Cheatsheets - YAML

Last Updated: 2023-08-27

Multiline Strings

Indented text that follows should be interpreted as a multi-line scalar value

• default: newlines become spaces.
• |: preserves newlines.
  • |+: keep extra newlines after the block.
  • |-: remove extra newlines after block.
• >: newlines are converted to spaces.
  • >+: keep extra newlines after the block.
  • >-: remove extra newlines after block.

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content:
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b c d e
# f g

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content: |
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b
# c d e
#
# f g
#

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content: |+
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b
# c d e
#
# f g
#

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content: |-
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b
# c d e
#
# f g

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content: >
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b c d e
# f g
#

$ cat <<EOF | yq '.content'
content: >-
  a b
  c d e

  f g
EOF
# a b c d e
# f g

Interactive examples: https://yaml-multiline.info/

Single-quoted vs Double-quoted

• single: don't escape (e.g. \n, \" has no effects). To escape single quotes: ''.
• double: escapes work. To escape double quotes: \".