YAML Ain't Markup Language
What is a .yaml file?
YAML is a human-friendly data serialization language commonly used for configuration files. It emphasizes readability with minimal syntax.
Technical Details
- Developer
- Clark Evans, Ingy döt Net, Oren Ben-Kiki
- First Released
- 2001
- MIME Type
- text/yaml
- Extension
- .yaml, .yml
What is YAML?
YAML was designed to be the most human-readable data format possible. It uses indentation instead of brackets, making it feel more like a document outline than code.
YAML is a superset of JSON (valid JSON is valid YAML), but its clean syntax makes it the preferred choice for configuration files in modern DevOps tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.
Key Characteristics
- Human-readable syntax
- Indentation-based structure
- Supports comments
- Superset of JSON
- Multi-document support
- Complex data types
How to Open .yaml Files
YAML files can be opened with any text editor:
- VS Code (excellent YAML support)
- Sublime Text
- Atom
- Any text editor
- Online YAML validators
Common Uses
- Docker Compose files
- Kubernetes configurations
- CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)
- Ansible playbooks
- Application configuration
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Very readable
- Supports comments
- Clean syntax
- Popular in DevOps
Cons
- Indentation-sensitive
- Can be error-prone
- Complex specifications
- Security concerns with parsing
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