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flutterdartflutter-dependenciespubspec

what does the leading '+' in the pubspec.yaml file mean?

I am following this flutter tutorial, adding the follwing dependency:

             dependencies:            
                               flutter:            
                                 sdk: flutter            
                               cupertino_icons: ^1.0.3            
             +                 english_words: ^4.0.0

Interestingly, if I remove the little '+' and try to download the english_words package I get

    Error on line 32, column 4: Expected a key while parsing a block mapping.
   ╷
32 │    english_words: ^4.0.0
   │    ^
   ╵

With the '+' it works perfectly. In the pubspec documentation I could only find an explananation for a '+' symbol as part of the verison range, but not at the start of the line. Does anybody have an explanation?

Solution

  • In the tutorial the writer meant "add" this line with the + symbol. It does not have anything to do with the flutter pubspec.yaml file. You are getting this error because you need a tab space infront of the dependency. Add a tab space in front of english_words: ^4.0.0 like so:

    dependencies:                       
    english_words: ^4.0.0

    For example, here the writer means "add" certain lines with a + infront of it and "remove" certain lines with a - infront of it:

    picture