JSON Pointer identifies a location. JSON Patch is an array of operations such as add, remove and replace; its path and from members use JSON Pointer syntax, but the patch controls mutation semantics.
The - token belongs to patch append
RFC 6902 lets an add operation use - as the final array token to append after existing elements. It does not identify an existing JSON value, so a standalone resolver must reject it instead of returning a result.
Resolving does not mutate
PointerPath reads one selected value and never applies operations. To review a patch, inspect operation order, preconditions and every path in a dedicated patch workflow rather than treating successful pointer resolution as patch validation.
Verify the exact decoded tokens
Check each token against the original member name. Decode ~1 to slash and ~0 to tilde only once, then distinguish object names from canonical array indices. Keep the empty root pointer distinct from / and compare important paths with the authoritative producer contract.