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Python YAML Handling (PyYAML)

YAML (YAML Ain't Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization standard that is often used for configuration files. Python does not have a built-in YAML parser, but PyYAML is a popular third-party library.

Installation

pip install PyYAML

Importing the Module

import yaml

Parsing YAML (Reading)

Use yaml.safe_load() to parse YAML safely. It converts YAML data into Python dictionaries and lists.

From a String

import yaml

yaml_str = """
name: John Doe
age: 30
children:
  - name: Jane
    age: 10
  - name: Bob
    age: 5
"""

data = yaml.safe_load(yaml_str)
print(data)
# Output: {'name': 'John Doe', 'age': 30, 'children': [{'name': 'Jane', 'age': 10}, {'name': 'Bob', 'age': 5}]}

From a File

import yaml

with open('config.yaml', 'r') as file:
    config = yaml.safe_load(file)
    print(config)

Dumping YAML (Emitting)

To convert a Python object into a YAML string, use yaml.dump().

import yaml

data = {
    'name': 'John Doe',
    'age': 30,
    'languages': ['Python', 'JavaScript']
}

yaml_str = yaml.dump(data, sort_keys=False)
print(yaml_str)

Writing to a File

import yaml

data = {'key': 'value'}

with open('output.yaml', 'w') as file:
    yaml.dump(data, file)

programming/python/python

Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: January 27, 2026