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What is YAML?

YAML, which stands for 'YAML Ain't Markup Language,' is a data serialization language that is designed to be human-readable. Unlike XML or JSON, YAML uses indentation and whitespace for structure, making it more intuitive for humans to create and read. YAML is often used for configuration files, data storage, and data exchange between programming languages with different data structures.

Features of YAML

• Human-Readable: YAML's syntax is designed to be easily read by humans, using indentation and simple formatting.
• Data Serialization: YAML allows complex data structures to be represented in a plain text format, making it easy to share and store data.
• Language Agnostic: YAML is widely supported across many programming languages, making it a versatile choice for data interchange.
• Flexible: YAML can represent simple data types like strings and numbers, as well as complex types like lists and dictionaries.

Basic Syntax

YAML's structure is determined by indentation, using spaces instead of tabs. Here is an example of a basic YAML structure:

name: John Doe age: 29 address: street: 123 Main St city: Anytown state: CA hobbies: - reading - hiking - cooking

In this example, 'name', 'age', and 'address' are keys, with 'John Doe', '29', and a nested map as their respective values. 'hobbies' is a list containing three items.

Common Uses

YAML is commonly used for:

• Configuration Files: Due to its readability, YAML is often used for configuration files in applications and development environments.
• Data Interchange: YAML's ability to represent complex data structures makes it suitable for exchanging data between different programming environments.
• Infrastructure as Code: YAML is widely used in tools like Kubernetes and Ansible for defining infrastructure configurations.

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