{"record":{"id":"44f6c56925cf66ee","repo":"json-path/JsonPath","slug":"failed-to-parse-operator","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"Failed to parse operator ","messagePattern":"Failed to parse operator ","errorType":"exception","errorClass":"InvalidPathException","httpStatus":null,"severity":"error","filePath":"json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/LogicalOperator.java","lineNumber":30,"sourceCode":"\n    LogicalOperator(String operatorString) {\n        this.operatorString = operatorString;\n    }\n\n    public String getOperatorString() {\n        return operatorString;\n    }\n\n    @Override\n    public String toString() {\n        return operatorString;\n    }\n\n    public static LogicalOperator fromString(String operatorString){\n        if(AND.operatorString.equals(operatorString)) return AND;\n        else if(NOT.operatorString.equals(operatorString)) return NOT;\n        else if(OR.operatorString.equals(operatorString)) return OR;\n        else throw new InvalidPathException(\"Failed to parse operator \" + operatorString);\n    }\n}\n","sourceCodeStart":12,"sourceCodeEnd":33,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/json-path/JsonPath/blob/62a4c9f0f65ba3f625aa0867d64c528ba72d09ec/json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/internal/filter/LogicalOperator.java#L12-L33","documentation":"LogicalOperator.fromString() maps a string like \"&&\", \"||\" or \"!\" (the operatorString constants of AND/NOT/OR) to a LogicalOperator enum value. If the string matches none of them, JsonPath throws InvalidPathException with \"Failed to parse operator \" plus the offending text. It means the filter expression contains a boolean connector the parser does not recognize.","triggerScenarios":"Passing a JSONPath filter containing an unsupported logical operator spelling (e.g. \"and\", \"&&&\", or a locale-decoded/mangled \"&&\") to JsonPath.read/parse; evaluating a cached or hand-built filter path string that was not produced by this library's grammar.","commonSituations":"Hand-written filters using English words (\"and\"/\"or\") instead of \"&&\"/\"||\"; filters copied from a different JSONPath dialect (Goessner vs Jayway); query strings built dynamically and accidentally truncated or escaped incorrectly (e.g. '&&' after HTML unescaping).","solutions":["Replace word-form connectors with the Jayway operators: use \"&&\" for AND, \"||\" for OR, \"!\" for NOT inside [?( ... )] filters.","Print/inspect the exact operator string in the exception message and fix any escaping or encoding artifacts (HTML entities, double-unescaping).","Validate the whole filter expression against the Jayway syntax docs before evaluating, e.g. by parsing it once at startup in a fail-fast test.","If you need a different dialect, normalize/translate the expression to Jayway syntax before calling JsonPath.parse()."],"exampleFix":"// before\nString jsonPath = \"$[?(@.a == 1 and @.b == 2)]\";\nJsonPath.read(json, jsonPath);\n\n// after\nString jsonPath = \"$[?(@.a == 1 && @.b == 2)]\";\nJsonPath.read(json, jsonPath);","handlingStrategy":"validation","validationCode":"// Java: reject word-form or malformed logical connectors before evaluating\nstatic final java.util.regex.Pattern BAD_CONNECTOR =\n    java.util.regex.Pattern.compile(\"\\\\b(and|or)\\\\b|&&&|\\\\|\\\\|\\\\|\");\nvoid validateFilter(String path) {\n    if (BAD_CONNECTOR.matcher(path).find()) {\n        throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Use && / || / ! logical operators in: \" + path);\n    }\n}","typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":"try {\n    return JsonPath.read(json, path);\n} catch (InvalidPathException e) {\n    if (e.getMessage().startsWith(\"Failed to parse operator\")) {\n        throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Bad logical operator in JSONPath: \" + path, e);\n    }\n    throw e;\n}","preventionTips":["Always use &&, || and ! inside [?( ... )] filters — never 'and'/'or'.","Unit-test all filter expressions at startup so parser errors surface before runtime.","Beware HTML/XML escaping when filters travel through templates (&&).","Keep expressions in one JSONPath dialect (Jayway) and translate other dialects explicitly."],"tags":["json-path","filter-syntax","invalid-path","operator-parsing"],"backgroundTag":"invalid-enum-value","analyzedSha":"62a4c9f0f65ba3f625aa0867d64c528ba72d09ec","analyzedAt":"2026-09-11T11:36:00.448Z","contentChangedAt":"2026-09-11T11:36:00.448Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-09-14T05:17:10.506Z"}