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python tutorial - Python object serialization : yaml and json - learn python - python programming



What is yaml?

  • YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization language. It is commonly used for configuration files, but could be used in many applications where data is being stored (e.g. debugging output) or transmitted (e.g. document headers).

sample code

---
receipt:     Oz-Ware Purchase Invoice
date:        2012-08-06
customer:
    given:   Dorothy
    family:  Gale

items:
    - part_no:   A4786
      descrip:   Water Bucket (Filled)
      price:     1.47
      quantity:  4

    - part_no:   E1628
      descrip:   High Heeled "Ruby" Slippers
      size:      8
      price:     100.27
      quantity:  1

bill-to:  &id001
    street: |
            123 Tornado Alley
            Suite 16
    city:   East Centerville
    state:  KS

ship-to:  *id001

specialDelivery:  >
    Follow the Yellow Brick
    Road to the Emerald City.
    Pay no attention to the
    man behind the curtain.
...
  • strings do not require quotations. The specific number of spaces in the indentation is unimportant as long as parallel elements have the same left justification and the hierarchically nested elements are indented further. The sample above defines:
    • An associative array with 7 top level keys
    • The "items" key contains a 2-element array (or "list")
    • Each element of which is itself an associative array with differing keys.
    • Relational data and redundancy removal are displayed:
    • The "ship-to" associative array content is copied from the "bill-to" associative array's content as indicated by the anchor (&) and reference (*) labels.
  • Optional blank lines can be added for readability.
  • Multiple documents can exist in a single file/stream and are separated by "---".
  • An optional "..." can be used at the end of a file (useful for signaling an end in streamed communications without closing the pipe).

YAML vs JSON?

  • Technically YAML is a superset of JSON. This means that, in theory at least, a YAML parser can understand JSON.

yaml validation

  • We can use YAML Lint to validate *.yml file.

jason to yaml conversion

  • Let's convert the following json to yaml:
{
  "foo": "bar",
  "baz": [
    "qux",
    "quxx"
  ],
  "corge": null,
  "grault": 1,
  "garply": true,
  "waldo": "false",
  "fred": "undefined",
  "emptyArray": [],
  "emptyObject": {},
  "emptyString": ""
}
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Python code:

import json
import yaml

sample = {
  "foo": "bar",
  "baz": [
    "qux",
    "quxx"
  ],
  "corge": None,
  "grault": 1,
  "garply": True,
  "waldo": "false",
  "fred": "undefined",
  "emptyArray": [],
  "emptyObject": {},
  "emptyString": ""
}

json_obj = json.dumps(sample)
print 'json_obj =', json_obj

ff = open('data.yml', 'wb')
yaml.dump(sample, ff, default_flow_style=False)

ydump = yaml.dump(sample, default_flow_style=False)
print 'ydump=',ydump
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Output:

json_obj = {"emptyObject": {}, "emptyString": "", "emptyArray": [], "corge": null, "waldo": "false", "grault": 1, "garply": true, "foo": "bar", "baz": ["qux", "quxx"], "fred": "undefined"}
ydump= baz:
- qux
- quxx
corge: null
emptyArray: []
emptyObject: {}
emptyString: ''
foo: bar
fred: undefined
garply: true
grault: 1
waldo: 'false'
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  • If we open the data.yml :
baz:
- qux
- quxx
corge: null
emptyArray: []
emptyObject: {}
emptyString: ''
foo: bar
fred: undefined
garply: true
grault: 1
waldo: 'false'
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  • We can check our conversion is correct via yamllint:
python-yamllint

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  • We can reads in the yaml and write it to json:
stream = file('data.yml', 'r')
yml_loaded = yaml.load(stream)

with open('data.json','wb') as f:
    json.dump(yml_loaded, f)
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  • The data.json looks like this:
{"emptyObject": {}, "emptyArray": [], "waldo": "false", "baz": ["qux", "quxx"], "emptyString": "", "corge": null, "grault": 1, "garply": true, "foo": "bar", "fred": "undefined"}
click below button to copy the code. By Python tutorial team
  • We can check the conversion using one of the online conversion tools:
yml to json

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