Issue #48: Support wildcard iterations by NassimBtk · Pull Request #49 · MetricsHub/jflat

NassimBtk · 2026-03-19T18:05:20Z

This pull request adds robust wildcard support to the JFlat utility, enabling expansion of dynamic object keys in JSON structures into CSV rows. The changes include new wildcard handling logic in the code, comprehensive documentation, and thorough tests to ensure correct behavior—including support for escaping wildcards when a key is literally named "*". This greatly improves the flexibility of JFlat when dealing with JSON objects keyed by UIDs or other dynamic names.

Wildcard support for object keys:

Added logic to JFlat.java so that a * in a path expands all direct children of the current object, supporting dynamic JSON keys. Escaping with \* allows targeting literal keys named "*". [1] [2]
Updated documentation in index.md to explain how to use wildcards and escaping in entry key paths for CSV extraction.

Testing and validation:

Added new tests in JFlatTest.java to verify wildcard expansion, property extraction with wildcards, and correct escaping for literal "*" keys.
Introduced new test fixtures: object-keys.json and wildcard-key.json to cover various wildcard scenarios, and object-keys-flatMap.txt for expected output validation. [1] [2] [3]
Integrated wildcard test cases into the flatMap test suite for broader coverage.

Other:

Fixed a typo in the copyright notice ("Metricshb" → "MetricsHub") in JFlat.java.

Added support for wildcard iterations in JFlat, allowing users to iterate over all children of an object regardless of their keys. This enhancement simplifies the process of flattening JSON structures with dynamic or unknown keys.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds wildcard (*) support to JFlat.toCSV() entry-key paths so callers can expand dynamic object keys (e.g., UID-keyed maps) into CSV rows, with documentation and tests covering wildcard expansion and literal * escaping.

Changes:

Implement wildcard path element handling in JFlat.toCSV() (including \* for literal * keys).
Add tests + fixtures validating wildcard expansion, nested property extraction, and escaping behavior.
Update site documentation to describe wildcard usage and escaping.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java	Implements `*` expansion in entry-key path parsing and fixes copyright typo.
src/test/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlatTest.java	Adds unit tests for wildcard expansion and escaped literal `*` keys; extends flatMap coverage.
src/site/markdown/index.md	Documents wildcard entry-key paths and `\*` escaping.
src/test/resources/object-keys.json	New fixture for dynamic object-key scenarios.
src/test/resources/object-keys-flatMap.txt	Expected flatMap output for the dynamic object-key fixture.
src/test/resources/wildcard-key.json	New fixture containing a literal `*` key to validate escaping.

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NassimBtk · 2026-03-19T20:41:46Z

src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java

+					// We iterate over every key in the map and find those that start with the
+					// current entry's prefix (e.g. "/members/"). From each matching key, we
+					// extract the immediate child name by looking for the next "/" or "["
+					// delimiter, which marks a deeper level or an array index.
+					// Duplicates are skipped (case-insensitive) to ensure each child appears once.
+					String prefix = existingEntry.equals("/") ? "/" : existingEntry + "/";
+					for (String key : map.keySet()) {
+						// Only consider keys that are strictly under the prefix
+						if (key.length() > prefix.length() && key.regionMatches(true, 0, prefix, 0, prefix.length())) {
+							// Extract the portion after the prefix, e.g. "abc123/name" from "/members/abc123/name"
+							String remainder = key.substring(prefix.length());
+
+							// Find the boundary of the immediate child name:
+							// - "/" indicates a deeper nested property
+							// - "[" indicates an array index
+							// The child name is everything before the first such delimiter.
+							int slashPos = remainder.indexOf('/');
+							int bracketPos = remainder.indexOf('[');
+							String childName;
+							if (slashPos == -1 && bracketPos == -1) {
+								// No delimiter: the remainder itself is the child name (leaf key)
+								childName = remainder;
+							} else if (slashPos == -1) {
+								// Only "[" found: child has array children (e.g. "args[0]")
+								childName = remainder.substring(0, bracketPos);
+							} else if (bracketPos == -1) {
+								// Only "/" found: child has nested properties (e.g. "abc123/name")
+								childName = remainder.substring(0, slashPos);
+							} else {
+								// Both found: take the earlier delimiter
+								childName = remainder.substring(0, Math.min(slashPos, bracketPos));
+							}
+
+							// Add the child path if it's valid and not already in the list
+							if (!childName.isEmpty()) {
+								String childPath = prefix + childName;
+								// Deduplicate (case-insensitive, consistent with the TreeMap)
+								boolean alreadyAdded = false;
+								for (String added : newEntries) {
+									if (added.equalsIgnoreCase(childPath)) {
+										alreadyAdded = true;
+										break;
+									}
+								}
+								if (!alreadyAdded) {
+									newEntries.add(childPath);
+								}


@copilot switch wildcard dedup to a set-based approach.

NassimBtk · 2026-03-19T20:44:15Z

src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java

+			// to refer to it without triggering wildcard expansion.
+			boolean isWildcard = "*".equals(pathElement);
+			if (pathElement.startsWith("\\")) {
+				// Strip the escape backslash and treat the rest as a literal property name
+				pathElement = pathElement.substring(1);


@copilot limit escaping to the wildcard case (only treat * specially).

Copilot · 2026-03-19T20:41:53Z

@NassimBtk I've opened a new pull request, #50, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-03-19T20:44:22Z

@NassimBtk I've opened a new pull request, #51, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

… lookup Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Limit escape handling to wildcard case only (`\*` → `*`)

…-using-wildcard' into copilot/sub-pr-49

perf: switch wildcard dedup to O(1) set-based approach

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds wildcard (*) support to JFlat’s CSV entry-key path traversal so JSON objects with dynamic keys (e.g., UID-keyed maps) can be expanded into multiple CSV rows, with an escape mechanism (\*) for literal * keys.

Changes:

Implemented wildcard expansion logic in JFlat.toCSV() for object-key iteration and \* escaping.
Added/extended tests and fixtures to validate wildcard expansion and escaping behavior.
Updated site documentation to explain wildcard usage and escaping.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java	Adds wildcard expansion and escaped-literal handling in `toCSV()`; fixes copyright typo.
src/test/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlatTest.java	Adds CSV wildcard and escape test coverage; extends flatMap test suite with new fixture.
src/site/markdown/index.md	Documents wildcard iteration (``) and literal escaping (`\`) in entry-key paths.
src/test/resources/object-keys.json	New fixture for dynamic object-key maps.
src/test/resources/object-keys-flatMap.txt	Expected flat-map output for the new dynamic object-key fixture.
src/test/resources/wildcard-key.json	New fixture containing a literal `*` key to validate escape behavior.

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Copilot · 2026-03-20T10:12:45Z

src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java

+					// We iterate over every key in the map and find those that start with the
+					// current entry's prefix (e.g. "/members/"). From each matching key, we
+					// extract the immediate child name by looking for the next "/" or "["
+					// delimiter, which marks a deeper level or an array index.
+					// Duplicates are skipped (case-insensitive) to ensure each child appears once.
+					String prefix = existingEntry.equals("/") ? "/" : existingEntry + "/";
+					for (String key : map.keySet()) {
+						// Only consider keys that are strictly under the prefix
+						if (key.length() > prefix.length() && key.regionMatches(true, 0, prefix, 0, prefix.length())) {


Wildcard expansion currently iterates over the full map.keySet() for each existingEntry. Since map is a TreeMap, this can become expensive on large inputs (and on entry keys that already expanded from arrays). Consider iterating only the relevant key range (e.g., starting from the prefix via tailMap(prefix, false) and stopping once keys no longer match the prefix) to keep the wildcard lookup closer to O(matches) instead of O(totalKeys).

Suggested change

// We iterate over every key in the map and find those that start with the

// current entry's prefix (e.g. "/members/"). From each matching key, we

// extract the immediate child name by looking for the next "/" or "["

// delimiter, which marks a deeper level or an array index.

// Duplicates are skipped (case-insensitive) to ensure each child appears once.

String prefix = existingEntry.equals("/") ? "/" : existingEntry + "/";

for (String key : map.keySet()) {

// Only consider keys that are strictly under the prefix

if (key.length() > prefix.length() && key.regionMatches(true, 0, prefix, 0, prefix.length())) {

// We iterate over keys in the map that are at or after the current entry's

// prefix (e.g. "/members/") and stop once keys no longer match that prefix.

// From each matching key, we extract the immediate child name by looking for

// the next "/" or "[" delimiter, which marks a deeper level or an array index.

// Duplicates are skipped (case-insensitive) to ensure each child appears once.

String prefix = existingEntry.equals("/") ? "/" : existingEntry + "/";

for (String key : map.tailMap(prefix, true).keySet()) {

// Stop once keys are no longer under the prefix (taking case-insensitive match into account)

if (!key.regionMatches(true, 0, prefix, 0, prefix.length())) {

break;

}

// Only consider keys that are strictly under the prefix

if (key.length() > prefix.length()) {

@copilot Consider iterating only the relevant key range (e.g., starting from the prefix via tailMap(prefix, false) and stopping once keys no longer match the prefix) to keep the wildcard lookup closer to O(matches) instead of O(totalKeys).

Copilot · 2026-03-20T10:12:46Z

src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java

+								String childPath = prefix + childName;
+								if (seenLowercasePaths.add(childPath.toLowerCase())) {
+									newEntries.add(childPath);


childPath.toLowerCase() uses the default JVM locale, which can lead to incorrect case folding (and therefore incorrect dedup) in some locales (e.g., Turkish). Use locale-independent folding (e.g., toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)) or a case-insensitive Set implementation to avoid locale-sensitive behavior.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-20T10:12:46Z

src/main/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlat.java

+			boolean isWildcard = "*".equals(pathElement);
+			if ("\\*".equals(pathElement)) {
+				// Strip the escape backslash and treat "*" as a literal property name
+				pathElement = "*";
+				isWildcard = false;


The "\\*" path element is now reserved to mean “literal * key”. This makes it impossible to target a JSON property whose name is literally "\\*" (backslash + asterisk), because it will always be interpreted as an escape sequence. If supporting such keys matters, consider defining an escape for the backslash itself (e.g., "\\\\*" in the path syntax) and handling it before the wildcard escape logic.

Copilot · 2026-03-20T11:07:28Z

@NassimBtk I've opened a new pull request, #52, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Copilot · 2026-03-20T11:07:43Z

@NassimBtk I've opened a new pull request, #53, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

…eys) Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Fix locale-sensitive `toLowerCase()` in wildcard path dedup

…-using-wildcard' into copilot/sub-pr-49

Use tailMap for O(matches) wildcard key iteration instead of O(totalKeys)

Added support for /* iteration over arrays as well as objects.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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Copilot · 2026-03-20T18:20:43Z

src/test/java/org/metricshub/jflat/JFlatTest.java

 		assertEquals(
 			"[0]/arrayB[0]/id;\n[0]/arrayB[1]/id;\n[0]/arrayB[2]/id;\n[1]/arrayB[0]/id;\n[1]/arrayB[1]/id;\n[1]/arrayB[2]/id;\n",
-			simple.toCSV("/arrayB/id", null, null).toString()
+			simple.toCSV("/arrayB/*/id", null, null).toString()
 		);


The existing non-wildcard array traversal path (/arrayB/id) is no longer covered by tests after switching this assertion to /arrayB/*/id. Since wildcard support is additive, keeping an assertion for /arrayB/id (in addition to the new wildcard one) would help catch regressions and confirm backward compatibility.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2026-03-20T18:29:25Z

@NassimBtk I've opened a new pull request, #54, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Issue #48: Support wildcard iterations

5e7d956

Added support for wildcard iterations in JFlat, allowing users to iterate over all children of an object regardless of their keys. This enhancement simplifies the process of flattening JSON structures with dynamic or unknown keys.

NassimBtk linked an issue Mar 19, 2026 that may be closed by this pull request

Support iterating over object children using wildcard #48

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NassimBtk requested a review from Copilot March 19, 2026 18:05

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6440dd1

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

perf: switch wildcard dedup to O(1) set-based approach #50

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Initial plan

f4bb770

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 19, 2026

Limit escape handling to wildcard case only (\* → *) #51

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Copilot AI and others added 5 commits March 19, 2026 20:45

Switch wildcard dedup to set-based approach for O(1) case-insensitive…

ff7d5ae

… lookup Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Limit escape handling to wildcard case only (\* → *)

1cb5ee3

Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Merge pull request #51 from MetricsHub/copilot/sub-pr-49-again

f4541e1

Limit escape handling to wildcard case only (`\*` → `*`)

Merge branch 'feature/issue-48-support-iterating-over-object-children…

a4a6b02

…-using-wildcard' into copilot/sub-pr-49

Merge pull request #50 from MetricsHub/copilot/sub-pr-49

63d88fb

perf: switch wildcard dedup to O(1) set-based approach

NassimBtk requested a review from Copilot March 20, 2026 10:08

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of NassimBtk March 20, 2026 10:09 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 20, 2026

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Initial plan

5cdd248

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

Use tailMap for O(matches) wildcard key iteration instead of O(totalKeys) #52

Merged

Initial plan

dd139a0

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

Fix locale-sensitive toLowerCase() in wildcard path dedup #53

Merged

Copilot AI and others added 5 commits March 20, 2026 11:10

Use Locale.ROOT in toLowerCase for locale-independent case folding

636ed93

Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Use tailMap for O(matches) wildcard key iteration instead of O(totalK…

bbd74f8

…eys) Co-authored-by: NassimBtk <[email protected]>

Merge pull request #53 from MetricsHub/copilot/sub-pr-49-again

d970dd6

Fix locale-sensitive `toLowerCase()` in wildcard path dedup

Merge branch 'feature/issue-48-support-iterating-over-object-children…

ce0aa94

…-using-wildcard' into copilot/sub-pr-49

Merge pull request #52 from MetricsHub/copilot/sub-pr-49

172ee43

Use tailMap for O(matches) wildcard key iteration instead of O(totalKeys)

NassimBtk requested a review from bertysentry March 20, 2026 13:11

Issue #48 - Support iterating over object children using wildcard

9664e51

Added support for /* iteration over arrays as well as objects.

NassimBtk requested a review from Copilot March 20, 2026 18:16

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Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 20, 2026

Restore non-wildcard /arrayB/id test assertion for backward compatibility #54

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