diff --git a/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml b/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
index b9b8a23af5..602a70c2e3 100644
--- a/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
+++ b/docs/content/3.manual/manual.yml
@@ -892,6 +892,18 @@ sections:
             input: '[[],{},1,"foo",null,true,false]'
             output: ['1']
 
+      - title: "`isarray`, `isobject`, `isboolean`, `isnumber`, `isnormal`, `isfinite`, `isstring`, `isnull`, `isvalue`, `isscalar`"
+        body: |
+
+          These built-ins produce whether inputs are arrays, objects,
+          booleans, numbers, normal numbers, finite numbers, strings,
+          null, non-null values, and non-iterables, respectively.
+
+        examples:
+          - program: '.[]|isnumber'
+            input: '[[],{},1,"foo",null,true,false]'
+            output: ['false', 'false', 'true', 'false', 'false', 'false', 'false']
+
       - title: "`empty`"
         body: |
 
@@ -937,7 +949,7 @@ sections:
           That is, `paths(numbers)` outputs the paths to all numeric
           values.
 
-          `leaf_paths` is an alias of `paths(scalars)`; `leaf_paths` is
+          `leaf_paths` is an alias of `paths(isscalar)`; `leaf_paths` is
           *deprecated* and will be removed in the next major release.
 
         examples:
diff --git a/src/builtin.jq b/src/builtin.jq
index 53998a859c..5c430f8f35 100644
--- a/src/builtin.jq
+++ b/src/builtin.jq
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ def indices($i): if type == "array" and ($i|type) == "array" then .[$i]
   else .[$i] end;
 def index($i):   indices($i) | .[0];       # TODO: optimize
 def rindex($i):  indices($i) | .[-1:][0];  # TODO: optimize
-def paths: path(recurse(if (type|. == "array" or . == "object") then .[] else empty end))|select(length > 0);
+def paths: def recurse_pre(f; cond): def r: ., (select(cond) | f | r); r;
+           path(recurse_pre(.[]?;.!=null))|select(length > 0);
 def paths(node_filter): . as $dot|paths|select(. as $p|$dot|getpath($p)|node_filter);
 def any(generator; condition):
         [label $out | foreach generator as $i
@@ -46,19 +47,27 @@ def all(generator; condition):
 def all(condition): all(.[]; condition);
 def all: all(.);
 def isfinite: type == "number" and (isinfinite | not);
-def arrays: select(type == "array");
-def objects: select(type == "object");
+def isarray: type == "array";
+def arrays: select(isarray);
+def isobject: type == "object";
+def objects: select(isobject);
 def iterables: arrays, objects;
-def booleans: select(type == "boolean");
-def numbers: select(type == "number");
+def isboolean: type == "boolean";
+def booleans: select(isboolean);
+def isnumber: type == "number";
+def numbers: select(isnumber);
 def normals: select(isnormal);
 def finites: select(isfinite);
-def strings: select(type == "string");
-def nulls: select(type == "null");
-def values: select(. != null);
-def scalars: select(. == null or . == true or . == false or type == "number" or type == "string");
+def isstring: type == "string";
+def strings: select(isstring);
+def isnull: type == "null";
+def nulls: select(isnull);
+def isvalue: . != null;
+def values: select(isvalue);
+def isscalar: . == null or . == true or . == false or type == "number" or type == "string";
+def scalars: select(isscalar);
 def scalars_or_empty: select(. == null or . == true or . == false or type == "number" or type == "string" or ((type=="array" or type=="object") and length==0));
-def leaf_paths: paths(scalars);
+def leaf_paths: paths(isscalar);
 def join($x): reduce .[] as $i (null;
             (if .==null then "" else .+$x end) +
             ($i | if type=="boolean" or type=="number" then tostring else .//"" end)
diff --git a/tests/jq.test b/tests/jq.test
index 630c344d0f..420f8ea354 100644
--- a/tests/jq.test
+++ b/tests/jq.test
@@ -743,10 +743,26 @@ path(.a[path(.b)[0]])
 [1,[[],{"a":2}]]
 [[0],[1],[1,0],[1,1],[1,1,"a"]]
 
+# Make sure we get paths to nulls
+[paths]
+[1,null]
+[[0],[1]]
+
+# Make sure we don't get paths to lone items
+[paths]
+5
+[]
+
 [leaf_paths]
 [1,[[],{"a":2}]]
 [[0],[1,1,"a"]]
 
+# Verifying that leaf_paths picks up false leaves.
+# Issue #1163
+[leaf_paths]
+{ "a": 2, "b": false, "d": [] }
+[ [ "a" ], [ "b" ] ]
+
 ["foo",1] as $p | getpath($p), setpath($p; 20), delpaths([$p])
 {"bar": 42, "foo": ["a", "b", "c", "d"]}
 "b"
@@ -1134,10 +1150,18 @@ map([1,2][0:.])
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [[],[3,[]]]
 
+[.[]|isarray]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[false,false,false,true,true,false,false,false,false]
+
 [.[]|objects]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [{}]
 
+[.[]|isobject]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[false,false,false,false,false,true,false,false,false]
+
 [.[]|iterables]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [[],[3,[]],{}]
@@ -1146,18 +1170,34 @@ map([1,2][0:.])
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [1,2,"foo",true,false,null]
 
+[.[]|isscalar]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[true,true,true,false,false,false,true,true,true]
+
 [.[]|values]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false]
 
+[.[]|isvalue]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,false]
+
 [.[]|booleans]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [true,false]
 
+[.[]|isboolean]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[false,false,false,false,false,false,true,true,false]
+
 [.[]|nulls]
 [1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
 [null]
 
+[.[]|isnull]
+[1,2,"foo",[],[3,[]],{},true,false,null]
+[false,false,false,false,false,false,false,false,true]
+
 flatten
 [0, [1], [[2]], [[[3]]]]
 [0, 1, 2, 3]