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escapingyamldelimiter

How to escape indicator characters (colon and hyphen) in YAML

In a config file, I have a key to which I wish to assign a URL. The problem is that YAML interprets : and - characters as either creating mappings or lists, so it has a problem with the line

url: http://www.some-site.example/

(both because of the colon following HTTP and the hyphen in the middle)

Is there an explicit way to escape : and -? Or would it work to just put the whole thing in single quotes and call it a day?

Solution

  • Quotes:

    "url: http://www.some-site.example/"

    To clarify, I meant “quote the value” and originally thought the entire thing was the value. If http://www.some-site.example/ is the value, just quote it like so:

    url: "http://www.some-site.example/"