position (+ (point) 1))
+            (throw :json-path (list :path (nreverse json--path)
+                                    :match-start start
+                                    :match-end (point))))
+          (pop json--path)))
       (setq elements (json-add-to-object elements key value))
       (json-skip-whitespace)
       (unless (char-equal (json-peek) ?})
@@ -509,7 +562,17 @@ json-read-array
   ;; read values until "]"
   (let (elements)
     (while (not (char-equal (json-peek) ?\]))
-      (push (json-read) elements)
+      (json-skip-whitespace)
+      (when json--path-to-position
+        (push (length elements) json--path))
+      (let ((start (point)))
+        (push (json-read) elements)
+        (when json--path-to-position
+          (when (< start json--path-to-position (+ (point) 1))
+            (throw :json-path (list :path (nreverse json--path)
+                                    :match-start start
+                                    :match-end (point))))
+          (pop json--path)))
       (json-skip-whitespace)
       (unless (char-equal (json-peek) ?\])
         (if (char-equal (json-peek) ?,)
diff --git a/test/automated/json-tests.el b/test/automated/json-tests.el
index d1b7a2f..e0672dd 100644
--- a/test/automated/json-tests.el
+++ b/test/automated/json-tests.el
@@ -49,5 +49,19 @@
   (should (equal (json-read-from-string "\"\\nasd\\u0444\\u044b\\u0432fgh\\t\"")
                  "\nasdфывfgh\t")))
 
+(ert-deftest test-json-path-to-position-with-objects ()
+  (let* ((json-string "{\"foo\": {\"bar\": {\"baz\": \"value\"}}}")
+         (matched-path (json-path-to-position 32 json-string)))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :path) '("foo" "bar" "baz")))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :match-start) 25))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :match-end) 32))))
+
+(ert-deftest test-json-path-to-position-with-arrays ()
+  (let* ((json-string "{\"foo\": [\"bar\", [\"baz\"]]}")
+         (matched-path (json-path-to-position 20 json-string)))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :path) '("foo" 1 0)))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :match-start) 18))
+    (should (equal (plist-get matched-path :match-end) 23))))
+
 (provide 'json-tests)
 ;;; json-tests.el ends here
-- 
2.6.1