YAML Ain't Markup Language


YAML Ain't Markup Language

(data, language)(YAML) A data serialisation languagedesigned to be readable and writable by humans and to workwell with modern programming languages.

YAML uses printable Unicode characters to represent bothstructure and data. The structural syntax is simple andterse. For example, indentation is used for structure, colonsseparate pairs, and dashes are used for list items.

YAML can represent mappings (hashes or dictionaries),sequences (arrays or lists), scalars (strings or numbers),or any combination of the above. It has a simple typing system and reference syntax. Its structures will beparticularly familiar to programmers using Perl, Python,PHP, Ruby, or Javascript, but YAML can be used with anyprogramming language.

YAML is, in some respects, a simpler alternative to XML,though it does not share the constraints imposed by XML'sSGML legacy and has somewhat different aims.

YAML Home.