What is YAML?
YAML is a human-readable data serialization language commonly used for configuration files and data exchange. Its clean syntax and support for complex data structures make it popular in DevOps, Kubernetes, and modern application development.
Advantages
- Highly readable - minimal syntax
- Supports comments
- Complex nested structures
- Multiple documents in one file
- Superset of JSON (can parse JSON)
Limitations
- Whitespace/indentation sensitive
- Parsing can be slower than JSON
- Security concerns with some parsers
- Less common in APIs
- Complex anchors/aliases syntax
YAML Syntax Example
# User configuration
name: John Doe
age: 30
active: true
email: ~ # null value
address:
city: New York
country: USA
tags:
- developer
- designer
# Multi-line string
bio: |
Software developer with 10 years
of experience in web technologies.YAML vs JSON
| Feature | YAML | JSON |
|---|---|---|
| Comments | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Readability | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ |
| Browser Support | ❌ Library | ✅ Native |
| Config Files | Common | Less common |