From ac4cd1ab55e6f7741d9f1440f23e10eca52a5342 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Baker <joshbaker77@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2016 13:45:25 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] empty arrays for non-existent values #11

---
 README.md     |  9 ++++++++-
 gjson.go      | 13 +++++++++----
 gjson_test.go | 13 ++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aad39de..8d682a0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,12 +76,13 @@ The dot and wildcard characters can be escaped with '\'.
 ```
 "name.last"          >> "Anderson"
 "age"                >> 37
+"children"           >> ["Sara","Alex","Jack"]
 "children.#"         >> 3
 "children.1"         >> "Alex"
 "child*.2"           >> "Jack"
 "c?ildren.0"         >> "Sara"
 "fav\.movie"         >> "Deer Hunter"
-"friends.#.first"    >> [ "James", "Roger" ]
+"friends.#.first"    >> ["James","Roger"]
 "friends.1.last"     >> "Craig"
 ```
 To query an array:
@@ -129,6 +130,12 @@ result.Get(path string) Result
 
 The `result.Value()` function returns an `interface{}` which requires type assertion and is one of the following Go types:
 
+
+
+The `result.Array()` funtion returns back an array of values.
+If the result represents a non-existent value, then an empty array will be returned.
+If the result is not a JSON array, the return value will be an array containing one result.
+
 ```go
 boolean >> bool
 number  >> float64
diff --git a/gjson.go b/gjson.go
index 9849311..9624eab 100644
--- a/gjson.go
+++ b/gjson.go
@@ -138,9 +138,13 @@ func (t Result) Float() float64 {
 	}
 }
 
-// Array returns back an array of children. If the result is not
-// a JSON array, the return will be an array containing one result.
+// Array returns back an array of values.
+// If the result represents a non-existent value, then an empty array will be returned.
+// If the result is not a JSON array, the return value will be an array containing one result.
 func (t Result) Array() []Result {
+	if !t.Exists() {
+		return nil
+	}
 	if t.Type != JSON {
 		return []Result{t}
 	}
@@ -148,7 +152,7 @@ func (t Result) Array() []Result {
 	return r.a
 }
 
-// Map returns back an map of children. The result should be a JSON array.
+// Map returns back an map of values. The result should be a JSON array.
 func (t Result) Map() map[string]Result {
 	if t.Type != JSON {
 		return map[string]Result{}
@@ -1154,11 +1158,12 @@ type parseContext struct {
 //  }
 //  "name.last"          >> "Anderson"
 //  "age"                >> 37
+//  "children"           >> ["Sara","Alex","Jack"]
 //  "children.#"         >> 3
 //  "children.1"         >> "Alex"
 //  "child*.2"           >> "Jack"
 //  "c?ildren.0"         >> "Sara"
-//  "friends.#.first"    >> [ "James", "Roger" ]
+//  "friends.#.first"    >> ["James","Roger"]
 //
 func Get(json, path string) Result {
 	var i int
diff --git a/gjson_test.go b/gjson_test.go
index d91b2cd..976588a 100644
--- a/gjson_test.go
+++ b/gjson_test.go
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ func TestUnmarshalMap(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestSingleArrayValue(t *testing.T) {
-	var json = `{"key": "value"}`
+	var json = `{"key": "value","key2":[1,2,3,4,"A"]}`
 	var result = Get(json, "key")
 	var array = result.Array()
 	if len(array) != 1 {
@@ -455,6 +455,17 @@ func TestSingleArrayValue(t *testing.T) {
 	if array[0].String() != "value" {
 		t.Fatal("got %s, should be %s", array[0].String(), "value")
 	}
+
+	array = Get(json, "key2.#").Array()
+	if len(array) != 1 {
+		t.Fatal("got '%v', expected '%v'", len(array), 1)
+	}
+
+	array = Get(json, "key3").Array()
+	if len(array) != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("got '%v', expected '%v'", len(array), 0)
+	}
+
 }
 
 type BenchStruct struct {