Comparing attribute values, which contain a semicolon, does not work

[bdorninger]

Describe the bug

Comparing attribute values, which contain a semicolon does not work

Code sample or steps to reproduce

// Note the xyz; contains a semicolon
export const foodata = {
  obj: [{ foo: 'abc' }, { foo: 'xyz;' }, { foo: 'efg' }],
};

// CASE 1 
// WORKS!! Produces 1 result
let result = JSONPath({
  path: `$..*[?(@.foo==="abc")]`,
  json: foodata,
});

console.assert(result.length > 0, 'Nothing found for simple comparison ');

// CASE 2:
// semicolon directly specified in the key string 
// BUT DOES NOT WORK!!! No results
result = JSONPath({
  path: `$..*[?(@.foo==="xyz;")]`,
  json: foodata,
});

console.assert(result.length > 0, 'Nothing found with direct use of ";" ');

// CASE 3
// WORKAROUND : Need to specify the semicolon with an escape expression
// WORKS!!! Produces 1 result
result = JSONPath({
  path: `$..*[?(@.foo==="xyz\\u003b")]`,
  json: foodata,
});

console.assert(
  result.length > 0,
  'Nothing found with escaped version of semicolon'
);

Console error or logs

Assertion failed: Nothing found with direct use of ";"

Expected behavior

Case 2 should work as Case1, i.e. a client should not need to escape the semicolon in the comparison operand

Expected result

For Case 2 the same as for Case 3

{ foo: 'xyz;' }

Environment (IMPORTANT)

• JSONPath-Plus version: 7.2.0

Desktop**

• OS: Win11
• Chrome 112

Additional context

[rafalkrupinski]

I have a closely related problem.

I'm trying to select this path:

JSONPath({path:"$.paths./documents/.post.responses.201.content['application/json; version=2.4.42'].schema", json})

I also checked toPathArray which shows the mime split into two components: 'application/json', ' version=2.4.42'.
I also tried escaping the semicolon, but without any result.

[rafalkrupinski]

the code is doing funny things here

JSONPath/src/jsonpath.js

Line 772 in 8e4acf8

const exprList = normalized.split(';').map(function (exp) {

[rafalkrupinski]

As a workaround a simple patch in JSONPath._trace() could add support for escaped unicode characters ("\u003b"->";") that would happen after the semicolon is used as a token separator in the normalization block of JSONPath.toPathArray()

  const loc_ = expr[0], x = expr.slice(1);

  const loc = (typeof loc_ === 'string')?loc_.replace(/\\u([\dA-Fa-f]{4})/g, (_, group) => {
    return String.fromCharCode(parseInt(group, 16));
  })  : loc_;

A support for escaped unicode characters is also nice to have on its own.