YAML reference another variable in another file

Question

Suppose I have 2 YAML files:

1) application.yml

en:
  variable: "Hello World"

2) user.yml

en:
  variable: <Here I want to get value from application.yml -> "Hello World" >

At first I though that I might use referencing:

1) application.yml

en:
  variable: &variable "Hello World"

2) user.yml

en:
  variable: *variable

But turned out that it is only possible for items declared in one file. Is there any way I can get the value from the variable defined in application.yml ?

@RobertKrzyzanowski Thank you for your answer. So the only way is to create another, third file that would hold shared values? Or to use the value from "application.yml"? Right? — Dmitri, Mar 25 '14 at 16:16
Correct! YAML references are intra-file. You could also have a preprocessing step where you merge YAML files. — Robert Krzyzanowski, Mar 25 '14 at 16:17
This is technically possible under YAML Tag semantics. You would have to create a custom tag. See e.g., http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2063616 and http://stackoverflow.com/a/23212501/42223 — dreftymac, Sep 26 '16 at 19:33

Paul Sweatte · Answer 1 · 2015-11-27T07:15:55.627

9

So the only way is to create another, third file that would hold shared values. Or to use the value from "application.yml".

YAML references are intra-file.

You could also have a preprocessing step where you merge YAML files.

In *nix shell:

cat foo.yaml bar.yaml > baz.yaml

In Powershell:

cat foo.yaml, bar.yaml > baz.yaml

In batch:

type foo.yaml bar.yaml > baz.yaml

References

edited Nov 27 '15 at 07:15

answered Jul 03 '14 at 00:42

Paul Sweatte

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Thanks, @Paul Sweatte! Can you, btw, show how would you merge YAML files. How to run this preprocessing? Thanks again! – Dmitri Jul 04 '14 at 13:35
2

I've added some ways to merge using various languages. – Paul Sweatte Jul 07 '14 at 18:45

YAML reference another variable in another file

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