JsonPath - Restrict $..id Operator To Avoid Traversing Object Hierarchy - node.js

Question

I was trying to extract data from a JSON object using jsonpath package for following JSON structure -
[
{
"id": 1,
"images": [
{ "id": 1,"url": "http://url1.jpg" },
{ "id": 2,"url": "http://url2.jpg" }
]
},
{
"id": 2,
"images": [
{ "id": 3,"url": "http://url3.jpg" },
{ "id": 4,"url": "http://url4.jpg" }
]
},
{
"id": 3,
"images": [
{ "id": 5,"url": "http://url5.jpg" },
{ "id": 6,"url": "http://url6.jpg" }
]
}
]
In he above example, $..id json-path expression responds with following array -
[ 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3, 5, 6 ]
What I have understood from the documentation is $..id is a recursive descent operator that recursively checks for the occurrence of id field in the specified array.
This is where I get the problem. I need an expression that simply checks for id in current object and avoids traversing recursively in images array.
So the expected output is -
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
I tried JSONPath Online Evaluator to verify the results.
Thanks.

Answer 1

According to the documentation of jsonpath they include
.. as Recursive descendant operator;
JSONPath borrows this syntax from E4X
$..* is used when you need to search in All memebers of JSON Structure.
So, if you want restrict the filter at the child you want you need to use $.*.
Here are the syntax
The code you want is:-
const fs = require('fs');
var jp = require('jsonpath');
let rawdata = fs.readFileSync('data.json');
let data = JSON.parse(rawdata);
var id = jp.query(data,'$.*.id');
console.log(id);
Output is
[1,2,3]

Answer 2

You can use the * operator which restricts the filter at the level you need.
To get it to do the thing that you want you would use:
$.*.id
and that will give you the output of:
[
1,
2,
3
]
But let's say you want the image specific id you would use:
$.*.images.*.id
which would give you the output of:
[
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6
]