python: PyYAML module not parsing to object

Question

trying to get a YAML document to parse into python dictionary object that I can manipulate. I installed pip install pyyaml.

import yaml
yamlstring = "some: var \n another: 3"
type(yaml.load(yamlstring))
>> str

to my surprise it returns a string not a dictionary! what did I do wrong here?

To my surprise you get a str as output where I expect a scanner.Error. At least Python 2.7 and 3.4 give that. What system are your running, which Python version. — Anthon
– Anthon, Commented Sep 28, 2015 at 21:21

Chris Warrick · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-28 18:02:47Z

3

Too much whitespace.

>>> import yaml
>>> yamlstring = "some: var\nanother: 3"
>>> type(yaml.load(yamlstring))
dict

answered Sep 28, 2015 at 18:02

Chris Warrick

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2 Comments

user299709 Over a year ago

how to trim yaml white space?

Chris Warrick Over a year ago

@user299709 If it needs trimming, then you could use str.strip() somehow — but does it really?

Anthon · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-28 21:26:20Z

2

If you want to generate a data structure from a YAML string, it makes much more sense to use triple quoted strings, starting them with an escaped newline and ending them with a newline. Your example would then look like:

import yaml
yamlstring = """\
some: var
another: 3
"""
type(yaml.load(yamlstring))

That way it is far easier to spot the extra space before another as that would indent the YAML "structure".

If you want to do this nested in a function (and thus have leading whitespace) use dedent from the textwrap standard library to remove that extra leading whitespace.

answered Sep 28, 2015 at 21:26

Anthon

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2 Comments

user299709 Over a year ago

well this is what the yaml string looks like "options: \n preferences:\n delay: 1\n use_mouse : 1\n properties: 0\n async: 0"

Anthon Over a year ago

@user299709 that loads correctly (as a dict of 4 elements within a dict of one element). I am not sure what you want me to do with that example.

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