2 use strict; use warnings;
5 use YAML::Node; # XXX This is a temp fix for Module::Build
8 our @EXPORT = qw'Dump Load';
9 our @EXPORT_OK = qw'freeze thaw DumpFile LoadFile Bless Blessed';
11 # XXX This VALUE nonsense needs to go.
12 use constant VALUE => "\x07YAML\x07VALUE\x07";
14 # YAML Object Properties
15 field dumper_class => 'YAML::Dumper';
16 field loader_class => 'YAML::Loader';
17 field dumper_object =>
18 -init => '$self->init_action_object("dumper")';
19 field loader_object =>
20 -init => '$self->init_action_object("loader")';
24 $yaml->dumper_class($YAML::DumperClass)
25 if $YAML::DumperClass;
26 return $yaml->dumper_object->dump(@_);
31 $yaml->loader_class($YAML::LoaderClass)
32 if $YAML::LoaderClass;
33 return $yaml->loader_object->load(@_);
38 # freeze/thaw is the API for Storable string serialization. Some
39 # modules make use of serializing packages on if they use freeze/thaw.
47 if (ref $filename eq 'GLOB') {
52 if ($filename =~ /^\s*(>{1,2})\s*(.*)$/) {
53 ($mode, $filename) = ($1, $2);
55 open $OUT, $mode, $filename
56 or YAML::Base->die('YAML_DUMP_ERR_FILE_OUTPUT', $filename, $!);
58 local $/ = "\n"; # reset special to "sane"
65 if (ref $filename eq 'GLOB') {
70 or YAML::Base->die('YAML_LOAD_ERR_FILE_INPUT', $filename, $!);
72 return Load(do { local $/; <$IN> });
75 sub init_action_object {
77 my $object_class = (shift) . '_class';
78 my $module_name = $self->$object_class;
79 eval "require $module_name";
80 $self->die("Error in require $module_name - $@")
81 if $@ and "$@" !~ /Can't locate/;
82 my $object = $self->$object_class->new;
83 $object->set_global_options;
89 require YAML::Dumper::Base;
90 YAML::Dumper::Base::bless($global, @_)
93 require YAML::Dumper::Base;
94 YAML::Dumper::Base::blessed($global, @_)
96 sub global_object { $global }
104 YAML - YAML Ain't Markup Language (tm)
110 # Load a YAML stream of 3 YAML documents into Perl data structures.
111 my ($hashref, $arrayref, $string) = Load(<<'...');
116 # I should comment that I also like pink, but don't tell anybody.
126 You probably think YAML stands for "Yet Another Markup Language". It
127 ain't! YAML is really a data serialization language. But if you want
128 to think of it as a markup, that's OK with me. A lot of people try
129 to use XML as a serialization format.
131 "YAML" is catchy and fun to say. Try it. "YAML, YAML, YAML!!!"
134 # Dump the Perl data structures back into YAML.
135 print Dump($string, $arrayref, $hashref);
137 # YAML::Dump is used the same way you'd use Data::Dumper::Dumper
139 print Dumper($string, $arrayref, $hashref);
143 The YAML.pm module implements a YAML Loader and Dumper based on the YAML
144 1.0 specification. L<http://www.yaml.org/spec/>
146 YAML is a generic data serialization language that is optimized for
147 human readability. It can be used to express the data structures of most
148 modern programming languages. (Including Perl!!!)
150 For information on the YAML syntax, please refer to the YAML
153 =head1 WHY YAML IS COOL
157 =item YAML is readable for people.
159 It makes clear sense out of complex data structures. You should find
160 that YAML is an exceptional data dumping tool. Structure is shown
161 through indentation, YAML supports recursive data, and hash keys are
162 sorted by default. In addition, YAML supports several styles of scalar
163 formatting for different types of data.
165 =item YAML is editable.
167 YAML was designed from the ground up to be an excellent syntax for
168 configuration files. Almost all programs need configuration files, so
169 why invent a new syntax for each one? And why subject users to the
170 complexities of XML or native Perl code?
172 =item YAML is multilingual.
174 Yes, YAML supports Unicode. But I'm actually referring to programming
175 languages. YAML was designed to meet the serialization needs of Perl,
176 Python, Ruby, Tcl, PHP, Javascript and Java. It was also designed to be
177 interoperable between those languages. That means YAML serializations
178 produced by Perl can be processed by Python.
180 =item YAML is taint safe.
182 Using modules like Data::Dumper for serialization is fine as long as you
183 can be sure that nobody can tamper with your data files or
184 transmissions. That's because you need to use Perl's C<eval()> built-in
185 to deserialize the data. Somebody could add a snippet of Perl to erase
188 YAML's parser does not need to eval anything.
190 =item YAML is full featured.
192 YAML can accurately serialize all of the common Perl data structures and
193 deserialize them again without losing data relationships. Although it is
194 not 100% perfect (no serializer is or can be perfect), it fares as well
195 as the popular current modules: Data::Dumper, Storable, XML::Dumper and
198 YAML.pm also has the ability to handle code (subroutine) references and
199 typeglobs. (Still experimental) These features are not found in Perl's
200 other serialization modules.
202 =item YAML is extensible.
204 The YAML language has been designed to be flexible enough to solve it's
205 own problems. The markup itself has 3 basic construct which resemble
206 Perl's hash, array and scalar. By default, these map to their Perl
207 equivalents. But each YAML node also supports a tagging mechanism (type
208 system) which can cause that node to be interpreted in a completely
209 different manner. That's how YAML can support object serialization and
210 oddball structures like Perl's typeglob.
214 =head1 YAML IMPLEMENTATIONS IN PERL
216 This module, YAML.pm, is really just the interface module for YAML
217 modules written in Perl. The basic interface for YAML consists of two
218 functions: C<Dump> and C<Load>. The real work is done by the modules
219 YAML::Dumper and YAML::Loader.
221 Different YAML module distributions can be created by subclassing
222 YAML.pm and YAML::Loader and YAML::Dumper. For example, YAML-Simple
223 consists of YAML::Simple YAML::Dumper::Simple and YAML::Loader::Simple.
225 Why would there be more than one implementation of YAML? Well, despite
226 YAML's offering of being a simple data format, YAML is actually very
227 deep and complex. Implementing the entirety of the YAML specification is
230 For this reason I am currently working on 3 different YAML implementations.
236 The main YAML distribution will keeping evolving to support the entire
237 YAML specification in pure Perl. This may not be the fastest or most
238 stable module though. Currently, YAML.pm has lots of known bugs. It is
239 mostly a great tool for dumping Perl data structures to a readable form.
243 The point of YAML::Lite is to strip YAML down to the 90% that people
244 use most and offer that in a small, fast, stable, pure Perl form.
245 YAML::Lite will simply die when it is asked to do something it can't.
249 C<libsyck> is the C based YAML processing library used by the Ruby
250 programming language (and also Python, PHP and Pugs). YAML::Syck is the
251 Perl binding to C<libsyck>. It should be very fast, but may have
252 problems of its own. It will also require C compilation.
254 NOTE: Audrey Tang has actually completed this module and it works great
255 and is 10 times faster than YAML.pm.
259 In the future, there will likely be even more YAML modules. Remember,
260 people other than Ingy are allowed to write YAML modules!
262 =head1 FUNCTIONAL USAGE
264 YAML is completely OO under the hood. Still it exports a few useful top
265 level functions so that it is dead simple to use. These functions just
266 do the OO stuff for you. If you want direct access to the OO API see the
267 documentation for YAML::Dumper and YAML::Loader.
269 =head2 Exported Functions
271 The following functions are exported by YAML.pm by default. The reason
272 they are exported is so that YAML works much like Data::Dumper. If you
273 don't want functions to be imported, just use YAML with an empty
280 =item Dump(list-of-Perl-data-structures)
282 Turn Perl data into YAML. This function works very much like
283 Data::Dumper::Dumper(). It takes a list of Perl data strucures and
284 dumps them into a serialized form. It returns a string containing the
285 YAML stream. The structures can be references or plain scalars.
287 =item Load(string-containing-a-YAML-stream)
289 Turn YAML into Perl data. This is the opposite of Dump. Just like
290 Storable's thaw() function or the eval() function in relation to
291 Data::Dumper. It parses a string containing a valid YAML stream into a
292 list of Perl data structures.
296 =head2 Exportable Functions
298 These functions are not exported by default but you can request them in
299 an import list like this:
301 use YAML qw'freeze thaw Bless';
305 =item freeze() and thaw()
307 Aliases to Dump() and Load() for Storable fans. This will also allow
308 YAML.pm to be plugged directly into modules like POE.pm, that use the
309 freeze/thaw API for internal serialization.
311 =item DumpFile(filepath, list)
313 Writes the YAML stream to a file instead of just returning a string.
315 =item LoadFile(filepath)
317 Reads the YAML stream from a file instead of a string.
319 =item Bless(perl-node, [yaml-node | class-name])
321 Associate a normal Perl node, with a yaml node. A yaml node is an object
322 tied to the YAML::Node class. The second argument is either a yaml node
323 that you've already created or a class (package) name that supports a
324 yaml_dump() function. A yaml_dump() function should take a perl node and
325 return a yaml node. If no second argument is provided, Bless will create
326 a yaml node. This node is not returned, but can be retrieved with the
329 Here's an example of how to use Bless. Say you have a hash containing
330 three keys, but you only want to dump two of them. Furthermore the keys
331 must be dumped in a certain order. Here's how you do that:
333 use YAML qw(Dump Bless);
334 $hash = {apple => 'good', banana => 'bad', cauliflower => 'ugly'};
336 Bless($hash)->keys(['banana', 'apple']);
349 Bless returns the tied part of a yaml-node, so that you can call the
350 YAML::Node methods. This is the same thing that YAML::Node::ynode()
351 returns. So another way to do the above example is:
353 use YAML qw(Dump Bless);
355 $hash = {apple => 'good', banana => 'bad', cauliflower => 'ugly'};
358 $ynode = ynode(Blessed($hash));
359 $ynode->keys(['banana', 'apple']);
362 Note that Blessing a Perl data structure does not change it anyway. The
363 extra information is stored separately and looked up by the Blessed
364 node's memory address.
366 =item Blessed(perl-node)
368 Returns the yaml node that a particular perl node is associated with
369 (see above). Returns undef if the node is not (YAML) Blessed.
373 =head1 GLOBAL OPTIONS
375 YAML options are set using a group of global variables in the YAML
376 namespace. This is similar to how Data::Dumper works.
378 For example, to change the indentation width, do something like:
380 local $YAML::Indent = 3;
382 The current options are:
388 You can override which module/class YAML uses for Dumping data.
392 You can override which module/class YAML uses for Loading data.
396 This is the number of space characters to use for each indentation level
397 when doing a Dump(). The default is 2.
399 By the way, YAML can use any number of characters for indentation at any
400 level. So if you are editing YAML by hand feel free to do it anyway that
401 looks pleasing to you; just be consistent for a given level.
407 Tells YAML.pm whether or not to sort hash keys when storing a document.
409 YAML::Node objects can have their own sort order, which is usually what
410 you want. To override the YAML::Node order and sort the keys anyway, set
415 Default is 0. (false)
417 Objects with string overloading should honor the overloading and dump the
418 stringification of themselves, rather than the actual object's guts.
424 This tells YAML.pm whether to use a separator string for a Dump
425 operation. This only applies to the first document in a stream.
426 Subsequent documents must have a YAML header by definition.
430 Default is 0. (false)
432 Tells YAML.pm whether to include the YAML version on the
441 Anchor names are normally numeric. YAML.pm simply starts with '1' and
442 increases by one for each new anchor. This option allows you to specify a
443 string to be prepended to each anchor number.
447 Setting the UseCode option is a shortcut to set both the DumpCode and
448 LoadCode options at once. Setting UseCode to '1' tells YAML.pm to dump
449 Perl code references as Perl (using B::Deparse) and to load them back
450 into memory using eval(). The reason this has to be an option is that
451 using eval() to parse untrusted code is, well, untrustworthy.
455 Determines if and how YAML.pm should serialize Perl code references. By
456 default YAML.pm will dump code references as dummy placeholders (much
457 like Data::Dumper). If DumpCode is set to '1' or 'deparse', code
458 references will be dumped as actual Perl code.
460 DumpCode can also be set to a subroutine reference so that you can
461 write your own serializing routine. YAML.pm passes you the code ref. You
462 pass back the serialization (as a string) and a format indicator. The
463 format indicator is a simple string like: 'deparse' or 'bytecode'.
467 LoadCode is the opposite of DumpCode. It tells YAML if and how to
468 deserialize code references. When set to '1' or 'deparse' it will use
469 C<eval()>. Since this is potentially risky, only use this option if you
470 know where your YAML has been.
472 LoadCode can also be set to a subroutine reference so that you can write
473 your own deserializing routine. YAML.pm passes the serialization (as a
474 string) and a format indicator. You pass back the code reference.
478 YAML.pm uses heuristics to guess which scalar style is best for a given
479 node. Sometimes you'll want all multiline scalars to use the 'block'
480 style. If so, set this option to 1.
482 NOTE: YAML's block style is akin to Perl's here-document.
486 If you want to force YAML to use the 'folded' style for all multiline
487 scalars, then set $UseFold to 1.
489 NOTE: YAML's folded style is akin to the way HTML folds text,
494 YAML has an alias mechanism such that any given structure in memory gets
495 serialized once. Any other references to that structure are serialized
496 only as alias markers. This is how YAML can serialize duplicate and
497 recursive structures.
499 Sometimes, when you KNOW that your data is nonrecursive in nature, you
500 may want to serialize such that every node is expressed in full. (ie as
501 a copy of the original). Setting $YAML::UseAliases to 0 will allow you
502 to do this. This also may result in faster processing because the lookup
503 overhead is by bypassed.
505 THIS OPTION CAN BE DANGEROUS. *If* your data is recursive, this option
506 *will* cause Dump() to run in an endless loop, chewing up your computers
507 memory. You have been warned.
513 Compresses the formatting of arrays of hashes:
525 Since this output is usually more desirable, this option is turned on by
530 =head1 YAML TERMINOLOGY
532 YAML is a full featured data serialization language, and thus has its
535 It is important to remember that although YAML is heavily influenced by
536 Perl and Python, it is a language in its own right, not merely just a
537 representation of Perl structures.
539 YAML has three constructs that are conspicuously similar to Perl's hash,
540 array, and scalar. They are called mapping, sequence, and string
541 respectively. By default, they do what you would expect. But each
542 instance may have an explicit or implicit tag (type) that makes it
543 behave differently. In this manner, YAML can be extended to represent
544 Perl's Glob or Python's tuple, or Ruby's Bigint.
550 A YAML stream is the full sequence of unicode characters that a YAML
551 parser would read or a YAML emitter would write. A stream may contain
552 one or more YAML documents separated by YAML headers.
563 A YAML document is an independent data structure representation within a
564 stream. It is a top level node. Each document in a YAML stream must
565 begin with a YAML header line. Actually the header is optional on the
569 This: top level mapping
577 A YAML header is a line that begins a YAML document. It consists of
578 three dashes, possibly followed by more info. Another purpose of the
579 header line is that it serves as a place to put top level tag and anchor
582 --- !recursive-sequence &001
588 A YAML node is the representation of a particular data stucture. Nodes
589 may contain other nodes. (In Perl terms, nodes are like scalars.
590 Strings, arrayrefs and hashrefs. But this refers to the serialized
591 format, not the in-memory structure.)
595 This is similar to a type. It indicates how a particular YAML node
596 serialization should be transferred into or out of memory. For instance
597 a Foo::Bar object would use the tag 'perl/Foo::Bar':
605 A collection is the generic term for a YAML data grouping. YAML has two
606 types of collections: mappings and sequences. (Similar to hashes and arrays)
610 A mapping is a YAML collection defined by unordered key/value pairs with
611 unique keys. By default YAML mappings are loaded into Perl hashes.
619 A sequence is a YAML collection defined by an ordered list of elements. By
620 default YAML sequences are loaded into Perl arrays.
629 A scalar is a YAML node that is a single value. By default YAML scalars
630 are loaded into Perl scalars.
632 a scalar key: a scalar value
634 YAML has many styles for representing scalars. This is important because
635 varying data will have varying formatting requirements to retain the
636 optimum human readability.
640 A plain sclar is unquoted. All plain scalars are automatic candidates
641 for "implicit tagging". This means that their tag may be determined
642 automatically by examination. The typical uses for this are plain alpha
643 strings, integers, real numbers, dates, times and currency.
649 - 123 this is an error
651 =item single quoted scalar
653 This is similar to Perl's use of single quotes. It means no escaping
654 except for single quotes which are escaped by using two adjacent
657 - 'When I say ''\n'' I mean "backslash en"'
659 =item double quoted scalar
661 This is similar to Perl's use of double quotes. Character escaping can
664 - "This scalar\nhas two lines, and a bell -->\a"
668 This is a multiline scalar which begins on the next line. It is
669 indicated by a single right angle bracket. It is unescaped like the
670 single quoted scalar. Line folding is also performed.
673 This is a multiline scalar which begins on
674 the next line. It is indicated by a single
675 carat. It is unescaped like the single
676 quoted scalar. Line folding is also
681 This final multiline form is akin to Perl's here-document except that
682 (as in all YAML data) scope is indicated by indentation. Therefore, no
683 ending marker is required. The data is verbatim. No line folding.
688 1 Foo Fighters $19.95 $19.95
689 2 Bar Belles $29.95 $59.90
693 A YAML processor has four stages: parse, load, dump, emit.
695 A parser parses a YAML stream. YAML.pm's Load() function contains a
700 The other half of the Load() function is a loader. This takes the
701 information from the parser and loads it into a Perl data structure.
705 The Dump() function consists of a dumper and an emitter. The dumper
706 walks through each Perl data structure and gives info to the emitter.
710 The emitter takes info from the dumper and turns it into a YAML stream.
713 In YAML.pm the parser/loader and the dumper/emitter code are currently
714 very closely tied together. In the future they may be broken into
719 For more information please refer to the immensely helpful YAML
720 specification available at L<http://www.yaml.org/spec/>.
722 =head1 ysh - The YAML Shell
724 The YAML distribution ships with a script called 'ysh', the YAML shell.
725 ysh provides a simple, interactive way to play with YAML. If you type in
726 Perl code, it displays the result in YAML. If you type in YAML it turns
729 To run ysh, (assuming you installed it along with YAML.pm) simply type:
733 Please read the C<ysh> documentation for the full details. There are
736 =head1 BUGS & DEFICIENCIES
738 If you find a bug in YAML, please try to recreate it in the YAML Shell
739 with logging turned on ('ysh -L'). When you have successfully reproduced
740 the bug, please mail the LOG file to the author (ingy@cpan.org).
742 WARNING: This is still *ALPHA* code. Well, most of this code has been
745 BIGGER WARNING: YAML.pm has been slow in the making, but I am committed
746 to having top notch YAML tools in the Perl world. The YAML team is close
747 to finalizing the YAML 1.1 spec. This version of YAML.pm is based off of
748 a very old pre 1.0 spec. In actuality there isn't a ton of difference,
749 and this YAML.pm is still fairly useful. Things will get much better in
754 L<http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/yaml-core> is the mailing
755 list. This is where the language is discussed and designed.
757 L<http://www.yaml.org> is the official YAML website.
759 L<http://www.yaml.org/spec/> is the YAML 1.0 specification.
761 L<http://yaml.kwiki.org> is the official YAML wiki.
765 See YAML::Syck. Fast!
769 Ingy döt Net <ingy@cpan.org>
771 is resonsible for YAML.pm.
773 The YAML serialization language is the result of years of collaboration
774 between Oren Ben-Kiki, Clark Evans and Ingy döt Net. Several others
775 have added help along the way.
779 Copyright (c) 2005, 2006. Ingy döt Net. All rights reserved.
780 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2005. Brian Ingerson. All rights reserved.
782 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
783 under the same terms as Perl itself.
785 See L<http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>