Overview of data types in YAML

Data types in YAML

YAML supports most of the data types of agile programming languages such as Perl, Python, PHP, Java, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript.

The following is the list of supported data types:

• Boolean
• Numbers
• Strings
• Dates
• Timestamp
• Arrays
• Maps
• Null

Variable (Scalars)

A name followed by a colon (:) and a single space ( ) defines a variable. Variables can also be referred to as scalars.

See the example below about how to represent variables in YAML.

Example

string: "Hello"
integer: 123
float: 12.345
boolean: No

Below is the graphical representation of the example above:

String variable

Strings can be written without quotes or enclosed within a pair of ' single or " double quotation symbols.

Example

name: !!str "James"
message: !!str "This is a \n multiline text"

Below is the example to demonstrate the different ways of representing Strings in ‘YAML’.

Example

text: Hello
quoted: 
  - 'single quoted string'
  - "double quoted strings"

Below is the graphical representation of the above example:

Note:

A | character denotes a string with newlines, indentations and spaces preserved. This is also referred to as pipe notation in YAML. See its usage in the example below.

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