YAML syntax

Following is an introduction to the YAML syntax. If you are familiar with YAML, skip to the TYPO3 specific information:

• YamlFileLoader

The TYPO3 coding guidelines for YAML define some basic rules to be used in the TYPO3 Core and extensions. Additionally, yaml has general syntax rules.

These are recommendations that should be followed for TYPO3. We pointed out where things might break badly if not followed, by using MUST.

• File ending .yaml
• Indenting with 2 spaces (not tabs). Spaces MUST be used. You MUST use the correct indenting level.
• Use UTF-8
• Enclose strings with single quotes (''). You MUST properly quote strings containing special characters (such as @) in YAML. In fact, generally using quotes for strings is encouraged. See Symfony > The YAML Format > Strings

To get a better understanding of YAML, you might want to compare YAML with PHP arrays:

$a = [
    'key1' => 'value',
    'key2' => [
        'key2_1' => 'value'
];

$b = [
    'apples',
    'oranges',
    'bananas'
];

YAML:

# mapping (key / value pairs)
a:
  key1: 'value'
  key2:
    key2_1: 'value'

# sequence (list)
b:
  - 'apples'
  - 'oranges'
  - 'bananas'