I would like to have multiple lines in a sequence in YAML. This is how I do it, but I have issues with parsing it in python:
Element: |
- multiple lines
come here
Doing it this way, when I parse it with Python, I still see the - in the parsed data. It seems that YAML does not understand this is a list.
Your input is not a list, YAML only knows about mappings (constructed as a Python dict and sequences (constructed as a Python list).
Normally - is the block sequence entry indicator, But since you start a block style literal on the first line as the value for the key Element, because of the |, everything following it that is indented is part of this scalar (constructed as a Python string).
What you want to do is bring the indicator outside of the literal scalar:
Element:
- |
multiple lines
come here
If you load that in Python in a variable data then data['Element'][0] will be the string 'multiple lines\ncome here\n'. That is: every newline in your literal scalar will be a newline in your string, and there will be a single final newline on that string independent of how many empty lines follow (this is clipping). If you want the end to have no newline, then use |- (stripping), and if you want all newlines until outdenting then use |+ (keeping). Those additions to the | are called chomping indicators.
If you have the above in a file called input.yaml:
import sys
from pathlib import Path
import ruamel.yaml
input = Path('input.yaml')
yaml = ruamel.yaml.YAML(typ='safe')
data = yaml.load(input)
print(f'{data["Element"][0]!r}') # print the representation, so you can see where the newlines are
which gives:
'multiple lines\ncome here\n'
Use this syntax (for the yaml Python package, at least)
stuff:
- 'this is a multiline
string'
In other words quote the string and unindent its continuation.