yq/operators/style.md

# Style

The style operator can be used to get or set the style of nodes (e.g. string style, yaml style).
Use this to control the formatting of the document in yaml.


## Update and set style of a particular node (simple)
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a:
  b: thing
  c: something
```
then
```bash
yq '.a.b = "new" | .a.b style="double"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a:
  b: "new"
  c: something
```

## Update and set style of a particular node using path variables
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a:
  b: thing
  c: something
```
then
```bash
yq 'with(.a.b ; . = "new" | . style="double")' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a:
  b: "new"
  c: something
```

## Set tagged style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="tagged"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
!!map
a: !!str cat
b: !!int 5
c: !!float 3.2
e: !!bool true
f: !!seq
  - !!int 1
  - !!int 2
  - !!int 3
g: !!map
  something: !!str cool
```

## Set double quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="double"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: "cat"
b: "5"
c: "3.2"
e: "true"
f:
  - "1"
  - "2"
  - "3"
g:
  something: "cool"
```

## Set double quote style on map keys too
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '... style="double"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
"a": "cat"
"b": "5"
"c": "3.2"
"e": "true"
"f":
  - "1"
  - "2"
  - "3"
"g":
  "something": "cool"
```

## Set single quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="single"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: 'cat'
b: '5'
c: '3.2'
e: 'true'
f:
  - '1'
  - '2'
  - '3'
g:
  something: 'cool'
```

## Set literal quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="literal"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: |-
  cat
b: |-
  5
c: |-
  3.2
e: |-
  true
f:
  - |-
    1
  - |-
    2
  - |-
    3
g:
  something: |-
    cool
```

## Set folded quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="folded"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: >-
  cat
b: >-
  5
c: >-
  3.2
e: >-
  true
f:
  - >-
    1
  - >-
    2
  - >-
    3
g:
  something: >-
    cool
```

## Set flow quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="flow"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
{a: cat, b: 5, c: 3.2, e: true, f: [1, 2, 3], g: {something: cool}}
```

## Reset style - or pretty print
Set empty (default) quote style, note the usage of `...` to match keys too. Note that there is a `--prettyPrint/-P` short flag for this.

Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
{a: cat, "b": 5, 'c': 3.2, "e": true,  f: [1,2,3], "g": { something: "cool"} }
```
then
```bash
yq '... style=""' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
f:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3
g:
  something: cool
```

## Set style relatively with assign-update
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: single
b: double
```
then
```bash
yq '.[] style |= .' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: 'single'
b: "double"
```

## Read style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
{a: "cat", b: 'thing'}
```
then
```bash
yq '.. | style' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
flow
double
single
```