Advanced YAML: A Complete Guide

Here is an advanced tutorial on YAML, covering more complex structures and features:

1. Introduction to YAML

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization standard. It can be used with all programming languages and is often used for writing configuration files.

2. Basic Syntax Recap

Scalars: Single values like strings, integers, floats, booleans.
Lists: Ordered collections of items.
Dictionaries: Key-value pairs, also called maps or hashes.

3. Advanced Features

3.1. Multi-line Strings

There are two ways to write multi-line strings in YAML:

Literal Block Scalar (|): Retains line breaks.
Folded Block Scalar (>): Folds newlines into spaces.

literal_block: |
  This is a
  multi-line string
  with line breaks.

folded_block: >
  This is a
  multi-line string
  with folded
  line breaks.

3.2. Advanced Data Structures

Nested Maps and Lists:

person:
  name: John Doe
  age: 30
  address:
    street: 123 Main St
    city: Anytown
    zip: 12345
  hobbies:
    - hiking
    - reading
    - cooking

Mixed Content:

mixed:
  - name: John
    age: 30
  - name: Jane
    age: 25
    hobbies:
      - painting
      - cycling

3.3. Aliases and Anchors

YAML supports referencing nodes with anchors and aliases. This can help avoid duplication.

defaults: &defaults
  adapter: postgres
  host: localhost

development:
  database: dev_db
  <<: *defaults

test:
  database: test_db
  <<: *defaults

3.4. Merging Nodes

YAML allows merging multiple maps using the merge key (<<).

base: &base
  name: Base
  value: 100

extension:
  <<: *base
  additional: 200

3.5. Complex Keys

YAML lets you use complex keys in maps, including sequences and maps.

? 
  - name
  - age
: 25

3.6. Data Types

YAML supports various data types, including:

Integers: 123, 0o173, 0x7B
Floats: 123.45, 1.23e+2
Booleans: true, false
Null: null or ~
Dates: 2024-06-28
Timestamps: 2024-06-28T14:21:00Z

4. Custom Tags

YAML allows the use of custom tags to denote data types or structures.

custom_tag: !mytag
key: value

5. Using YAML in Code

YAML can be easily parsed and generated in many programming languages using libraries like PyYAML for Python, yaml for Ruby, and more.

import yaml

data = yaml.safe_load("""
person:
  name: John Doe
  age: 30
""")

print(data['person']['name']) # Output: John Doe

6. Error Handling and Validation

When working with YAML, it's important to handle errors and validate data structures. Tools and libraries often provide features for validation.

try:
    data = yaml.safe_load(yaml_string)
except yaml.YAMLError as exc:
    print(f"Error parsing YAML: {exc}")

Conclusion

This advanced tutorial covers the more complex aspects of YAML, including multi-line strings, advanced data structures, aliases, anchors, merging, complex keys, custom tags, and more. Understanding these features can help you use YAML effectively for configuration, data serialization, and other tasks.

Comprehensive Guide to Advanced YAML