YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization format. It stands for “YAML Ain’t Markup Language” (a recursive acronym), emphasizing its simplicity and lack of complex structural requirements like markup languages such as XML or HTML. YAML files are commonly used for configuration files, data exchange between languages with different data structures, and other scenarios where human readability is important.
YAML files use indentation and special characters (such as colons and dashes) to define hierarchical structures, lists, and key-value pairs. Here’s a basic example of a YAML file representing some configuration settings:
server:
port: 8080
host: localhostdatabase:
name: mydb
username: user123
password: secret123
In this example, the YAML file defines a server configuration and a database configuration using indentation to show the hierarchical relationships. The colon indicates key-value pairs, and dashes indicate elements in a list.
YAML is often used in various software projects for configuration files, especially in environments like DevOps and infrastructure as code, where human-readable configurations are important. It’s also used in tools like Ansible, Kubernetes, and Docker for defining configurations and deployment specifications.
