Prevent ClassCastException when deleting missing path with suppress exceptions enabled

json-path/src/main/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/JsonPath.java

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.util.Collections;
 
 import static com.jayway.jsonpath.Option.ALWAYS_RETURN_LIST;
 import static com.jayway.jsonpath.Option.AS_PATH_LIST;
@@ -749,7 +750,7 @@ public class JsonPath {
         boolean optAsPathList = configuration.containsOption(AS_PATH_LIST);
         boolean optAlwaysReturnList = configuration.containsOption(Option.ALWAYS_RETURN_LIST);
         if (optAsPathList) {
-            return (T) configuration.jsonProvider().createArray();
+            return (T) Collections.emptyList();
         } else {
             if (optAlwaysReturnList) {
                 return (T) configuration.jsonProvider().createArray();

json-path/src/test/java/com/jayway/jsonpath/DeleteMissingPathTest.java

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package com.jayway.jsonpath;
+
+import com.jayway.jsonpath.spi.json.*;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class DeleteMissingPathTest {
+
+    private DocumentContext getDocumentContextFromProvider(JsonProvider jsonProvider) {
+
+        Configuration configuration = Configuration.builder()
+                .jsonProvider(jsonProvider)
+                .options(Option.SUPPRESS_EXCEPTIONS)
+                .build();
+
+        return JsonPath.parse("{}", configuration);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_gson() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new GsonJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_jackson_json_node() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JacksonJsonNodeJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_jackson() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JacksonJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_jakarta() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JakartaJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_jettison() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JettisonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_json_org() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JsonOrgJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_json_smart() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new JsonSmartJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void test_delete_missing_path_with_suppress_exceptions_does_not_throw_tapestry() {
+        getDocumentContextFromProvider(new TapestryJsonProvider())
+                .delete("$..this..path..is..missing");
+    }
+}