Bump github.com/zclconf/go-cty from 1.17.0 to 1.18.0 (#2616)

Bumps [github.com/zclconf/go-cty](https://github.com/zclconf/go-cty) from 1.17.0 to 1.18.0.
- [Release notes](https://github.com/zclconf/go-cty/releases)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/zclconf/go-cty/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
- [Commits](https://github.com/zclconf/go-cty/compare/v1.17.0...v1.18.0)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: github.com/zclconf/go-cty
  dependency-version: 1.18.0
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-minor
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report_v4.md

@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@ The command you ran:
 yq eval-all 'select(fileIndex==0) | .a.b.c' data1.yml data2.yml
 ```
 
-**Actual behavior**
+**Actual behaviour**
 
 ```yaml
 cat: meow
 ```
 
-**Expected behavior**
+**Expected behaviour**
 
 ```yaml
 this: should really work

.github/instructions/instructions.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+When you find a bug - make sure to include a new test that exposes the bug, as well as the fix for the bug itself.

.github/workflows/codeql.yml

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - name: Checkout repository
-      uses: actions/checkout@v5
+      uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
     # Initializes the CodeQL tools for scanning.
     - name: Initialize CodeQL

.github/workflows/docker-release.yml

@@ -14,16 +14,16 @@ jobs:
       IMAGE_NAME: mikefarah/yq
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
       - name: Set up QEMU
-        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v3
+        uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v4
         with:
           platforms: all
 
       - name: Set up Docker Buildx
         id: buildx
-        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
+        uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v4
         with:
           version: latest
 
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ jobs:
         run: echo ${{ steps.buildx.outputs.platforms }} && docker version
 
       - name: Login to Docker Hub
-        uses: docker/login-action@v3
+        uses: docker/login-action@v4
         with:
           username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
           password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}
 
       - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
-        uses: docker/login-action@v3
+        uses: docker/login-action@v4
         with:
           registry: ghcr.io
           username: ${{ github.actor }}

.github/workflows/go.yml

@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@ jobs:
     steps:
 
     - name: Set up Go
-      uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+      uses: actions/setup-go@v6
       with:
         go-version: '^1.20'
       id: go
 
     - name: Check out code into the Go module directory
-      uses: actions/checkout@v5
+      uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
     - name: Get dependencies
       run: |

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ jobs:
   publishGitRelease:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
-      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v6
         with:
           go-version: '^1.20'
           check-latest: true

.github/workflows/snap-release.yml

@@ -12,12 +12,16 @@ jobs:
       environment: snap
       runs-on: ubuntu-latest
       steps:
-        - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+        - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         - uses: snapcore/action-build@v1
           id: build
+          env:
+            SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.STORE_LOGIN }}
+          with:
+            snapcraft-args: "remote-build --launchpad-accept-public-upload"
         - uses: snapcore/action-publish@v1
           env:
             SNAPCRAFT_STORE_CREDENTIALS: ${{ secrets.STORE_LOGIN }}
           with:
             snap: ${{ steps.build.outputs.snap }}
-            release: stable
+            release: stable

.github/workflows/test-yq.yml

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
       - name: Get test
         id: get_value
         uses: mikefarah/yq@master

.gitignore

@@ -43,9 +43,11 @@ yq*.snap
 
 test.yml
 test*.yml
+test*.tf
 test*.xml
 test*.toml
 test*.yaml
+*.kyaml
 test_dir1/
 test_dir2/
 0.yml
@@ -68,3 +70,7 @@ debian/files
 .vscode
 
 yq3
+
+# Golang
+.gomodcache/
+.gocache/

.golangci.yml

@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ linters:
     - unconvert
     - unparam
   settings:
+    misspell:
+      locale: UK
+      ignore-rules:
+        - color
+        - colors
     depguard:
       rules:
         prevent_unmaintained_packages:

.goreleaser.yaml

@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ builds:
       - openbsd_amd64
       - windows_386
       - windows_amd64
-      - windows_arm
       - windows_arm64
 
     no_unique_dist_dir: true

CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
 
 ## Our Standards
 
-Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment
+Examples of behaviour that contributes to creating a positive environment
 include:
 
 * Using welcoming and inclusive language
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ include:
 * Focusing on what is best for the community
 * Showing empathy towards other community members
 
-Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
+Examples of unacceptable behaviour by participants include:
 
 * The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or
  advances
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@ Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:
 ## Our Responsibilities
 
 Project maintainers are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable
-behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in
-response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.
+behaviour and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in
+response to any instances of unacceptable behaviour.
 
 Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or
 reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions
 that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or
-permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate,
+permanently any contributor for other behaviours that they deem inappropriate,
 threatening, offensive, or harmful.
 
 ## Scope
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ further defined and clarified by project maintainers.
 
 ## Enforcement
 
-Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be
+Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behaviour may be
 reported by contacting the project team at mikefarah@gmail.com. All
 complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that
 is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The project team is

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -197,6 +197,21 @@ Note: PRs with small changes (e.g. minor typos) may not be merged (see https://j
   make [local] test    # Run in Docker container
   ```
 
+- **Problem**: Tests fail with a VCS error:
+  ```bash
+  error obtaining VCS status: exit status 128
+  Use -buildvcs=false to disable VCS stamping.
+  ```
+- **Solution**:
+  Git security mechanisms prevent Golang from detecting the Git details inside
+  the container; either build with the `local` option, or pass GOFLAGS to
+  disable Golang buildvcs behaviour.
+  ```bash
+  make local test
+  # OR
+  make test GOFLAGS='-buildvcs=true'
+  ```
+
 ### Documentation Generation Issues
 - **Problem**: Generated docs don't update after test changes
 - **Solution**: 

Dockerfile

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.25.4 AS builder
+FROM golang:1.26.1 AS builder
 
 WORKDIR /go/src/mikefarah/yq
 

Dockerfile.dev

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM golang:1.25.4
+FROM golang:1.26.1
 
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y npm && \

Makefile

@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ clean:
 ## prefix before other make targets to run in your local dev environment
 local: | quiet
 	@$(eval ENGINERUN= )
+	@$(eval GOFLAGS="$(GOFLAGS)" )
 	@mkdir -p tmp
 	@touch tmp/dev_image_id
 quiet: # this is silly but shuts up 'Nothing to be done for `local`'

Makefile.variables

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ IMPORT_PATH := github.com/mikefarah/${PROJECT}
 export GIT_COMMIT = $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 export GIT_DIRTY = $(shell test -n "$$(git status --porcelain)" && echo "+CHANGES" || true)
 export GIT_DESCRIBE = $(shell git describe --tags --always)
+GOFLAGS :=
 LDFLAGS :=
 LDFLAGS += -X main.GitCommit=${GIT_COMMIT}${GIT_DIRTY}
 LDFLAGS += -X main.GitDescribe=${GIT_DESCRIBE}
@@ -26,13 +27,15 @@ ifeq ($(CYG_CHECK),1)
 else
 	# all non-windows environments
 	ROOT := $(shell pwd)
-	SELINUX := $(shell which getenforce 2>&1 >/dev/null && echo :z)
+	# Deliberately use `command -v` instead of `which` to be POSIX compliant
+	SELINUX := $(shell command -v getenforce >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo :z)
 endif
 
 DEV_IMAGE := ${PROJECT}_dev
 
 ENGINERUN := ${ENGINE} run --rm \
 	-e LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS}" \
+	-e GOFLAGS="${GOFLAGS}" \
 	-e GITHUB_TOKEN="${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
 	-v ${ROOT}/vendor:/go/src${SELINUX} \
 	-v ${ROOT}:/${PROJECT}/src/${IMPORT_PATH}${SELINUX} \

README.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ![Build](https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/workflows/Build/badge.svg)  ![Docker Pulls](https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/mikefarah/yq.svg) ![Github Releases (by Release)](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/mikefarah/yq/total.svg) ![Go Report](https://goreportcard.com/badge/github.com/mikefarah/yq) ![CodeQL](https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/workflows/CodeQL/badge.svg)
 
 
-A lightweight and portable command-line YAML, JSON, INI and XML processor. `yq` uses [jq](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) (a popular JSON processor) like syntax but works with yaml files as well as json, xml, ini, properties, csv and tsv. It doesn't yet support everything `jq` does - but it does support the most common operations and functions, and more is being added continuously.
+A lightweight and portable command-line YAML, JSON, INI and XML processor. `yq` uses [jq](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) (a popular JSON processor) like syntax but works with yaml files as well as json, kyaml, xml, ini, properties, csv and tsv. It doesn't yet support everything `jq` does - but it does support the most common operations and functions, and more is being added continuously.
 
 yq is written in Go - so you can download a dependency free binary for your platform and you are good to go! If you prefer there are a variety of package managers that can be used as well as Docker and Podman, all listed below.
 
@@ -363,6 +363,8 @@ gah install yq
 - [Load content from other files](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/operators/load)
 - [Convert to/from json/ndjson](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/usage/convert)
 - [Convert to/from xml](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/usage/xml)
+- [Convert to/from hcl (terraform)](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/usage/hcl)
+- [Convert to/from toml](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/usage/toml)
 - [Convert to/from properties](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/usage/properties)
 - [Convert to/from csv/tsv](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/usage/csv-tsv)
 - [General shell completion scripts (bash/zsh/fish/powershell)](https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/v/v4.x/commands/shell-completion)
@@ -380,10 +382,18 @@ Usage:
 
 Examples:
 
-# yq defaults to 'eval' command if no command is specified. See "yq eval --help" for more examples.
-yq '.stuff' < myfile.yml # outputs the data at the "stuff" node from "myfile.yml"
+# yq tries to auto-detect the file format based off the extension, and defaults to YAML if it's unknown (or piping through STDIN)
+# Use the '-p/--input-format' flag to specify a format type.
+cat file.xml | yq -p xml
 
-yq -i '.stuff = "foo"' myfile.yml # update myfile.yml in place
+# read the "stuff" node from "myfile.yml"
+yq '.stuff' < myfile.yml
+
+# update myfile.yml in place
+yq -i '.stuff = "foo"' myfile.yml
+
+# print contents of sample.json as idiomatic YAML
+yq -P -oy sample.json
 
 
 Available Commands:
@@ -393,46 +403,51 @@ Available Commands:
   help        Help about any command
 
 Flags:
-  -C, --colors                        force print with colors
-      --csv-auto-parse                parse CSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
-      --csv-separator char            CSV Separator character (default ,)
-  -e, --exit-status                   set exit status if there are no matches or null or false is returned
-      --expression string             forcibly set the expression argument. Useful when yq argument detection thinks your expression is a file.
-      --from-file string              Load expression from specified file.
-  -f, --front-matter string           (extract|process) first input as yaml front-matter. Extract will pull out the yaml content, process will run the expression against the yaml content, leaving the remaining data intact
-      --header-preprocess             Slurp any header comments and separators before processing expression. (default true)
-  -h, --help                          help for yq
-  -I, --indent int                    sets indent level for output (default 2)
-  -i, --inplace                       update the file in place of first file given.
-  -p, --input-format string           [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|lua|l|ini|i] parse format for input. (default "auto")
-      --lua-globals                   output keys as top-level global variables
-      --lua-prefix string             prefix (default "return ")
-      --lua-suffix string             suffix (default ";\n")
-      --lua-unquoted                  output unquoted string keys (e.g. {foo="bar"})
-  -M, --no-colors                     force print with no colors
-  -N, --no-doc                        Don't print document separators (---)
-  -0, --nul-output                    Use NUL char to separate values. If unwrap scalar is also set, fail if unwrapped scalar contains NUL char.
-  -n, --null-input                    Don't read input, simply evaluate the expression given. Useful for creating docs from scratch.
-  -o, --output-format string          [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|shell|s|lua|l|ini|i] output format type. (default "auto")
-  -P, --prettyPrint                   pretty print, shorthand for '... style = ""'
-      --properties-array-brackets     use [x] in array paths (e.g. for SpringBoot)
-      --properties-separator string   separator to use between keys and values (default " = ")
-  -s, --split-exp string              print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter. The necessary directories will be created.
-      --split-exp-file string         Use a file to specify the split-exp expression.
-      --string-interpolation          Toggles strings interpolation of \(exp) (default true)
-      --tsv-auto-parse                parse TSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
-  -r, --unwrapScalar                  unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colors or comments. Defaults to true for yaml (default true)
-  -v, --verbose                       verbose mode
-  -V, --version                       Print version information and quit
-      --xml-attribute-prefix string   prefix for xml attributes (default "+@")
-      --xml-content-name string       name for xml content (if no attribute name is present). (default "+content")
-      --xml-directive-name string     name for xml directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>) (default "+directive")
-      --xml-keep-namespace            enables keeping namespace after parsing attributes (default true)
-      --xml-proc-inst-prefix string   prefix for xml processing instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>) (default "+p_")
-      --xml-raw-token                 enables using RawToken method instead Token. Commonly disables namespace translations. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml#Decoder.RawToken for details. (default true)
-      --xml-skip-directives           skip over directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>)
-      --xml-skip-proc-inst            skip over process instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>)
-      --xml-strict-mode               enables strict parsing of XML. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml for more details.
+  -C, --colors                          force print with colors
+      --csv-auto-parse                  parse CSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
+      --csv-separator char              CSV Separator character (default ,)
+      --debug-node-info                 debug node info
+  -e, --exit-status                     set exit status if there are no matches or null or false is returned
+      --expression string               forcibly set the expression argument. Useful when yq argument detection thinks your expression is a file.
+      --from-file string                Load expression from specified file.
+  -f, --front-matter string             (extract|process) first input as yaml front-matter. Extract will pull out the yaml content, process will run the expression against the yaml content, leaving the remaining data intact
+      --header-preprocess               Slurp any header comments and separators before processing expression. (default true)
+  -h, --help                            help for yq
+  -I, --indent int                      sets indent level for output (default 2)
+  -i, --inplace                         update the file in place of first file given.
+  -p, --input-format string             [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|kyaml|ky|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|hcl|h|lua|l|ini|i] parse format for input. (default "auto")
+      --lua-globals                     output keys as top-level global variables
+      --lua-prefix string               prefix (default "return ")
+      --lua-suffix string               suffix (default ";\n")
+      --lua-unquoted                    output unquoted string keys (e.g. {foo="bar"})
+  -M, --no-colors                       force print with no colors
+  -N, --no-doc                          Don't print document separators (---)
+  -0, --nul-output                      Use NUL char to separate values. If unwrap scalar is also set, fail if unwrapped scalar contains NUL char.
+  -n, --null-input                      Don't read input, simply evaluate the expression given. Useful for creating docs from scratch.
+  -o, --output-format string            [auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|kyaml|ky|props|p|csv|c|tsv|t|xml|x|base64|uri|toml|hcl|h|shell|s|lua|l|ini|i] output format type. (default "auto")
+  -P, --prettyPrint                     pretty print, shorthand for '... style = ""'
+      --properties-array-brackets       use [x] in array paths (e.g. for SpringBoot)
+      --properties-separator string     separator to use between keys and values (default " = ")
+      --security-disable-env-ops        Disable env related operations.
+      --security-disable-file-ops       Disable file related operations (e.g. load)
+      --shell-key-separator string      separator for shell variable key paths (default "_")
+  -s, --split-exp string                print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter. The necessary directories will be created.
+      --split-exp-file string           Use a file to specify the split-exp expression.
+      --string-interpolation            Toggles strings interpolation of \(exp) (default true)
+      --tsv-auto-parse                  parse TSV YAML/JSON values (default true)
+  -r, --unwrapScalar                    unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colors or comments. Defaults to true for yaml (default true)
+  -v, --verbose                         verbose mode
+  -V, --version                         Print version information and quit
+      --xml-attribute-prefix string     prefix for xml attributes (default "+@")
+      --xml-content-name string         name for xml content (if no attribute name is present). (default "+content")
+      --xml-directive-name string       name for xml directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>) (default "+directive")
+      --xml-keep-namespace              enables keeping namespace after parsing attributes (default true)
+      --xml-proc-inst-prefix string     prefix for xml processing instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>) (default "+p_")
+      --xml-raw-token                   enables using RawToken method instead Token. Commonly disables namespace translations. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml#Decoder.RawToken for details. (default true)
+      --xml-skip-directives             skip over directives (e.g. <!DOCTYPE thing cat>)
+      --xml-skip-proc-inst              skip over process instructions (e.g. <?xml version="1"?>)
+      --xml-strict-mode                 enables strict parsing of XML. See https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/xml for more details.
+      --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec   Fix merge anchor to match YAML spec. Will default to true in late 2025
 
 Use "yq [command] --help" for more information about a command.
 ```

acceptance_tests/inputs-format.sh

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ setUp() {
   rm test*.csv 2>/dev/null || true
   rm test*.tsv 2>/dev/null || true
   rm test*.xml 2>/dev/null || true
+  rm test*.tf 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
 testInputProperties() {
@@ -153,6 +154,37 @@ EOM
   assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
 }
 
+testInputKYaml() {
+  cat >test.kyaml <<'EOL'
+# leading
+{
+  a: 1, # a line
+  # head b
+  b: 2,
+  c: [
+    # head d
+    "d", # d line
+  ],
+}
+EOL
+
+  read -r -d '' expected <<'EOM'
+# leading
+a: 1 # a line
+# head b
+b: 2
+c:
+  # head d
+  - d # d line
+EOM
+
+  X=$(./yq e -p=kyaml -P test.kyaml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+
+  X=$(./yq ea -p=kyaml -P test.kyaml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+}
+
 
 
 
@@ -255,4 +287,61 @@ EOM
   assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
 }
 
-source ./scripts/shunit2
+testInputTerraform() {
+  cat >test.tf <<EOL
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example" {
+  bucket = "my-bucket"
+  tags = {
+    Environment = "Dev"
+    Project = "Test"
+  }
+}
+EOL
+
+  read -r -d '' expected << EOM
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example" {
+  bucket = "my-bucket"
+  tags = {
+    Environment = "Dev"
+    Project = "Test"
+  }
+}
+EOM
+
+  X=$(./yq test.tf)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+
+  X=$(./yq ea test.tf)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+}
+
+testInputTerraformGithubAction() {
+  cat >test.tf <<EOL
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example" {
+  bucket = "my-bucket"
+  
+  tags = {
+    Environment = "Dev"
+    Project = "Test"
+  }
+}
+EOL
+
+  read -r -d '' expected << EOM
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example" {
+  bucket = "my-bucket"
+  tags = {
+    Environment = "Dev"
+    Project = "Test"
+  }
+}
+EOM
+
+  X=$(cat /dev/null | ./yq test.tf)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+
+  X=$(cat /dev/null | ./yq ea test.tf)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+}
+
+source ./scripts/shunit2

acceptance_tests/output-format.sh

@@ -280,6 +280,55 @@ EOM
   assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
 }
 
+testOutputKYaml() {
+  cat >test.yml <<'EOL'
+# leading
+a: 1 # a line
+# head b
+b: 2
+c:
+  # head d
+  - d # d line
+EOL
+
+  read -r -d '' expected <<'EOM'
+# leading
+{
+  a: 1, # a line
+  # head b
+  b: 2,
+  c: [
+    # head d
+    "d", # d line
+  ],
+}
+EOM
+
+  X=$(./yq e --output-format=kyaml test.yml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+
+  X=$(./yq ea --output-format=kyaml test.yml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+}
+
+testOutputKYamlShort() {
+  cat >test.yml <<EOL
+a: b
+EOL
+
+  read -r -d '' expected <<'EOM'
+{
+  a: "b",
+}
+EOM
+
+  X=$(./yq e -o=ky test.yml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+
+  X=$(./yq ea -o=ky test.yml)
+  assertEquals "$expected" "$X"
+}
+
 testOutputXmComplex() {
   cat >test.yml <<EOL
 a: {b: {c: ["cat", "dog"], +@f: meow}}

agents.md

@@ -0,0 +1,422 @@
+# General rules
+✅ **DO:**
+- You can use ./yq with the `--debug-node-info` flag to get a deeper understanding of the ast.
+- run ./scripts/format.sh to format the code; then ./scripts/check.sh lint and finally ./scripts/spelling.sh to check spelling.
+- Add comprehensive tests to cover the changes
+- Run test suite to ensure there is no regression
+- Use UK english spelling
+
+❌ **DON'T:**
+- Git add or commit
+- Add comments to functions that are self-explanatory
+
+
+
+# Adding a New Encoder/Decoder
+
+This guide explains how to add support for a new format (encoder/decoder) to yq without modifying `candidate_node.go`.
+
+## Overview
+
+The encoder/decoder architecture in yq is based on two main interfaces:
+
+- **Encoder**: Converts a `CandidateNode` to output in a specific format
+- **Decoder**: Reads input in a specific format and creates a `CandidateNode`
+
+Each format is registered in `pkg/yqlib/format.go` and made available through factory functions.
+
+## Architecture
+
+### Key Files
+
+- `pkg/yqlib/encoder.go` - Defines the `Encoder` interface
+- `pkg/yqlib/decoder.go` - Defines the `Decoder` interface
+- `pkg/yqlib/format.go` - Format registry and factory functions
+- `pkg/yqlib/operator_encoder_decoder.go` - Encode/decode operators
+- `pkg/yqlib/encoder_*.go` - Encoder implementations
+- `pkg/yqlib/decoder_*.go` - Decoder implementations
+
+### Interfaces
+
+**Encoder Interface:**
+```go
+type Encoder interface {
+    Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error
+    PrintDocumentSeparator(writer io.Writer) error
+    PrintLeadingContent(writer io.Writer, content string) error
+    CanHandleAliases() bool
+}
+```
+
+**Decoder Interface:**
+```go
+type Decoder interface {
+    Init(reader io.Reader) error
+    Decode() (*CandidateNode, error)
+}
+```
+
+## Step-by-Step: Adding a New Encoder/Decoder
+
+### Step 1: Create the Encoder File
+
+Create `pkg/yqlib/encoder_<format>.go` implementing the `Encoder` interface:
+- `Encode()` - Convert a `CandidateNode` to your format and write to the output writer
+- `PrintDocumentSeparator()` - Handle document separators if your format requires them
+- `PrintLeadingContent()` - Handle leading content/comments if supported
+- `CanHandleAliases()` - Return whether your format supports YAML aliases
+
+See `encoder_json.go` or `encoder_base64.go` for examples.
+
+### Step 2: Create the Decoder File
+
+Create `pkg/yqlib/decoder_<format>.go` implementing the `Decoder` interface:
+- `Init()` - Initialize the decoder with the input reader and set up any needed state
+- `Decode()` - Decode one document from the input and return a `CandidateNode`, or `io.EOF` when finished
+
+See `decoder_json.go` or `decoder_base64.go` for examples.
+
+### Step 3: Create Tests (Mandatory)
+
+Create a test file `pkg/yqlib/<format>_test.go` using the `formatScenario` pattern:
+- Define test scenarios as `formatScenario` structs with fields: `description`, `input`, `expected`, `scenarioType`
+- `scenarioType` can be `"decode"` (test decoding to YAML) or `"roundtrip"` (encode/decode preservation)
+- Create a helper function `test<Format>Scenario()` that switches on `scenarioType`
+- Create main test function `Test<Format>FormatScenarios()` that iterates over scenarios
+- The main test function should use `documentScenarios` to ensure testcase documentation is generated.
+
+Test coverage must include:
+- Basic data types (scalars, arrays, objects/maps)
+- Nested structures
+- Edge cases (empty inputs, special characters, escape sequences)
+- Format-specific features or syntax
+- Round-trip tests: decode → encode → decode should preserve data
+
+See `hcl_test.go` for a complete example.
+
+### Step 4: Register the Format in format.go
+
+Edit `pkg/yqlib/format.go`:
+
+1. Add a new format variable:
+   - `"<format>"` is the formal name (e.g., "json", "yaml")
+   - `[]string{...}` contains short aliases (can be empty)
+   - The first function creates an encoder (can be nil for encode-only formats)
+   - The second function creates a decoder (can be nil for decode-only formats)
+
+2. Add the format to the `Formats` slice in the same file
+
+See existing formats in `format.go` for the exact structure.
+
+### Step 5: Handle Encoder Configuration (if needed)
+
+If your format has preferences/configuration options:
+
+1. Create a preferences struct with your configuration fields
+2. Update the encoder to accept preferences in its factory function
+3. Update `format.go` to pass the configured preferences
+4. Update `operator_encoder_decoder.go` if special indent handling is needed (see existing formats like JSON and YAML for the pattern)
+
+This pattern is optional and only needed if your format has user-configurable options.
+
+## Build Tags
+
+Use build tags to allow optional compilation of formats:
+- Add `//go:build !yq_no<format>` at the top of your encoder and decoder files
+- Create a no-build version in `pkg/yqlib/no_<format>.go` that returns nil for encoder/decoder factories
+
+This allows users to compile yq without certain formats using: `go build -tags yq_no<format>`
+
+## Working with CandidateNode
+
+The `CandidateNode` struct represents a YAML node with:
+- `Kind`: The node type (ScalarNode, SequenceNode, MappingNode)
+- `Tag`: The YAML tag (e.g., "!!str", "!!int", "!!map")
+- `Value`: The scalar value (for ScalarNode only)
+- `Content`: Child nodes (for SequenceNode and MappingNode)
+
+Key methods:
+- `node.guessTagFromCustomType()` - Infer the tag from Go type
+- `node.AsList()` - Convert to a list for processing
+- `node.CreateReplacement()` - Create a new replacement node
+- `NewCandidate()` - Create a new CandidateNode
+
+## Key Points
+
+✅ **DO:**
+- Implement only the `Encoder` and `Decoder` interfaces
+- Register your format in `format.go` only
+- Keep format-specific logic in your encoder/decoder files
+- Use the candidate_node style attribute to store style information for round-trip. Ask if this needs to be updated with new styles.
+- Use build tags for optional compilation
+- Add comprehensive tests
+- Run the specific encoder/decoder test (e.g. <format>_test.go) whenever you make ay changes to the encoder_<format> or decoder_<format>
+- Handle errors gracefully
+- Add the no build directive, like the xml encoder and decoder, that enables a minimal yq builds. e.g.  `//go:build !yq_<format>`. Be sure to also update the build_small-yq.sh and build-tinygo-yq.sh to not include the new format.
+
+❌ **DON'T:**
+- Modify `candidate_node.go` to add format-specific logic
+- Add format-specific fields to `CandidateNode`
+- Create special cases in core navigation or evaluation logic
+- Bypass the encoder/decoder interfaces
+- Use candidate_node tag attribute for anything other than indicate the data type
+
+## Examples
+
+Refer to existing format implementations for patterns:
+
+- **Simple encoder/decoder**: `encoder_json.go`, `decoder_json.go`
+- **Complex with preferences**: `encoder_yaml.go`, `decoder_yaml.go`
+- **Encoder-only**: `encoder_sh.go` (ShFormat has nil decoder)
+- **String-only operations**: `encoder_base64.go`, `decoder_base64.go`
+
+## Testing Your Implementation (Mandatory)
+
+Tests must be implemented in `<format>_test.go` following the `formatScenario` pattern:
+
+1. **Create test scenarios** using the `formatScenario` struct with fields:
+   - `description`: Brief description of what's being tested
+   - `input`: Sample input in your format
+   - `expected`: Expected output (typically in YAML for decode tests)
+   - `scenarioType`: Either `"decode"` or `"roundtrip"`
+
+2. **Test coverage must include:**
+   - Basic data types (scalars, arrays, objects/maps)
+   - Nested structures
+   - Edge cases (empty inputs, special characters, escape sequences)
+   - Format-specific features or syntax
+   - Round-trip tests: decode → encode → decode should preserve data
+
+3. **Test function pattern:**
+   - `test<Format>Scenario()`: Helper function that switches on `scenarioType`
+   - `Test<Format>FormatScenarios()`: Main test function that iterates over scenarios
+
+4. **Example from existing formats:**
+   - See `hcl_test.go` for a complete example
+   - See `yaml_test.go` for YAML-specific patterns
+   - See `json_test.go` for more complex scenarios
+
+## Common Patterns
+
+### Format with Indentation
+Use preferences to control output formatting:
+```go
+type <format>Preferences struct {
+    Indent int
+}
+
+func (prefs *<format>Preferences) Copy() <format>Preferences {
+    return *prefs
+}
+```
+
+### Multiple Documents
+Decoders should support reading multiple documents:
+```go
+func (dec *<format>Decoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
+    if dec.finished {
+        return nil, io.EOF
+    }
+    // ... decode next document ...
+    if noMoreDocuments {
+        dec.finished = true
+    }
+    return candidate, nil
+}
+```
+
+---
+
+# Adding a New Operator
+
+This guide explains how to add a new operator to yq. Operators are the core of yq's expression language and process `CandidateNode` objects without requiring modifications to `candidate_node.go` itself.
+
+## Overview
+
+Operators transform data by implementing a handler function that processes a `Context` containing `CandidateNode` objects. Each operator is:
+
+1. Defined as an `operationType` in `operation.go`
+2. Registered in the lexer in `lexer_participle.go`
+3. Implemented in its own `operator_<type>.go` file
+4. Tested in `operator_<type>_test.go`
+5. Documented in `pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/<type>.md`
+
+## Architecture
+
+### Key Files
+
+- `pkg/yqlib/operation.go` - Defines `operationType` and operator registry
+- `pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go` - Registers operators with their syntax patterns
+- `pkg/yqlib/operator_<type>.go` - Operator implementation
+- `pkg/yqlib/operator_<type>_test.go` - Operator tests using `expressionScenario`
+- `pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/<type>.md` - Documentation header
+
+### Core Types
+
+**operationType:**
+```go
+type operationType struct {
+    Type                 string          // Unique operator name (e.g., "REVERSE")
+    NumArgs              uint            // Number of arguments (0 for no args)
+    Precedence           uint            // Operator precedence (higher = higher precedence)
+    Handler              operatorHandler // The function that executes the operator
+    CheckForPostTraverse bool            // Whether to apply post-traversal logic
+    ToString             func(*Operation) string // Custom string representation
+}
+```
+
+**operatorHandler signature:**
+```go
+type operatorHandler func(*dataTreeNavigator, Context, *ExpressionNode) (Context, error)
+```
+
+**expressionScenario for tests:**
+```go
+type expressionScenario struct {
+    description      string
+    subdescription   string
+    document         string
+    expression       string
+    expected         []string
+    skipDoc          bool
+    expectedError    string
+}
+```
+
+## Step-by-Step: Adding a New Operator
+
+### Step 1: Create the Operator Implementation File
+
+Create `pkg/yqlib/operator_<type>.go` implementing the operator handler function:
+- Implement the `operatorHandler` function signature
+- Process nodes from `context.MatchingNodes`
+- Return a new `Context` with results using `context.ChildContext()`
+- Use `candidate.CreateReplacement()` or `candidate.CreateReplacementWithComments()` to create new nodes
+- Handle errors gracefully with meaningful error messages
+
+See `operator_reverse.go` or `operator_keys.go` for examples.
+
+### Step 2: Register the Operator in operation.go
+
+Add the operator type definition to `pkg/yqlib/operation.go`:
+
+```go
+var <type>OpType = &operationType{
+    Type:       "<TYPE>",          // All caps, matches pattern in lexer
+    NumArgs:    0,                 // 0 for no args, 1+ for args
+    Precedence: 50,                // Typical range: 40-55
+    Handler:    <type>Operator,    // Reference to handler function
+}
+```
+
+**Precedence guidelines:**
+- 10-20: Logical operators (OR, AND, UNION)
+- 30: Pipe operator
+- 40: Assignment and comparison operators
+- 42: Arithmetic operators (ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE)
+- 50-52: Most other operators
+- 55: High precedence (e.g., GET_VARIABLE)
+
+**Optional fields:**
+- `CheckForPostTraverse: true` - If your operator can have another directly after it without the pipe character. Most of the time this is false.
+- `ToString: customToString` - Custom string representation (rarely needed)
+
+### Step 3: Register the Operator in lexer_participle.go
+
+Edit `pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go` to add the operator to the lexer rules:
+- Use `simpleOp()` for simple keyword patterns
+- Use object syntax for regex patterns or complex syntax
+- Support optional characters with `_?` and aliases with `|`
+
+See existing operators in `lexer_participle.go` for pattern examples.
+
+### Step 4: Create Tests (Mandatory)
+
+Create `pkg/yqlib/operator_<type>_test.go` using the `expressionScenario` pattern:
+- Define test scenarios with `description`, `document`, `expression`, and `expected` fields
+- `expected` is a slice of strings showing output format: `"D<doc>, P[<path>], (<tag>)::<value>\n"`
+- Set `skipDoc: true` for edge cases you don't want in generated documentation
+- Include `subdescription` for longer test names
+- Set `expectedError` if testing error cases
+- Create main test function that iterates over scenarios
+- The main test function should use `documentScenarios` to ensure testcase documentation is generated.
+
+Test coverage must include:
+- Basic data types and nested structures
+- Edge cases (empty inputs, special characters, type errors)
+- Multiple outputs if applicable
+- Format-specific features
+
+See `operator_reverse_test.go` for a simple example and `operator_keys_test.go` for complex cases.
+
+### Step 5: Create Documentation Header
+
+Create `pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/<type>.md`:
+- Use the exact operator name as the title
+- Include a concise 1-2 sentence summary
+- Add additional context or examples if the operator is complex
+
+See existing headers in `doc/operators/headers/` for examples.
+
+## Working with Context and CandidateNode
+
+### Context Management
+- `context.ChildContext(results)` - Create child context with results
+- `context.GetVariable("varName")` - Get variables stored in context
+- `context.SetVariable("varName", value)` - Set variables in context
+
+### CandidateNode Operations
+- `candidate.CreateReplacement(ScalarNode, "!!str", stringValue)` - Create a replacement node
+- `candidate.CreateReplacementWithComments(SequenceNode, "!!seq", candidate.Style)` - With style preserved
+- `candidate.Kind` - The node type (ScalarNode, SequenceNode, MappingNode)
+- `candidate.Tag` - The YAML tag (!!str, !!int, etc.)
+- `candidate.Value` - The scalar value (for ScalarNode only)
+- `candidate.Content` - Child nodes (for SequenceNode and MappingNode)
+- `candidate.guessTagFromCustomType()` - Infer the tag from Go type
+- `candidate.AsList()` - Convert to a list representation
+
+## Key Points
+
+✅ **DO:**
+- Implement the operator handler with the correct signature
+- Register in `operation.go` with appropriate precedence
+- Add the lexer pattern in `lexer_participle.go`
+- Write comprehensive tests covering normal and edge cases
+- Create a documentation header in `doc/operators/headers/`
+- Use `Context.ChildContext()` for proper context threading
+- Handle all node types gracefully
+- Return meaningful error messages
+
+❌ **DON'T:**
+- Modify `candidate_node.go` (operators shouldn't need this)
+- Modify core navigation or evaluation logic
+- Bypass the handler function pattern
+- Add format-specific or operator-specific fields to `CandidateNode`
+- Skip tests or documentation
+
+## Examples
+
+Refer to existing operator implementations for patterns:
+
+- **No-argument operator**: `operator_reverse.go` - Processes arrays/sequences
+- **Single-argument operator**: `operator_map.go` - Takes an expression argument
+- **Complex multi-output**: `operator_keys.go` - Produces multiple results
+- **With preferences**: `operator_to_number.go` - Configuration options
+- **Error handling**: `operator_error.go` - Control flow with errors
+- **String operations**: `operator_strings.go` - Multiple related operators
+
+## Testing Patterns
+
+Refer to existing test files for specific patterns:
+- Basic expression tests in `operator_reverse_test.go`
+- Multi-output tests in `operator_keys_test.go`
+- Error handling tests in `operator_error_test.go`
+- Tests with `skipDoc` flag to exclude from generated documentation
+
+## Common Patterns
+
+Refer to existing operator implementations for these patterns:
+- Simple transformation: see `operator_reverse.go`
+- Type checking: see `operator_error.go`
+- Working with arguments: see `operator_map.go`
+- Post-traversal operators: see `operator_with.go`

cmd/evaluate_all_command.go

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func evaluateAll(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (cmdError error) {
 	out := cmd.OutOrStdout()
 
 	if writeInplace {
-		// only use colors if its forced
+		// only use colours if its forced
 		colorsEnabled = forceColor
 		writeInPlaceHandler := yqlib.NewWriteInPlaceHandler(args[0])
 		out, err = writeInPlaceHandler.CreateTempFile()

cmd/evaluate_sequence_command.go

@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func evaluateSequence(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (cmdError error) {
 	}
 
 	if writeInplace {
-		// only use colors if its forced
+		// only use colours if its forced
 		colorsEnabled = forceColor
 		writeInPlaceHandler := yqlib.NewWriteInPlaceHandler(args[0])
 		out, err = writeInPlaceHandler.CreateTempFile()

cmd/root.go

@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ yq -P -oy sample.json
 	}
 	rootCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&version, "version", "V", false, "Print version information and quit")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&writeInplace, "inplace", "i", false, "update the file in place of first file given.")
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().VarP(unwrapScalarFlag, "unwrapScalar", "r", "unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colors or comments. Defaults to true for yaml")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().VarP(unwrapScalarFlag, "unwrapScalar", "r", "unwrap scalar, print the value with no quotes, colours or comments. Defaults to true for yaml")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("unwrapScalar").NoOptDefVal = "true"
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&nulSepOutput, "nul-output", "0", false, "Use NUL char to separate values. If unwrap scalar is also set, fail if unwrapped scalar contains NUL char.")
 
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ yq -P -oy sample.json
 	}
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.LeadingContentPreProcessing, "header-preprocess", "", true, "Slurp any header comments and separators before processing expression.")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec, "yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec", "", false, "Fix merge anchor to match YAML spec. Will default to true in late 2025")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.CompactSequenceIndent, "yaml-compact-seq-indent", "c", false, "Use compact sequence indentation where '- ' is considered part of the indentation.")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&splitFileExp, "split-exp", "s", "", "print each result (or doc) into a file named (exp). [exp] argument must return a string. You can use $index in the expression as the result counter. The necessary directories will be created.")
 	if err = rootCmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc("split-exp", cobra.NoFileCompletions); err != nil {

cmd/utils.go

@@ -166,6 +166,9 @@ func configureDecoder(evaluateTogether bool) (yqlib.Decoder, error) {
 	}
 	yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.EvaluateTogether = evaluateTogether
 
+	if format.DecoderFactory == nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no support for %s input format", inputFormat)
+	}
 	yqlibDecoder := format.DecoderFactory()
 	if yqlibDecoder == nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no support for %s input format", inputFormat)
@@ -197,16 +200,23 @@ func configureEncoder() (yqlib.Encoder, error) {
 	}
 	yqlib.ConfiguredXMLPreferences.Indent = indent
 	yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.Indent = indent
+	yqlib.ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.Indent = indent
 	yqlib.ConfiguredJSONPreferences.Indent = indent
 
 	yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.UnwrapScalar = unwrapScalar
+	yqlib.ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.UnwrapScalar = unwrapScalar
 	yqlib.ConfiguredPropertiesPreferences.UnwrapScalar = unwrapScalar
 	yqlib.ConfiguredJSONPreferences.UnwrapScalar = unwrapScalar
+	yqlib.ConfiguredShellVariablesPreferences.UnwrapScalar = unwrapScalar
 
 	yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.ColorsEnabled = colorsEnabled
+	yqlib.ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.ColorsEnabled = colorsEnabled
 	yqlib.ConfiguredJSONPreferences.ColorsEnabled = colorsEnabled
+	yqlib.ConfiguredHclPreferences.ColorsEnabled = colorsEnabled
+	yqlib.ConfiguredTomlPreferences.ColorsEnabled = colorsEnabled
 
 	yqlib.ConfiguredYamlPreferences.PrintDocSeparators = !noDocSeparators
+	yqlib.ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.PrintDocSeparators = !noDocSeparators
 
 	encoder := yqlibOutputFormat.EncoderFactory()
 

cmd/utils_test.go

@@ -911,7 +911,7 @@ func stringsEqual(a, b []string) bool {
 		return false
 	}
 	for i := range a {
-		if a[i] != b[i] {
+		if a[i] != b[i] { //nolint:gosec // G602 false positive: b length equality is checked above
 			return false
 		}
 	}
@@ -926,13 +926,13 @@ func TestSetupColors(t *testing.T) {
 		expectColors bool
 	}{
 		{
-			name:         "force color enabled",
+			name:         "force colour enabled",
 			forceColor:   true,
 			forceNoColor: false,
 			expectColors: true,
 		},
 		{
-			name:         "force no color enabled",
+			name:         "force no colour enabled",
 			forceColor:   false,
 			forceNoColor: true,
 			expectColors: false,

cmd/version.go

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ var (
 	GitDescribe string
 
 	// Version is main version number that is being run at the moment.
-	Version = "v4.49.1"
+	Version = "v4.52.4"
 
 	// VersionPrerelease is a pre-release marker for the version. If this is "" (empty string)
 	// then it means that it is a final release. Otherwise, this is a pre-release

cmd/version_test.go

@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package cmd
 
-import "testing"
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
 
 func TestGetVersionDisplay(t *testing.T) {
 	var expectedVersion = ProductName + " (https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/) version " + Version
@@ -25,6 +28,18 @@ func TestGetVersionDisplay(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func Test_getHumanVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save original values
+	origGitDescribe := GitDescribe
+	origGitCommit := GitCommit
+	origVersionPrerelease := VersionPrerelease
+
+	// Restore after test
+	defer func() {
+		GitDescribe = origGitDescribe
+		GitCommit = origGitCommit
+		VersionPrerelease = origVersionPrerelease
+	}()
+
 	GitDescribe = "e42813d"
 	GitCommit = "e42813d+CHANGES"
 	var wanted string
@@ -49,3 +64,118 @@ func Test_getHumanVersion(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_getHumanVersion_NoGitDescribe(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save original values
+	origGitDescribe := GitDescribe
+	origGitCommit := GitCommit
+	origVersionPrerelease := VersionPrerelease
+
+	// Restore after test
+	defer func() {
+		GitDescribe = origGitDescribe
+		GitCommit = origGitCommit
+		VersionPrerelease = origVersionPrerelease
+	}()
+
+	GitDescribe = ""
+	GitCommit = ""
+	VersionPrerelease = ""
+
+	got := getHumanVersion()
+	if got != Version {
+		t.Errorf("getHumanVersion() = %v, want %v", got, Version)
+	}
+}
+
+func Test_getHumanVersion_WithPrerelease(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save original values
+	origGitDescribe := GitDescribe
+	origGitCommit := GitCommit
+	origVersionPrerelease := VersionPrerelease
+
+	// Restore after test
+	defer func() {
+		GitDescribe = origGitDescribe
+		GitCommit = origGitCommit
+		VersionPrerelease = origVersionPrerelease
+	}()
+
+	GitDescribe = ""
+	GitCommit = "abc123"
+	VersionPrerelease = "beta"
+
+	got := getHumanVersion()
+	expected := Version + "-beta (abc123)"
+	if got != expected {
+		t.Errorf("getHumanVersion() = %v, want %v", got, expected)
+	}
+}
+
+func Test_getHumanVersion_PrereleaseInVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save original values
+	origGitDescribe := GitDescribe
+	origGitCommit := GitCommit
+	origVersionPrerelease := VersionPrerelease
+
+	// Restore after test
+	defer func() {
+		GitDescribe = origGitDescribe
+		GitCommit = origGitCommit
+		VersionPrerelease = origVersionPrerelease
+	}()
+
+	GitDescribe = "v1.2.3-rc1"
+	GitCommit = "xyz789"
+	VersionPrerelease = "rc1"
+
+	got := getHumanVersion()
+	// Should not duplicate "rc1" since it's already in GitDescribe
+	expected := "v1.2.3-rc1 (xyz789)"
+	if got != expected {
+		t.Errorf("getHumanVersion() = %v, want %v", got, expected)
+	}
+}
+
+func Test_getHumanVersion_StripSingleQuotes(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save original values
+	origGitDescribe := GitDescribe
+	origGitCommit := GitCommit
+	origVersionPrerelease := VersionPrerelease
+
+	// Restore after test
+	defer func() {
+		GitDescribe = origGitDescribe
+		GitCommit = origGitCommit
+		VersionPrerelease = origVersionPrerelease
+	}()
+
+	GitDescribe = "'v1.2.3'"
+	GitCommit = "'commit123'"
+	VersionPrerelease = ""
+
+	got := getHumanVersion()
+	// Should strip single quotes
+	if strings.Contains(got, "'") {
+		t.Errorf("getHumanVersion() = %v, should not contain single quotes", got)
+	}
+	expected := "v1.2.3"
+	if got != expected {
+		t.Errorf("getHumanVersion() = %v, want %v", got, expected)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProductName(t *testing.T) {
+	if ProductName != "yq" {
+		t.Errorf("ProductName = %v, want yq", ProductName)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestVersionIsSet(t *testing.T) {
+	if Version == "" {
+		t.Error("Version should not be empty")
+	}
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(Version, "v") {
+		t.Errorf("Version %v should start with 'v'", Version)
+	}
+}

examples/data1.yaml

@@ -1,3 +1 @@
-[[fruits]]
-[[fruits.varieties]]  # nested array of tables
-name = "red delicious
+a: apple

examples/kyaml.kyaml

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# leading
+{
+  a: 1, # a line
+  # head b
+  b: 2,
+  c: [
+    # head d
+    "d", # d line
+  ],
+}

examples/kyaml.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# leading
+a: 1 # a line
+# head b
+b: 2
+c:
+  # head d
+  - d # d line

examples/sample.hcl

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)

examples/sample.tf

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# main.tf
+
+# Define required providers and minimum Terraform version
+terraform {
+  required_providers {
+    aws = {
+      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
+      version = "~> 5.0"
+    }
+  }
+  required_version = ">= 1.2"
+}
+
+# Configure the AWS provider
+provider "aws" {
+  region = var.aws_region
+}
+
+# Define an S3 bucket resource
+resource "aws_s3_bucket" "example_bucket" {
+  bucket = var.bucket_name
+
+  tags = {
+    Environment = "Development"
+    Project     = "TerraformExample"
+  }
+}

examples/sample.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,26 @@
-[[fruits]]
 
-[animals]
 
-[[fruits.varieties]]  # nested array of tables
-name = "red delicious"
+# This is a TOML document
+
+title = "TOML Example"
+
+[owner]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+
+[database]
+enabled = true
+ports = [ 8000, 8001, 8002 ]
+data = [ ["delta", "phi"], [3.14] ]
+temp_targets = { cpu = 79.5, case = 72.0 }
+
+[servers]
+
+[servers.alpha]
+ip = "10.0.0.1"
+role = "frontend"
+
+[servers.beta]
+ip = "10.0.0.2"
+role = "backend"
+

examples/sample2.hcl

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)

go.mod

@@ -9,27 +9,34 @@ require (
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0
 	github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0
 	github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5
-	github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0
+	github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.19.2
+	github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2 v2.24.0
 	github.com/jinzhu/copier v0.4.0
 	github.com/magiconair/properties v1.8.10
 	github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4
 	github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e
-	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.1
+	github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2
 	github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.10
 	github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1
+	github.com/zclconf/go-cty v1.18.0
 	go.yaml.in/yaml/v4 v4.0.0-rc.3
-	golang.org/x/net v0.47.0
-	golang.org/x/text v0.31.0
+	golang.org/x/mod v0.34.0
+	golang.org/x/net v0.50.0
+	golang.org/x/text v0.35.0
 	gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1 v1.0.0-20160211212156-b2cb9fa56473
 )
 
 require (
+	github.com/agext/levenshtein v1.2.1 // indirect
+	github.com/apparentlymart/go-textseg/v15 v15.0.0 // indirect
+	github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0 // indirect
 	github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14 // indirect
 	github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/sys v0.38.0 // indirect
+	github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v1.0.1 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/sync v0.20.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.41.0 // indirect
+	golang.org/x/tools v0.42.0 // indirect
 )
 
-go 1.24.0
-
-toolchain go1.24.1
+go 1.25.0

go.sum

@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.3 h1:kDF7paGK8QACWYaQo6KtyYBozY2jhQrTuNNuUxQkhJY=
 github.com/a8m/envsubst v1.4.3/go.mod h1:4jjHWQlZoaXPoLQUb7H2qT4iLkZDdmEQiOUogdUmqVU=
+github.com/agext/levenshtein v1.2.1 h1:QmvMAjj2aEICytGiWzmxoE0x2KZvE0fvmqMOfy2tjT8=
+github.com/agext/levenshtein v1.2.1/go.mod h1:JEDfjyjHDjOF/1e4FlBE/PkbqA9OfWu2ki2W0IB5558=
 github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.11.0 h1:2Q9r3ki8+JYXvGsDyBXwH3LcJ+WK5D0gc5E8vS6K3D0=
 github.com/alecthomas/assert/v2 v2.11.0/go.mod h1:Bze95FyfUr7x34QZrjL+XP+0qgp/zg8yS+TtBj1WA3k=
 github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.4 h1:W/H79S8Sat/krZ3el6sQMvMaahJ+XcM9WSI2naI7w2U=
 github.com/alecthomas/participle/v2 v2.1.4/go.mod h1:8tqVbpTX20Ru4NfYQgZf4mP18eXPTBViyMWiArNEgGI=
 github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.5.2 h1:SU73FTI9D1P5UNtvseffFSGmdNci/O6RsqzeXJtP0Qs=
 github.com/alecthomas/repr v0.5.2/go.mod h1:Fr0507jx4eOXV7AlPV6AVZLYrLIuIeSOWtW57eE/O/4=
+github.com/apparentlymart/go-textseg/v15 v15.0.0 h1:uYvfpb3DyLSCGWnctWKGj857c6ew1u1fNQOlOtuGxQY=
+github.com/apparentlymart/go-textseg/v15 v15.0.0/go.mod h1:K8XmNZdhEBkdlyDdvbmmsvpAG721bKi0joRfFdHIWJ4=
 github.com/cpuguy83/go-md2man/v2 v2.0.6/go.mod h1:oOW0eioCTA6cOiMLiUPZOpcVxMig6NIQQ7OS05n1F4g=
-github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0 h1:ZDRjVQ15GmhC3fiQ8ni8+OwkZQO4DARzQgrnXU1Liz8=
 github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.0/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
+github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1 h1:vj9j/u1bqnvCEfJOwUhtlOARqs3+rkHYY13jYWTU97c=
+github.com/davecgh/go-spew v1.1.1/go.mod h1:J7Y8YcW2NihsgmVo/mv3lAwl/skON4iLHjSsI+c5H38=
 github.com/dimchansky/utfbom v1.1.1 h1:vV6w1AhK4VMnhBno/TPVCoK9U/LP0PkLCS9tbxHdi/U=
 github.com/dimchansky/utfbom v1.1.1/go.mod h1:SxdoEBH5qIqFocHMyGOXVAybYJdr71b1Q/j0mACtrfE=
 github.com/elliotchance/orderedmap v1.8.0 h1:TrOREecvh3JbS+NCgwposXG5ZTFHtEsQiCGOhPElnMw=
@@ -17,10 +22,16 @@ github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0 h1:S8gINlzdQ840/4pfAwic/ZE0djQEH3wM94VfqLTZcOM=
 github.com/fatih/color v1.18.0/go.mod h1:4FelSpRwEGDpQ12mAdzqdOukCy4u8WUtOY6lkT/6HfU=
 github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0 h1:z6ZrTEZqSWOTyH2FlglNbNgARyHG8oLW9gMELqKr06A=
 github.com/go-ini/ini v1.67.0/go.mod h1:ByCAeIL28uOIIG0E3PJtZPDL8WnHpFKFOtgjp+3Ies8=
+github.com/go-test/deep v1.0.3 h1:ZrJSEWsXzPOxaZnFteGEfooLba+ju3FYIbOrS+rQd68=
+github.com/go-test/deep v1.0.3/go.mod h1:wGDj63lr65AM2AQyKZd/NYHGb0R+1RLqB8NKt3aSFNA=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5 h1:Fq85nIqj+gXn/S5ahsiTlK3TmC85qgirsdTP/+DeaC4=
 github.com/goccy/go-json v0.10.5/go.mod h1:oq7eo15ShAhp70Anwd5lgX2pLfOS3QCiwU/PULtXL6M=
-github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0 h1:8W7wMFS12Pcas7KU+VVkaiCng+kG8QiFeFwzFb+rwuw=
-github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.18.0/go.mod h1:XBurs7gK8ATbW4ZPGKgcbrY1Br56PdM69F7LkFRi1kA=
+github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.19.2 h1:PmFC1S6h8ljIz6gMRBopkjP1TVT7xuwrButHID66PoM=
+github.com/goccy/go-yaml v1.19.2/go.mod h1:XBurs7gK8ATbW4ZPGKgcbrY1Br56PdM69F7LkFRi1kA=
+github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0 h1:ofyhxvXcZhMsU5ulbFiLKl/XBFqE1GSq7atu8tAmTRI=
+github.com/google/go-cmp v0.6.0/go.mod h1:17dUlkBOakJ0+DkrSSNjCkIjxS6bF9zb3elmeNGIjoY=
+github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2 v2.24.0 h1:2QJdZ454DSsYGoaE6QheQZjtKZSUs9Nh2izTWiwQxvE=
+github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2 v2.24.0/go.mod h1:oGoO1FIQYfn/AgyOhlg9qLC6/nOJPX3qGbkZpYAcqfM=
 github.com/hexops/gotextdiff v1.0.3 h1:gitA9+qJrrTCsiCl7+kh75nPqQt1cx4ZkudSTLoUqJM=
 github.com/hexops/gotextdiff v1.0.3/go.mod h1:pSWU5MAI3yDq+fZBTazCSJysOMbxWL1BSow5/V2vxeg=
 github.com/inconshreveable/mousetrap v1.1.0 h1:wN+x4NVGpMsO7ErUn/mUI3vEoE6Jt13X2s0bqwp9tc8=
@@ -33,6 +44,8 @@ github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14 h1:9A9LHSqF/7dyVVX6g0U9cwm9pG3kP9gSzcuIPHP
 github.com/mattn/go-colorable v0.1.14/go.mod h1:6LmQG8QLFO4G5z1gPvYEzlUgJ2wF+stgPZH1UqBm1s8=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20 h1:xfD0iDuEKnDkl03q4limB+vH+GxLEtL/jb4xVJSWWEY=
 github.com/mattn/go-isatty v0.0.20/go.mod h1:W+V8PltTTMOvKvAeJH7IuucS94S2C6jfK/D7dTCTo3Y=
+github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v1.0.1 h1:TLuKupo69TCn6TQSyGxwI1EblZZEsQ0vMlAFQflz0v0=
+github.com/mitchellh/go-wordwrap v1.0.1/go.mod h1:R62XHJLzvMFRBbcrT7m7WgmE1eOyTSsCt+hzestvNj0=
 github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4 h1:mye9XuhQ6gvn5h28+VilKrrPoQVanw5PMw/TB0t5Ec4=
 github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2 v2.2.4/go.mod h1:2gIqNv+qfxSVS7cM2xJQKtLSTLUE9V8t9Stt+h56mCY=
 github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e h1:aoZm08cpOy4WuID//EZDgcC4zIxODThtZNPirFr42+A=
@@ -40,8 +53,8 @@ github.com/pkg/diff v0.0.0-20210226163009-20ebb0f2a09e/go.mod h1:pJLUxLENpZxwdsK
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0 h1:4DBwDE0NGyQoBHbLQYPwSUPoCMWR5BEzIk/f1lZbAQM=
 github.com/pmezard/go-difflib v1.0.0/go.mod h1:iKH77koFhYxTK1pcRnkKkqfTogsbg7gZNVY4sRDYZ/4=
 github.com/russross/blackfriday/v2 v2.1.0/go.mod h1:+Rmxgy9KzJVeS9/2gXHxylqXiyQDYRxCVz55jmeOWTM=
-github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.1 h1:lJeBwCfmrnXthfAupyUTzJ/J4Nc1RsHC/mSRU2dll/s=
-github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.1/go.mod h1:7SmJGaTHFVBY0jW4NXGluQoLvhqFQM+6XSKD+P4XaB0=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2 h1:DMTTonx5m65Ic0GOoRY2c16WCbHxOOw6xxezuLaBpcU=
+github.com/spf13/cobra v1.10.2/go.mod h1:7C1pvHqHw5A4vrJfjNwvOdzYu0Gml16OCs2GRiTUUS4=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.9/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.10 h1:4EBh2KAYBwaONj6b2Ye1GiHfwjqyROoF4RwYO+vPwFk=
 github.com/spf13/pflag v1.0.10/go.mod h1:McXfInJRrz4CZXVZOBLb0bTZqETkiAhM9Iw0y3An2Bg=
@@ -50,18 +63,28 @@ github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0 h1:nwc3DEeHmmLAfoZucVR881uASk0Mfjw8xYJ99tb5Cc
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0/go.mod h1:6Fq8oRcR53rry900zMqJjRRixrwX3KX962/h/Wwjteg=
 github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1 h1:kYKnWBjvbNP4XLT3+bPEwAXJx262OhaHDWDVOPjL46M=
 github.com/yuin/gopher-lua v1.1.1/go.mod h1:GBR0iDaNXjAgGg9zfCvksxSRnQx76gclCIb7kdAd1Pw=
+github.com/zclconf/go-cty v1.18.0 h1:pJ8+HNI4gFoyRNqVE37wWbJWVw43BZczFo7KUoRczaA=
+github.com/zclconf/go-cty v1.18.0/go.mod h1:qpnV6EDNgC1sns/AleL1fvatHw72j+S+nS+MJ+T2CSg=
+github.com/zclconf/go-cty-debug v0.0.0-20240509010212-0d6042c53940 h1:4r45xpDWB6ZMSMNJFMOjqrGHynW3DIBuR2H9j0ug+Mo=
+github.com/zclconf/go-cty-debug v0.0.0-20240509010212-0d6042c53940/go.mod h1:CmBdvvj3nqzfzJ6nTCIwDTPZ56aVGvDrmztiO5g3qrM=
+go.yaml.in/yaml/v3 v3.0.4/go.mod h1:DhzuOOF2ATzADvBadXxruRBLzYTpT36CKvDb3+aBEFg=
 go.yaml.in/yaml/v4 v4.0.0-rc.3 h1:3h1fjsh1CTAPjW7q/EMe+C8shx5d8ctzZTrLcs/j8Go=
 go.yaml.in/yaml/v4 v4.0.0-rc.3/go.mod h1:aZqd9kCMsGL7AuUv/m/PvWLdg5sjJsZ4oHDEnfPPfY0=
-golang.org/x/net v0.47.0 h1:Mx+4dIFzqraBXUugkia1OOvlD6LemFo1ALMHjrXDOhY=
-golang.org/x/net v0.47.0/go.mod h1:/jNxtkgq5yWUGYkaZGqo27cfGZ1c5Nen03aYrrKpVRU=
+golang.org/x/mod v0.34.0 h1:xIHgNUUnW6sYkcM5Jleh05DvLOtwc6RitGHbDk4akRI=
+golang.org/x/mod v0.34.0/go.mod h1:ykgH52iCZe79kzLLMhyCUzhMci+nQj+0XkbXpNYtVjY=
+golang.org/x/net v0.50.0 h1:ucWh9eiCGyDR3vtzso0WMQinm2Dnt8cFMuQa9K33J60=
+golang.org/x/net v0.50.0/go.mod h1:UgoSli3F/pBgdJBHCTc+tp3gmrU4XswgGRgtnwWTfyM=
+golang.org/x/sync v0.20.0 h1:e0PTpb7pjO8GAtTs2dQ6jYa5BWYlMuX047Dco/pItO4=
+golang.org/x/sync v0.20.0/go.mod h1:9xrNwdLfx4jkKbNva9FpL6vEN7evnE43NNNJQ2LF3+0=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.6.0/go.mod h1:oPkhp1MJrh7nUepCBck5+mAzfO9JrbApNNgaTdGDITg=
-golang.org/x/sys v0.38.0 h1:3yZWxaJjBmCWXqhN1qh02AkOnCQ1poK6oF+a7xWL6Gc=
-golang.org/x/sys v0.38.0/go.mod h1:OgkHotnGiDImocRcuBABYBEXf8A9a87e/uXjp9XT3ks=
-golang.org/x/text v0.31.0 h1:aC8ghyu4JhP8VojJ2lEHBnochRno1sgL6nEi9WGFGMM=
-golang.org/x/text v0.31.0/go.mod h1:tKRAlv61yKIjGGHX/4tP1LTbc13YSec1pxVEWXzfoeM=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.41.0 h1:Ivj+2Cp/ylzLiEU89QhWblYnOE9zerudt9Ftecq2C6k=
+golang.org/x/sys v0.41.0/go.mod h1:OgkHotnGiDImocRcuBABYBEXf8A9a87e/uXjp9XT3ks=
+golang.org/x/text v0.35.0 h1:JOVx6vVDFokkpaq1AEptVzLTpDe9KGpj5tR4/X+ybL8=
+golang.org/x/text v0.35.0/go.mod h1:khi/HExzZJ2pGnjenulevKNX1W67CUy0AsXcNubPGCA=
+golang.org/x/tools v0.42.0 h1:uNgphsn75Tdz5Ji2q36v/nsFSfR/9BRFvqhGBaJGd5k=
+golang.org/x/tools v0.42.0/go.mod h1:Ma6lCIwGZvHK6XtgbswSoWroEkhugApmsXyrUmBhfr0=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
 gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1 v1.0.0-20160211212156-b2cb9fa56473 h1:6D+BvnJ/j6e222UW8s2qTSe3wGBtvo0MbVQG/c5k8RE=
 gopkg.in/op/go-logging.v1 v1.0.0-20160211212156-b2cb9fa56473/go.mod h1:N1eN2tsCx0Ydtgjl4cqmbRCsY4/+z4cYDeqwZTk6zog=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c h1:dUUwHk2QECo/6vqA44rthZ8ie2QXMNeKRTHCNY2nXvo=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1 h1:fxVm/GzAzEWqLHuvctI91KS9hhNmmWOoWu0XTYJS7CA=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=

go_install_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"testing"
+
+	"golang.org/x/mod/module"
+	"golang.org/x/mod/zip"
+)
+
+// TestGoInstallCompatibility ensures the module can be zipped for go install.
+// This is an integration test that uses the same zip.CreateFromDir function
+// that go install uses internally. If this test fails, go install will fail.
+// See: https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/issues/2587
+func TestGoInstallCompatibility(t *testing.T) {
+	mod := module.Version{
+		Path:    "github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4",
+		Version: "v4.0.0", // the actual version doesn't matter for validation
+	}
+
+	if err := zip.CreateFromDir(io.Discard, mod, "."); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Module cannot be zipped for go install: %v", err)
+	}
+}

how-it-works.md

@@ -1,8 +1,63 @@
-# How it works
+# Expression Syntax: A Visual Guide
+In `yq`, expressions are made up of operators and pipes. A context of nodes is passed through the expression, and each operation takes the context as input and returns a new context as output. That output is piped in as input for the next operation in the expression.
 
-In `yq` expressions are made up of operators and pipes. A context of nodes is passed through the expression and each operation takes the context as input and returns a new context as output. That output is piped in as input for the next operation in the expression. To begin with, the context is set to the first yaml document of the first yaml file (if processing in sequence using eval).
+Let's break down the process step by step using a diagram. We'll start with a single YAML document, apply an expression, and observe how the context changes at each step.
 
-Lets look at a couple of examples.
+Given a document like:
+
+```yaml
+root:
+  items:
+    - name: apple
+      type: fruit
+    - name: carrot
+      type: vegetable
+    - name: banana
+      type: fruit
+```
+
+You can use dot notation to access nested structures. For example, to access the `name` of the first item, you would use the expression `.root.items[0].name`, which would return `apple`.
+
+But lets see how we could find all the fruit under `items`
+
+## Step 1: Initial Context
+The context starts at the root of the YAML document. In this case, the entire document is the initial context. 
+
+```
+root
+└── items
+    ├── name: apple
+    │   type: fruit
+    ├── name: carrot
+    │   type: vegetable
+    └── name: banana
+        type: fruit
+```
+
+## Step 2: Splatting the Array
+Using the expression `.root.items[]`, we "splat" the items array. This means each element of the array becomes its own node in the context:
+
+```
+Node 1: { name: apple, type: fruit }
+Node 2: { name: carrot, type: vegetable }
+Node 3: { name: banana, type: fruit }
+```
+
+## Step 3: Filtering the Nodes
+Next, we apply a filter to select only the nodes where type is fruit. The expression `.root.items[] | select(.type == "fruit")` filters the nodes:
+
+```
+Filtered Node 1: { name: apple, type: fruit }
+Filtered Node 2: { name: banana, type: fruit }
+```
+
+## Step 4: Extracting a Field
+Finally, we extract the name field from the filtered nodes using `.root.items[] | select(.type == "fruit") | .name` This results in:
+
+```
+apple
+banana
+```
 
 ## Simple assignment example
 
@@ -44,7 +99,6 @@ a: dog
 b: dog
 ```
 
-
 ## Complex assignment, operator precedence rules
 
 Just like math expressions - `yq` expressions have an order of precedence. The pipe `|` operator has a low order of precedence, so operators with higher precedence will get evaluated first. 
@@ -73,7 +127,7 @@ name: sally
 fruit: mango
 ```
 
-To properly update this yaml, you will need to use brackets (think BODMAS from maths) and wrap the entire LHS:
+**Important**: To properly update this YAML, you must wrap the entire LHS in parentheses. Think of it like using brackets in math to ensure the correct order of operations.
 `(.[] | select(.name == "sally") | .fruit) = "mango"`
 
 
@@ -126,4 +180,4 @@ The assignment operator then copies across the value from the RHS to the value o
 ```yaml
 a: 2
 b: thing
-```
+```

pkg/yqlib/candidate_node.go

@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ type CandidateNode struct {
 	// (e.g. top level cross document merge). This property does not propagate to child nodes.
 	EvaluateTogether bool
 	IsMapKey         bool
+	// For formats like HCL and TOML: indicates that child entries should be emitted as separate blocks/tables
+	// rather than consolidated into nested mappings (default behaviour)
+	EncodeSeparate bool
 }
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) CreateChild() *CandidateNode {
@@ -277,7 +280,7 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) AddChild(rawChild *CandidateNode) {
 
 func (n *CandidateNode) AddChildren(children []*CandidateNode) {
 	if n.Kind == MappingNode {
-		for i := 0; i < len(children); i += 2 {
+		for i := 0; i < len(children)-1; i += 2 {
 			key := children[i]
 			value := children[i+1]
 			n.AddKeyValueChild(key, value)
@@ -407,6 +410,8 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) doCopy(cloneContent bool) *CandidateNode {
 
 		EvaluateTogether: n.EvaluateTogether,
 		IsMapKey:         n.IsMapKey,
+
+		EncodeSeparate: n.EncodeSeparate,
 	}
 
 	if cloneContent {
@@ -460,6 +465,9 @@ func (n *CandidateNode) UpdateAttributesFrom(other *CandidateNode, prefs assignP
 		n.Anchor = other.Anchor
 	}
 
+	// Preserve EncodeSeparate flag for format-specific encoding hints
+	n.EncodeSeparate = other.EncodeSeparate
+
 	// merge will pickup the style of the new thing
 	// when autocreating nodes
 

pkg/yqlib/decoder_hcl.go

@@ -0,0 +1,471 @@
+//go:build !yq_nohcl
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"math/big"
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2/hclsyntax"
+	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty"
+)
+
+type hclDecoder struct {
+	file          *hcl.File
+	fileBytes     []byte
+	readAnything  bool
+	documentIndex uint
+}
+
+func NewHclDecoder() Decoder {
+	return &hclDecoder{}
+}
+
+// sortedAttributes returns attributes in declaration order by source position
+func sortedAttributes(attrs hclsyntax.Attributes) []*attributeWithName {
+	var sorted []*attributeWithName
+	for name, attr := range attrs {
+		sorted = append(sorted, &attributeWithName{Name: name, Attr: attr})
+	}
+	sort.Slice(sorted, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return sorted[i].Attr.Range().Start.Byte < sorted[j].Attr.Range().Start.Byte
+	})
+	return sorted
+}
+
+type attributeWithName struct {
+	Name string
+	Attr *hclsyntax.Attribute
+}
+
+// extractLineComment extracts any inline comment after the given position
+func extractLineComment(src []byte, endPos int) string {
+	// Look for # comment after the token
+	for i := endPos; i < len(src); i++ {
+		if src[i] == '#' {
+			// Found comment, extract until end of line
+			start := i
+			for i < len(src) && src[i] != '\n' {
+				i++
+			}
+			return strings.TrimSpace(string(src[start:i]))
+		}
+		if src[i] == '\n' {
+			// Hit newline before comment
+			break
+		}
+		// Skip whitespace and other characters
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// extractHeadComment extracts comments before a given start position
+func extractHeadComment(src []byte, startPos int) string {
+	var comments []string
+
+	// Start just before the token and skip trailing whitespace
+	i := startPos - 1
+	for i >= 0 && (src[i] == ' ' || src[i] == '\t' || src[i] == '\n' || src[i] == '\r') {
+		i--
+	}
+
+	for i >= 0 {
+		// Find line boundaries
+		lineEnd := i
+		for i >= 0 && src[i] != '\n' {
+			i--
+		}
+		lineStart := i + 1
+
+		line := strings.TrimRight(string(src[lineStart:lineEnd+1]), " \t\r")
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+
+		if trimmed == "" {
+			break
+		}
+
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "#") {
+			break
+		}
+
+		comments = append([]string{trimmed}, comments...)
+
+		// Move to previous line (skip any whitespace/newlines)
+		i = lineStart - 1
+		for i >= 0 && (src[i] == ' ' || src[i] == '\t' || src[i] == '\n' || src[i] == '\r') {
+			i--
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(comments) > 0 {
+		return strings.Join(comments, "\n")
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+func (dec *hclDecoder) Init(reader io.Reader) error {
+	data, err := io.ReadAll(reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	file, diags := hclsyntax.ParseConfig(data, "input.hcl", hcl.Pos{Line: 1, Column: 1})
+	if diags != nil && diags.HasErrors() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("hcl parse error: %w", diags)
+	}
+	dec.file = file
+	dec.fileBytes = data
+	dec.readAnything = false
+	dec.documentIndex = 0
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (dec *hclDecoder) Decode() (*CandidateNode, error) {
+	if dec.readAnything {
+		return nil, io.EOF
+	}
+	dec.readAnything = true
+
+	if dec.file == nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no hcl file parsed")
+	}
+
+	root := &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}
+
+	// process attributes in declaration order
+	body := dec.file.Body.(*hclsyntax.Body)
+	firstAttr := true
+	for _, attrWithName := range sortedAttributes(body.Attributes) {
+		keyNode := createStringScalarNode(attrWithName.Name)
+		valNode := convertHclExprToNode(attrWithName.Attr.Expr, dec.fileBytes)
+
+		// Attach comments if any
+		attrRange := attrWithName.Attr.Range()
+		headComment := extractHeadComment(dec.fileBytes, attrRange.Start.Byte)
+		if firstAttr && headComment != "" {
+			// For the first attribute, apply its head comment to the root
+			root.HeadComment = headComment
+			firstAttr = false
+		} else if headComment != "" {
+			keyNode.HeadComment = headComment
+		}
+		if lineComment := extractLineComment(dec.fileBytes, attrRange.End.Byte); lineComment != "" {
+			valNode.LineComment = lineComment
+		}
+
+		root.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valNode)
+	}
+
+	// process blocks
+	// Count blocks by type at THIS level to detect multiple separate blocks
+	blocksByType := make(map[string]int)
+	for _, block := range body.Blocks {
+		blocksByType[block.Type]++
+	}
+
+	for _, block := range body.Blocks {
+		addBlockToMapping(root, block, dec.fileBytes, blocksByType[block.Type] > 1)
+	}
+
+	dec.documentIndex++
+	root.document = dec.documentIndex - 1
+	return root, nil
+}
+
+func hclBodyToNode(body *hclsyntax.Body, src []byte) *CandidateNode {
+	node := &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}
+	for _, attrWithName := range sortedAttributes(body.Attributes) {
+		key := createStringScalarNode(attrWithName.Name)
+		val := convertHclExprToNode(attrWithName.Attr.Expr, src)
+
+		// Attach comments if any
+		attrRange := attrWithName.Attr.Range()
+		if headComment := extractHeadComment(src, attrRange.Start.Byte); headComment != "" {
+			key.HeadComment = headComment
+		}
+		if lineComment := extractLineComment(src, attrRange.End.Byte); lineComment != "" {
+			val.LineComment = lineComment
+		}
+
+		node.AddKeyValueChild(key, val)
+	}
+
+	// Process nested blocks, counting blocks by type at THIS level
+	// to detect which block types appear multiple times
+	blocksByType := make(map[string]int)
+	for _, block := range body.Blocks {
+		blocksByType[block.Type]++
+	}
+
+	for _, block := range body.Blocks {
+		addBlockToMapping(node, block, src, blocksByType[block.Type] > 1)
+	}
+	return node
+}
+
+// addBlockToMapping nests block type and labels into the parent mapping, merging children.
+// isMultipleBlocksOfType indicates if there are multiple blocks of this type at THIS level
+func addBlockToMapping(parent *CandidateNode, block *hclsyntax.Block, src []byte, isMultipleBlocksOfType bool) {
+	bodyNode := hclBodyToNode(block.Body, src)
+	current := parent
+
+	// ensure block type mapping exists
+	var typeNode *CandidateNode
+	for i := 0; i < len(current.Content); i += 2 {
+		if current.Content[i].Value == block.Type {
+			typeNode = current.Content[i+1]
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	if typeNode == nil {
+		_, typeNode = current.AddKeyValueChild(createStringScalarNode(block.Type), &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode})
+		// Mark the type node if there are multiple blocks of this type at this level
+		// This tells the encoder to emit them as separate blocks rather than consolidating them
+		if isMultipleBlocksOfType {
+			typeNode.EncodeSeparate = true
+		}
+	}
+	current = typeNode
+
+	// walk labels, creating/merging mappings
+	for _, label := range block.Labels {
+		var next *CandidateNode
+		for i := 0; i < len(current.Content); i += 2 {
+			if current.Content[i].Value == label {
+				next = current.Content[i+1]
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if next == nil {
+			_, next = current.AddKeyValueChild(createStringScalarNode(label), &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode})
+		}
+		current = next
+	}
+
+	// merge body attributes/blocks into the final mapping
+	for i := 0; i < len(bodyNode.Content); i += 2 {
+		current.AddKeyValueChild(bodyNode.Content[i], bodyNode.Content[i+1])
+	}
+}
+
+func convertHclExprToNode(expr hclsyntax.Expression, src []byte) *CandidateNode {
+	// handle literal values directly
+	switch e := expr.(type) {
+	case *hclsyntax.LiteralValueExpr:
+		v := e.Val
+		if v.IsNull() {
+			return createScalarNode(nil, "")
+		}
+		switch {
+		case v.Type().Equals(cty.String):
+			// prefer to extract exact source (to avoid extra quoting) when available
+			// Prefer the actual cty string value
+			s := v.AsString()
+			node := createScalarNode(s, s)
+			// Don't set style for regular quoted strings - let YAML handle naturally
+			return node
+		case v.Type().Equals(cty.Bool):
+			b := v.True()
+			return createScalarNode(b, strconv.FormatBool(b))
+		case v.Type() == cty.Number:
+			// prefer integers when the numeric value is integral
+			bf := v.AsBigFloat()
+			if bf == nil {
+				// fallback to string
+				return createStringScalarNode(v.GoString())
+			}
+			// check if bf represents an exact integer
+			if intVal, acc := bf.Int(nil); acc == big.Exact {
+				s := intVal.String()
+				return createScalarNode(intVal.Int64(), s)
+			}
+			s := bf.Text('g', -1)
+			return createScalarNode(0.0, s)
+		case v.Type().IsTupleType() || v.Type().IsListType() || v.Type().IsSetType():
+			seq := &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode}
+			it := v.ElementIterator()
+			for it.Next() {
+				_, val := it.Element()
+				// convert cty.Value to a node by wrapping in literal expr via string representation
+				child := convertCtyValueToNode(val)
+				seq.AddChild(child)
+			}
+			return seq
+		case v.Type().IsMapType() || v.Type().IsObjectType():
+			m := &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}
+			it := v.ElementIterator()
+			for it.Next() {
+				key, val := it.Element()
+				keyStr := key.AsString()
+				keyNode := createStringScalarNode(keyStr)
+				valNode := convertCtyValueToNode(val)
+				m.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valNode)
+			}
+			return m
+		default:
+			// fallback to string
+			s := v.GoString()
+			return createStringScalarNode(s)
+		}
+	case *hclsyntax.TupleConsExpr:
+		// parse tuple/list into YAML sequence
+		seq := &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode}
+		for _, exprVal := range e.Exprs {
+			child := convertHclExprToNode(exprVal, src)
+			seq.AddChild(child)
+		}
+		return seq
+	case *hclsyntax.ObjectConsExpr:
+		// parse object into YAML mapping
+		m := &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}
+		m.Style = FlowStyle // Mark as inline object (flow style) for encoder
+		for _, item := range e.Items {
+			// evaluate key expression to get the key string
+			keyVal, keyDiags := item.KeyExpr.Value(nil)
+			if keyDiags != nil && keyDiags.HasErrors() {
+				// fallback: try to extract key from source
+				r := item.KeyExpr.Range()
+				start := r.Start.Byte
+				end := r.End.Byte
+				if start >= 0 && end >= start && end <= len(src) {
+					keyNode := createStringScalarNode(strings.TrimSpace(string(src[start:end])))
+					valNode := convertHclExprToNode(item.ValueExpr, src)
+					m.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valNode)
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+			keyStr := keyVal.AsString()
+			keyNode := createStringScalarNode(keyStr)
+			valNode := convertHclExprToNode(item.ValueExpr, src)
+			m.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valNode)
+		}
+		return m
+	case *hclsyntax.TemplateExpr:
+		// Reconstruct template string, preserving ${} syntax for interpolations
+		var parts []string
+		for _, p := range e.Parts {
+			switch lp := p.(type) {
+			case *hclsyntax.LiteralValueExpr:
+				if lp.Val.Type().Equals(cty.String) {
+					parts = append(parts, lp.Val.AsString())
+				} else {
+					parts = append(parts, lp.Val.GoString())
+				}
+			default:
+				// Non-literal expression - reconstruct with ${} wrapper
+				r := p.Range()
+				start := r.Start.Byte
+				end := r.End.Byte
+				if start >= 0 && end >= start && end <= len(src) {
+					exprText := string(src[start:end])
+					parts = append(parts, "${"+exprText+"}")
+				} else {
+					parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("${%v}", p))
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		combined := strings.Join(parts, "")
+		node := createScalarNode(combined, combined)
+		// Set DoubleQuotedStyle for all templates (which includes all quoted strings in HCL)
+		// This ensures HCL roundtrips preserve quotes, and YAML properly quotes strings with ${}
+		node.Style = DoubleQuotedStyle
+		return node
+	case *hclsyntax.ScopeTraversalExpr:
+		// Simple identifier/traversal (e.g. unquoted string literal in HCL)
+		r := e.Range()
+		start := r.Start.Byte
+		end := r.End.Byte
+		if start >= 0 && end >= start && end <= len(src) {
+			text := strings.TrimSpace(string(src[start:end]))
+			return createStringScalarNode(text)
+		}
+		// Fallback to root name if source unavailable
+		if len(e.Traversal) > 0 {
+			if root, ok := e.Traversal[0].(hcl.TraverseRoot); ok {
+				return createStringScalarNode(root.Name)
+			}
+		}
+		return createStringScalarNode("")
+	case *hclsyntax.FunctionCallExpr:
+		// Preserve function calls as raw expressions for roundtrip
+		r := e.Range()
+		start := r.Start.Byte
+		end := r.End.Byte
+		if start >= 0 && end >= start && end <= len(src) {
+			text := strings.TrimSpace(string(src[start:end]))
+			node := createStringScalarNode(text)
+			node.Style = 0
+			return node
+		}
+		node := createStringScalarNode(e.Name)
+		node.Style = 0
+		return node
+	default:
+		// try to evaluate the expression (handles unary, binary ops, etc.)
+		val, diags := expr.Value(nil)
+		if diags == nil || !diags.HasErrors() {
+			// successfully evaluated, convert cty.Value to node
+			return convertCtyValueToNode(val)
+		}
+		// fallback: extract source text for the expression
+		r := expr.Range()
+		start := r.Start.Byte
+		end := r.End.Byte
+		if start >= 0 && end >= start && end <= len(src) {
+			text := string(src[start:end])
+			// Mark as unquoted expression so encoder emits without quoting
+			node := createStringScalarNode(text)
+			node.Style = 0
+			return node
+		}
+		return createStringScalarNode(fmt.Sprintf("%v", expr))
+	}
+}
+
+func convertCtyValueToNode(v cty.Value) *CandidateNode {
+	if v.IsNull() {
+		return createScalarNode(nil, "")
+	}
+	switch {
+	case v.Type().Equals(cty.String):
+		return createScalarNode("", v.AsString())
+	case v.Type().Equals(cty.Bool):
+		b := v.True()
+		return createScalarNode(b, strconv.FormatBool(b))
+	case v.Type() == cty.Number:
+		bf := v.AsBigFloat()
+		if bf == nil {
+			return createStringScalarNode(v.GoString())
+		}
+		if intVal, acc := bf.Int(nil); acc == big.Exact {
+			s := intVal.String()
+			return createScalarNode(intVal.Int64(), s)
+		}
+		s := bf.Text('g', -1)
+		return createScalarNode(0.0, s)
+	case v.Type().IsTupleType() || v.Type().IsListType() || v.Type().IsSetType():
+		seq := &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode}
+		it := v.ElementIterator()
+		for it.Next() {
+			_, val := it.Element()
+			seq.AddChild(convertCtyValueToNode(val))
+		}
+		return seq
+	case v.Type().IsMapType() || v.Type().IsObjectType():
+		m := &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}
+		it := v.ElementIterator()
+		for it.Next() {
+			key, val := it.Element()
+			keyNode := createStringScalarNode(key.AsString())
+			valNode := convertCtyValueToNode(val)
+			m.AddKeyValueChild(keyNode, valNode)
+		}
+		return m
+	default:
+		return createStringScalarNode(v.GoString())
+	}
+}

pkg/yqlib/decoder_ini.go

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ type iniDecoder struct {
 
 func NewINIDecoder() Decoder {
 	return &iniDecoder{
-		finished: false, // Initialize the flag as false
+		finished: false, // Initialise the flag as false
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/decoder_toml.go

@@ -8,16 +8,19 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	toml "github.com/pelletier/go-toml/v2/unstable"
 )
 
 type tomlDecoder struct {
-	parser   toml.Parser
-	finished bool
-	d        DataTreeNavigator
-	rootMap  *CandidateNode
+	parser           toml.Parser
+	finished         bool
+	d                DataTreeNavigator
+	rootMap          *CandidateNode
+	pendingComments  []string // Head comments collected from Comment nodes
+	firstContentSeen bool     // Track if we've processed the first non-comment node
 }
 
 func NewTomlDecoder() Decoder {
@@ -28,7 +31,7 @@ func NewTomlDecoder() Decoder {
 }
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) Init(reader io.Reader) error {
-	dec.parser = toml.Parser{}
+	dec.parser = toml.Parser{KeepComments: true}
 	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	_, err := buf.ReadFrom(reader)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -39,9 +42,23 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) Init(reader io.Reader) error {
 		Kind: MappingNode,
 		Tag:  "!!map",
 	}
+	dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
+	dec.firstContentSeen = false
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (dec *tomlDecoder) attachOrphanedCommentsToNode(tableNodeValue *CandidateNode) {
+	if len(dec.pendingComments) > 0 {
+		comments := strings.Join(dec.pendingComments, "\n")
+		if tableNodeValue.HeadComment == "" {
+			tableNodeValue.HeadComment = comments
+		} else {
+			tableNodeValue.HeadComment = tableNodeValue.HeadComment + "\n" + comments
+		}
+		dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
+	}
+}
+
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) getFullPath(tomlNode *toml.Node) []interface{} {
 	path := make([]interface{}, 0)
 	for {
@@ -56,13 +73,24 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) getFullPath(tomlNode *toml.Node) []interface{} {
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) processKeyValueIntoMap(rootMap *CandidateNode, tomlNode *toml.Node) error {
 	value := tomlNode.Value()
 	path := dec.getFullPath(value.Next())
-	log.Debug("processKeyValueIntoMap: %v", path)
 
 	valueNode, err := dec.decodeNode(value)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Attach pending head comments
+	if len(dec.pendingComments) > 0 {
+		valueNode.HeadComment = strings.Join(dec.pendingComments, "\n")
+		dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
+	}
+
+	// Check for inline comment chained to the KeyValue node
+	nextNode := tomlNode.Next()
+	if nextNode != nil && nextNode.Kind == toml.Comment {
+		valueNode.LineComment = string(nextNode.Data)
+	}
+
 	context := Context{}
 	context = context.SingleChildContext(rootMap)
 
@@ -79,11 +107,15 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(rootMap *CandidateNode, tomlNode
 		nextItem := dec.parser.Expression()
 		log.Debug("decodeKeyValuesIntoMap -- next exp, its a %v", nextItem.Kind)
 
-		if nextItem.Kind == toml.KeyValue {
+		switch nextItem.Kind {
+		case toml.KeyValue:
 			if err := dec.processKeyValueIntoMap(rootMap, nextItem); err != nil {
 				return false, err
 			}
-		} else {
+		case toml.Comment:
+			// Standalone comment - add to pending for next element
+			dec.pendingComments = append(dec.pendingComments, string(nextItem.Data))
+		default:
 			// run out of key values
 			log.Debug("done in decodeKeyValuesIntoMap, gota a %v", nextItem.Kind)
 			return true, nil
@@ -125,13 +157,30 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) createInlineTableMap(tomlNode *toml.Node) (*CandidateNod
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) createArray(tomlNode *toml.Node) (*CandidateNode, error) {
 	content := make([]*CandidateNode, 0)
+	var pendingArrayComments []string
+
 	iterator := tomlNode.Children()
 	for iterator.Next() {
 		child := iterator.Node()
+
+		// Handle comments within arrays
+		if child.Kind == toml.Comment {
+			// Collect comments to attach to the next array element
+			pendingArrayComments = append(pendingArrayComments, string(child.Data))
+			continue
+		}
+
 		yamlNode, err := dec.decodeNode(child)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+
+		// Attach any pending comments to this array element
+		if len(pendingArrayComments) > 0 {
+			yamlNode.HeadComment = strings.Join(pendingArrayComments, "\n")
+			pendingArrayComments = make([]string, 0)
+		}
+
 		content = append(content, yamlNode)
 	}
 
@@ -250,11 +299,29 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTopLevelNode(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error
 	var err error
 	log.Debug("processTopLevelNode: Going to process %v state is current %v", currentNode.Kind, NodeToString(dec.rootMap))
 	switch currentNode.Kind {
+	case toml.Comment:
+		// Collect comment to attach to next element
+		commentText := string(currentNode.Data)
+		// If we haven't seen any content yet, accumulate comments for root
+		if !dec.firstContentSeen {
+			if dec.rootMap.HeadComment == "" {
+				dec.rootMap.HeadComment = commentText
+			} else {
+				dec.rootMap.HeadComment = dec.rootMap.HeadComment + "\n" + commentText
+			}
+		} else {
+			// We've seen content, so these comments are for the next element
+			dec.pendingComments = append(dec.pendingComments, commentText)
+		}
+		return false, nil
 	case toml.Table:
+		dec.firstContentSeen = true
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.processTable(currentNode)
 	case toml.ArrayTable:
+		dec.firstContentSeen = true
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.processArrayTable(currentNode)
 	default:
+		dec.firstContentSeen = true
 		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(dec.rootMap, currentNode)
 	}
 
@@ -264,7 +331,8 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTopLevelNode(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 	log.Debug("Enter processTable")
-	fullPath := dec.getFullPath(currentNode.Child())
+	child := currentNode.Child()
+	fullPath := dec.getFullPath(child)
 	log.Debug("fullpath: %v", fullPath)
 
 	c := Context{}
@@ -276,27 +344,53 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 	}
 
 	tableNodeValue := &CandidateNode{
-		Kind:    MappingNode,
-		Tag:     "!!map",
-		Content: make([]*CandidateNode, 0),
+		Kind:           MappingNode,
+		Tag:            "!!map",
+		Content:        make([]*CandidateNode, 0),
+		EncodeSeparate: true,
+	}
+
+	// Attach pending head comments to the table
+	if len(dec.pendingComments) > 0 {
+		tableNodeValue.HeadComment = strings.Join(dec.pendingComments, "\n")
+		dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
 	}
 
 	var tableValue *toml.Node
 	runAgainstCurrentExp := false
-	hasValue := dec.parser.NextExpression()
-	// check to see if there is any table data
-	if hasValue {
+	sawKeyValue := false
+	for dec.parser.NextExpression() {
 		tableValue = dec.parser.Expression()
-		// next expression is not table data, so we are done
-		if tableValue.Kind != toml.KeyValue {
-			log.Debug("got an empty table")
-			runAgainstCurrentExp = true
-		} else {
-			runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(tableNodeValue, tableValue)
-			if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-				return false, err
-			}
+		// Allow standalone comments inside the table before the first key-value.
+		// These should be associated with the next element in the table (usually the first key-value),
+		// not treated as "end of table" (which would cause subsequent key-values to be parsed at root).
+		if tableValue.Kind == toml.Comment {
+			dec.pendingComments = append(dec.pendingComments, string(tableValue.Data))
+			continue
 		}
+
+		// next expression is not table data, so we are done (but we need to re-process it at top-level)
+		if tableValue.Kind != toml.KeyValue {
+			log.Debug("got an empty table (or reached next section)")
+			// If the table had only comments, attach them to the table itself so they don't leak to the next node.
+			if !sawKeyValue {
+				dec.attachOrphanedCommentsToNode(tableNodeValue)
+			}
+			runAgainstCurrentExp = true
+			break
+		}
+
+		sawKeyValue = true
+		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(tableNodeValue, tableValue)
+		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+			return false, err
+		}
+		break
+	}
+	// If we hit EOF after only seeing comments inside this table, attach them to the table itself
+	// so they don't leak to whatever comes next.
+	if !sawKeyValue {
+		dec.attachOrphanedCommentsToNode(tableNodeValue)
 	}
 
 	err = dec.d.DeeplyAssign(c, fullPath, tableNodeValue)
@@ -330,7 +424,8 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) arrayAppend(context Context, path []interface{}, rhsNode
 
 func (dec *tomlDecoder) processArrayTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error) {
 	log.Debug("Enter processArrayTable")
-	fullPath := dec.getFullPath(currentNode.Child())
+	child := currentNode.Child()
+	fullPath := dec.getFullPath(child)
 	log.Debug("Fullpath: %v", fullPath)
 
 	c := Context{}
@@ -346,23 +441,64 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processArrayTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error)
 	hasValue := dec.parser.NextExpression()
 
 	tableNodeValue := &CandidateNode{
-		Kind: MappingNode,
-		Tag:  "!!map",
+		Kind:           MappingNode,
+		Tag:            "!!map",
+		EncodeSeparate: true,
 	}
+
+	// Attach pending head comments to the array table
+	if len(dec.pendingComments) > 0 {
+		tableNodeValue.HeadComment = strings.Join(dec.pendingComments, "\n")
+		dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
+	}
+
 	runAgainstCurrentExp := false
-	// if the next value is a ArrayTable or Table, then its not part of this declaration (not a key value pair)
-	// so lets leave that expression for the next round of parsing
-	if hasValue && (dec.parser.Expression().Kind == toml.ArrayTable || dec.parser.Expression().Kind == toml.Table) {
-		runAgainstCurrentExp = true
-	} else if hasValue {
-		// otherwise, if there is a value, it must be some key value pairs of the
-		// first object in the array!
-		tableValue := dec.parser.Expression()
-		runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(tableNodeValue, tableValue)
-		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-			return false, err
+	sawKeyValue := false
+	if hasValue {
+		for {
+			exp := dec.parser.Expression()
+			// Allow standalone comments inside array tables before the first key-value.
+			if exp.Kind == toml.Comment {
+				dec.pendingComments = append(dec.pendingComments, string(exp.Data))
+				hasValue = dec.parser.NextExpression()
+				if !hasValue {
+					break
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+
+			// if the next value is a ArrayTable or Table, then its not part of this declaration (not a key value pair)
+			// so lets leave that expression for the next round of parsing
+			if exp.Kind == toml.ArrayTable || exp.Kind == toml.Table {
+				// If this array-table entry had only comments, attach them to the entry so they don't leak.
+				if !sawKeyValue {
+					dec.attachOrphanedCommentsToNode(tableNodeValue)
+				}
+				runAgainstCurrentExp = true
+				break
+			}
+
+			sawKeyValue = true
+			// otherwise, if there is a value, it must be some key value pairs of the
+			// first object in the array!
+			runAgainstCurrentExp, err = dec.decodeKeyValuesIntoMap(tableNodeValue, exp)
+			if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+				return false, err
+			}
+			break
 		}
 	}
+	// If we hit EOF after only seeing comments inside this array-table entry, attach them to the entry
+	// so they don't leak to whatever comes next.
+	if !sawKeyValue && len(dec.pendingComments) > 0 {
+		comments := strings.Join(dec.pendingComments, "\n")
+		if tableNodeValue.HeadComment == "" {
+			tableNodeValue.HeadComment = comments
+		} else {
+			tableNodeValue.HeadComment = tableNodeValue.HeadComment + "\n" + comments
+		}
+		dec.pendingComments = make([]string, 0)
+	}
 
 	// += function
 	err = dec.arrayAppend(c, fullPath, tableNodeValue)
@@ -375,23 +511,42 @@ func (dec *tomlDecoder) processArrayTable(currentNode *toml.Node) (bool, error)
 // Because TOML. So we'll inject the last index into the path.
 
 func getPathToUse(fullPath []interface{}, dec *tomlDecoder, c Context) ([]interface{}, error) {
-	pathToCheck := fullPath
-	if len(fullPath) >= 1 {
-		pathToCheck = fullPath[:len(fullPath)-1]
-	}
-	readOp := createTraversalTree(pathToCheck, traversePreferences{DontAutoCreate: true}, false)
+	// We need to check the entire path (except the last element), not just the immediate parent,
+	// because we may have nested array tables like [[array.subarray.subsubarray]]
+	// where both 'array' and 'subarray' are arrays that already exist.
 
-	resultContext, err := dec.d.GetMatchingNodes(c, readOp)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	if len(fullPath) == 0 {
+		return fullPath, nil
 	}
-	if resultContext.MatchingNodes.Len() >= 1 {
-		match := resultContext.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode)
-		// path refers to an array, we need to add this to the last element in the array
-		if match.Kind == SequenceNode {
-			fullPath = append(pathToCheck, len(match.Content)-1, fullPath[len(fullPath)-1])
-			log.Debugf("Adding to end of %v array, using path: %v", pathToCheck, fullPath)
+
+	resultPath := make([]interface{}, 0, len(fullPath)*2) // preallocate with extra space for indices
+
+	// Process all segments except the last one
+	for i := 0; i < len(fullPath)-1; i++ {
+		resultPath = append(resultPath, fullPath[i])
+
+		// Check if the current path segment points to an array
+		readOp := createTraversalTree(resultPath, traversePreferences{DontAutoCreate: true}, false)
+		resultContext, err := dec.d.GetMatchingNodes(c, readOp)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+
+		if resultContext.MatchingNodes.Len() >= 1 {
+			match := resultContext.MatchingNodes.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode)
+			// If this segment points to an array, we need to add the last index
+			// before continuing with the rest of the path
+			if match.Kind == SequenceNode && len(match.Content) > 0 {
+				lastIndex := len(match.Content) - 1
+				resultPath = append(resultPath, lastIndex)
+				log.Debugf("Path segment %v is an array, injecting index %d", resultPath[:len(resultPath)-1], lastIndex)
+			}
 		}
 	}
-	return fullPath, err
+
+	// Add the last segment
+	resultPath = append(resultPath, fullPath[len(fullPath)-1])
+
+	log.Debugf("getPathToUse: original path %v -> result path %v", fullPath, resultPath)
+	return resultPath, nil
 }

pkg/yqlib/decoder_uri_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+//go:build !yq_nouri
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"io"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+)
+
+func TestUriDecoder_Init(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("test")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeSimpleString(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("hello%20world")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "!!str", node.Tag)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "hello world", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeSpecialCharacters(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("hello%21%40%23%24%25")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "hello!@#$%", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeUTF8(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("%E2%9C%93%20check")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "✓ check", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodePlusSign(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("a+b")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	// Note: url.QueryUnescape does NOT convert + to space
+	// That's only for form encoding (url.ParseQuery)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "a b", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeEmptyString(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", node.Value)
+
+	// Second decode should return EOF
+	node, err = decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, io.EOF, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, (*CandidateNode)(nil), node)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeMultipleCalls(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("test")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	// First decode
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "test", node.Value)
+
+	// Second decode should return EOF since we've consumed all input
+	node, err = decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, io.EOF, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, (*CandidateNode)(nil), node)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeInvalidEscape(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("test%ZZ")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	_, err = decoder.Decode()
+	// Should return an error for invalid escape sequence
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("Expected error for invalid escape sequence, got nil")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeSlashAndQuery(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("path%2Fto%2Ffile%3Fquery%3Dvalue")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "path/to/file?query=value", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodePercent(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("100%25")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "100%", node.Value)
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeNoEscaping(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	reader := strings.NewReader("simple_text-123")
+	err := decoder.Init(reader)
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	node, err := decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "simple_text-123", node.Value)
+}
+
+// Mock reader that returns an error
+type errorReader struct{}
+
+func (e *errorReader) Read(_ []byte) (n int, err error) {
+	return 0, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
+}
+
+func TestUriDecoder_DecodeReadError(t *testing.T) {
+	decoder := NewUriDecoder()
+	err := decoder.Init(&errorReader{})
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+
+	_, err = decoder.Decode()
+	test.AssertResult(t, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF, err)
+}

pkg/yqlib/decoder_yaml.go

@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ import (
 	yaml "go.yaml.in/yaml/v4"
 )
 
+var (
+	commentLineRe       = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*#`)
+	yamlDirectiveLineRe = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*%YAML`)
+	separatorLineRe     = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*---\s*$`)
+	separatorPrefixRe   = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*---\s+`)
+)
+
 type yamlDecoder struct {
 	decoder yaml.Decoder
 
@@ -33,51 +40,72 @@ func NewYamlDecoder(prefs YamlPreferences) Decoder {
 }
 
 func (dec *yamlDecoder) processReadStream(reader *bufio.Reader) (io.Reader, string, error) {
-	var commentLineRegEx = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*#`)
-	var yamlDirectiveLineRegEx = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*%YA`)
 	var sb strings.Builder
+
 	for {
-		peekBytes, err := reader.Peek(4)
-		if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-			// EOF are handled else where..
-			return reader, sb.String(), nil
-		} else if err != nil {
-			return reader, sb.String(), err
-		} else if string(peekBytes[0]) == "\n" {
-			_, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
-			sb.WriteString("\n")
-			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-				return reader, sb.String(), nil
-			} else if err != nil {
-				return reader, sb.String(), err
-			}
-		} else if string(peekBytes) == "--- " {
-			_, err := reader.ReadString(' ')
-			sb.WriteString("$yqDocSeparator$\n")
-			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-				return reader, sb.String(), nil
-			} else if err != nil {
-				return reader, sb.String(), err
-			}
-		} else if string(peekBytes) == "---\n" {
-			_, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
-			sb.WriteString("$yqDocSeparator$\n")
-			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-				return reader, sb.String(), nil
-			} else if err != nil {
-				return reader, sb.String(), err
-			}
-		} else if commentLineRegEx.MatchString(string(peekBytes)) || yamlDirectiveLineRegEx.MatchString(string(peekBytes)) {
-			line, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
-			sb.WriteString(line)
-			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
-				return reader, sb.String(), nil
-			} else if err != nil {
-				return reader, sb.String(), err
-			}
-		} else {
+		line, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
+		if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) && line == "" {
+			// no more data
 			return reader, sb.String(), nil
 		}
+		if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+			return reader, sb.String(), err
+		}
+
+		// Determine newline style and strip it for inspection
+		newline := ""
+		if strings.HasSuffix(line, "\r\n") {
+			newline = "\r\n"
+			line = strings.TrimSuffix(line, "\r\n")
+		} else if strings.HasSuffix(line, "\n") {
+			newline = "\n"
+			line = strings.TrimSuffix(line, "\n")
+		}
+
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+
+		// Document separator: exact line '---' or a '--- ' prefix followed by content
+		if separatorLineRe.MatchString(trimmed) {
+			sb.WriteString("$yqDocSeparator$")
+			sb.WriteString(newline)
+			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+				return reader, sb.String(), nil
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Handle lines that start with '--- ' followed by more content (e.g. '--- cat')
+		if separatorPrefixRe.MatchString(line) {
+			match := separatorPrefixRe.FindString(line)
+			remainder := line[len(match):]
+			// normalise separator newline: if original had none, default to LF
+			sepNewline := newline
+			if sepNewline == "" {
+				sepNewline = "\n"
+			}
+			sb.WriteString("$yqDocSeparator$")
+			sb.WriteString(sepNewline)
+			// push the remainder back onto the reader and continue processing
+			reader = bufio.NewReader(io.MultiReader(strings.NewReader(remainder), reader))
+			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) && remainder == "" {
+				return reader, sb.String(), nil
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Comments, YAML directives, and blank lines are leading content
+		if commentLineRe.MatchString(line) || yamlDirectiveLineRe.MatchString(line) || trimmed == "" {
+			sb.WriteString(line)
+			sb.WriteString(newline)
+			if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+				return reader, sb.String(), nil
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// First non-leading line: push it back onto a reader and return
+		originalLine := line + newline
+		return io.MultiReader(strings.NewReader(originalLine), reader), sb.String(), nil
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/anchor-and-alias-operators.md

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-- &CENTER
+- &CENTRE
   x: 1
   y: 2
 - &LEFT
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Given a sample.yml file of:
   r: 10
 - &SMALL
   r: 1
-- !!merge <<: *CENTER
+- !!merge <<: *CENTRE
   r: 10
 ```
 then
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong k
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-- &CENTER
+- &CENTRE
   x: 1
   y: 2
 - &LEFT
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ Given a sample.yml file of:
 - &SMALL
   r: 1
 - !!merge <<:
-    - *CENTER
+    - *CENTRE
     - *BIG
 ```
 then
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong k
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-- &CENTER
+- &CENTRE
   x: 1
   y: 2
 - &LEFT
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-- &CENTER
+- &CENTRE
   x: 1
   y: 2
 - &LEFT
@@ -412,7 +412,7 @@ Given a sample.yml file of:
 - &SMALL
   r: 1
 - !!merge <<:
-    - *CENTER
+    - *CENTRE
     - *BIG
 ```
 then
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@ Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the
 
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml
-- &CENTER
+- &CENTRE
   x: 1
   y: 2
 - &LEFT

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/datetime.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Various operators for parsing and manipulating dates. 
 
-## Date time formattings
+## Date time formatting
 This uses Golang's built in time library for parsing and formatting date times.
 
 When not specified, the RFC3339 standard is assumed `2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00` for parsing.

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/headers/datetime.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 Various operators for parsing and manipulating dates. 
 
-## Date time formattings
+## Date time formatting
 This uses Golang's built in time library for parsing and formatting date times.
 
 When not specified, the RFC3339 standard is assumed `2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00` for parsing.

pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/parent.md

@@ -79,6 +79,46 @@ will output
       c: cat
 ```
 
+## Get the top (root) parent
+Use negative numbers to get the top parents. You can think of this as indexing into the 'parents' array above
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a:
+  b:
+    c: cat
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.a.b.c | parent(-1)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+a:
+  b:
+    c: cat
+```
+
+## Root
+Alias for parent(-1), returns the top level parent. This is usually the document node.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a:
+  b:
+    c: cat
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.a.b.c | root' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+a:
+  b:
+    c: cat
+```
+
 ## N-th parent
 You can optionally supply the number of levels to go up for the parent, the default being 1.
 
@@ -116,6 +156,25 @@ a:
     c: cat
 ```
 
+## N-th negative
+Similarly, use negative numbers to index backwards from the parents array
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a:
+  b:
+    c: cat
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.a.b.c | parent(-2)' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+b:
+  c: cat
+```
+
 ## No parent
 Given a sample.yml file of:
 ```yaml

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/hcl.md

@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+# HCL
+
+Encode and decode to and from [HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL)](https://github.com/hashicorp/hcl).
+
+HCL is commonly used in HashiCorp tools like Terraform for configuration files. The yq HCL encoder and decoder support:
+- Blocks and attributes
+- String interpolation and expressions (preserved without quotes)
+- Comments (leading, head, and line comments)
+- Nested structures (maps and lists)
+- Syntax colorisation when enabled
+
+
+## Parse HCL
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+io_mode = "async"
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -oy sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+io_mode: "async"
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: Sample Doc
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```hcl
+service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: With an update
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.service.cat.process.main.command += "meow"' sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```hcl
+service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server", "meow"]
+  }
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+```
+
+## Parse HCL: Sample Doc
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -oy sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+service:
+  cat:
+    process:
+      main:
+        command:
+          - "/usr/local/bin/awesome-app"
+          - "server"
+      management:
+        command:
+          - "/usr/local/bin/awesome-app"
+          - "management"
+```
+
+## Parse HCL: with comments
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+# Configuration
+port = 8080 # server port
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -oy sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+# Configuration
+port: 8080 # server port
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: with comments
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+# Configuration
+port = 8080
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```hcl
+# Configuration
+port = 8080
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: With templates, functions and arithmetic
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```hcl
+# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: Separate blocks with same name.
+Given a sample.hcl file of:
+```hcl
+resource "aws_instance" "web" {
+  ami = "ami-12345"
+}
+resource "aws_instance" "db" {
+  ami = "ami-67890"
+}
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq sample.hcl
+```
+will output
+```hcl
+resource "aws_instance" "web" {
+  ami = "ami-12345"
+}
+resource "aws_instance" "db" {
+  ami = "ami-67890"
+}
+```
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/headers/hcl.md

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# HCL
+
+Encode and decode to and from [HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL)](https://github.com/hashicorp/hcl).
+
+HCL is commonly used in HashiCorp tools like Terraform for configuration files. The yq HCL encoder and decoder support:
+- Blocks and attributes
+- String interpolation and expressions (preserved without quotes)
+- Comments (leading, head, and line comments)
+- Nested structures (maps and lists)
+- Syntax colorisation when enabled
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/headers/kyaml.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# KYaml
+
+Encode and decode to and from KYaml (a restricted subset of YAML that uses flow-style collections).
+
+KYaml is useful when you want YAML data rendered in a compact, JSON-like form while still supporting YAML features like comments.
+
+Notes:
+- Strings are always double-quoted in KYaml output.
+- Anchors and aliases are expanded (KYaml output does not emit them).

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/kyaml.md

@@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
+# KYaml
+
+Encode and decode to and from KYaml (a restricted subset of YAML that uses flow-style collections).
+
+KYaml is useful when you want YAML data rendered in a compact, JSON-like form while still supporting YAML features like comments.
+
+Notes:
+- Strings are always double-quoted in KYaml output.
+- Anchors and aliases are expanded (KYaml output does not emit them).
+
+## Encode kyaml: plain string scalar
+Strings are always double-quoted in KYaml output.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+cat
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+"cat"
+```
+
+## encode flow mapping and sequence
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a: b
+c:
+  - d
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  a: "b",
+  c: [
+    "d",
+  ],
+}
+```
+
+## encode non-string scalars
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a: 12
+b: true
+c: null
+d: "true"
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  a: 12,
+  b: true,
+  c: null,
+  d: "true",
+}
+```
+
+## quote non-identifier keys
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+"1a": b
+"has space": c
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  "1a": "b",
+  "has space": "c",
+}
+```
+
+## escape quoted strings
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+a: "line1\nline2\t\"q\""
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  a: "line1\nline2\t\"q\"",
+}
+```
+
+## preserve comments when encoding
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+# leading
+a: 1 # a line
+# head b
+b: 2
+c:
+  # head d
+  - d # d line
+  - e
+# trailing
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+# leading
+{
+  a: 1, # a line
+  # head b
+  b: 2,
+  c: [
+    # head d
+    "d", # d line
+    "e",
+  ],
+  # trailing
+}
+```
+
+## Encode kyaml: anchors and aliases
+KYaml output does not support anchors/aliases; they are expanded to concrete values.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+base: &base
+  a: b
+copy: *base
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  base: {
+    a: "b",
+  },
+  copy: {
+    a: "b",
+  },
+}
+```
+
+## Encode kyaml: yaml to kyaml shows formatting differences
+KYaml uses flow-style collections (braces/brackets) and explicit commas.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+person:
+  name: John
+  pets:
+    - cat
+    - dog
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+{
+  person: {
+    name: "John",
+    pets: [
+      "cat",
+      "dog",
+    ],
+  },
+}
+```
+
+## Encode kyaml: nested lists of objects
+Lists and objects can be nested arbitrarily; KYaml always uses flow-style collections.
+
+Given a sample.yml file of:
+```yaml
+- name: a
+  items:
+    - id: 1
+      tags:
+        - k: x
+          v: y
+        - k: x2
+          v: y2
+    - id: 2
+      tags:
+        - k: z
+          v: w
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq -o=kyaml '.' sample.yml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+[
+  {
+    name: "a",
+    items: [
+      {
+        id: 1,
+        tags: [
+          {
+            k: "x",
+            v: "y",
+          },
+          {
+            k: "x2",
+            v: "y2",
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+      {
+        id: 2,
+        tags: [
+          {
+            k: "z",
+            v: "w",
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    ],
+  },
+]
+```
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/toml.md

@@ -141,3 +141,246 @@ will output
 dependencies: {}
 ```
 
+## Roundtrip: inline table attribute
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+name = { first = "Tom", last = "Preston-Werner" }
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+name = { first = "Tom", last = "Preston-Werner" }
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: table section
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom"
+age = 36
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom"
+age = 36
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: array of tables
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+[[fruits]]
+name = "apple"
+[[fruits.varieties]]
+name = "red delicious"
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+[[fruits]]
+name = "apple"
+[[fruits.varieties]]
+name = "red delicious"
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: arrays and scalars
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+A = ["hello", ["world", "again"]]
+B = 12
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+A = ["hello", ["world", "again"]]
+B = 12
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: simple
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+A = "hello"
+B = 12
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+A = "hello"
+B = 12
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: deep paths
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+[person]
+name = "hello"
+address = "12 cat st"
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+[person]
+name = "hello"
+address = "12 cat st"
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: empty array
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+A = []
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+A = []
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: sample table
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+var = "x"
+
+[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+age = 36
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+var = "x"
+
+[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+age = 36
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: empty table
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+[dependencies]
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+[dependencies]
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: comments
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+# This is a comment
+A = "hello"  # inline comment
+B = 12
+
+# Table comment
+[person]
+name = "Tom"  # name comment
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+# This is a comment
+A = "hello"  # inline comment
+B = 12
+
+# Table comment
+[person]
+name = "Tom"  # name comment
+```
+
+## Roundtrip: sample from web
+Given a sample.toml file of:
+```toml
+# This is a TOML document
+title = "TOML Example"
+
+[owner]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+
+[database]
+enabled = true
+ports = [8000, 8001, 8002]
+data = [["delta", "phi"], [3.14]]
+temp_targets = { cpu = 79.5, case = 72.0 }
+
+# [servers] yq can't do this one yet
+[servers.alpha]
+ip = "10.0.0.1"
+role = "frontend"
+
+[servers.beta]
+ip = "10.0.0.2"
+role = "backend"
+
+```
+then
+```bash
+yq '.' sample.toml
+```
+will output
+```yaml
+# This is a TOML document
+title = "TOML Example"
+
+[owner]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+
+[database]
+enabled = true
+ports = [8000, 8001, 8002]
+data = [["delta", "phi"], [3.14]]
+temp_targets = { cpu = 79.5, case = 72.0 }
+
+# [servers] yq can't do this one yet
+[servers.alpha]
+ip = "10.0.0.1"
+role = "frontend"
+
+[servers.beta]
+ip = "10.0.0.2"
+role = "backend"
+```
+

pkg/yqlib/doc/usage/xml.md

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq '.' sample.xml
+yq sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq --xml-skip-directives '.' sample.xml
+yq --xml-skip-directives sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ for x --></x>
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq -oy '.' sample.xml
+yq -oy sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```yaml
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq --xml-keep-namespace=false '.' sample.xml
+yq --xml-keep-namespace=false sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq --xml-raw-token=false '.' sample.xml
+yq --xml-raw-token=false sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ for x --></x>
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq '.' sample.xml
+yq sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ Given a sample.xml file of:
 ```
 then
 ```bash
-yq '.' sample.xml
+yq sample.xml
 ```
 will output
 ```xml

pkg/yqlib/encoder.go

@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 package yqlib
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
+	"errors"
 	"io"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 )
 
 type Encoder interface {
@@ -25,3 +30,63 @@ func mapKeysToStrings(node *CandidateNode) {
 		mapKeysToStrings(child)
 	}
 }
+
+// Some funcs are shared between encoder_yaml and encoder_kyaml
+func PrintYAMLDocumentSeparator(writer io.Writer, PrintDocSeparators bool) error {
+	if PrintDocSeparators {
+		log.Debug("writing doc sep")
+		if err := writeString(writer, "---\n"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+func PrintYAMLLeadingContent(writer io.Writer, content string, PrintDocSeparators bool, ColorsEnabled bool) error {
+	reader := bufio.NewReader(strings.NewReader(content))
+
+	// reuse precompiled package-level regex
+	// (declared in decoder_yaml.go)
+
+	for {
+
+		readline, errReading := reader.ReadString('\n')
+		if errReading != nil && !errors.Is(errReading, io.EOF) {
+			return errReading
+		}
+		if strings.Contains(readline, "$yqDocSeparator$") {
+			// Preserve the original line ending (CRLF or LF)
+			lineEnding := "\n"
+			if strings.HasSuffix(readline, "\r\n") {
+				lineEnding = "\r\n"
+			}
+			if PrintDocSeparators {
+				if err := writeString(writer, "---"+lineEnding); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+
+		} else {
+			if len(readline) > 0 && readline != "\n" && readline[0] != '%' && !commentLineRe.MatchString(readline) {
+				readline = "# " + readline
+			}
+			if ColorsEnabled && strings.TrimSpace(readline) != "" {
+				readline = format(color.FgHiBlack) + readline + format(color.Reset)
+			}
+			if err := writeString(writer, readline); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+
+		if errors.Is(errReading, io.EOF) {
+			if readline != "" {
+				// the last comment we read didn't have a newline, put one in
+				if err := writeString(writer, "\n"); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_hcl.go

@@ -0,0 +1,690 @@
+//go:build !yq_nohcl
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2"
+	"github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2/hclsyntax"
+	hclwrite "github.com/hashicorp/hcl/v2/hclwrite"
+	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty"
+)
+
+type hclEncoder struct {
+	prefs HclPreferences
+}
+
+// commentPathSep is used to join path segments when collecting comments.
+// It uses a rarely used ASCII control character to avoid collisions with
+// normal key names (including dots).
+const commentPathSep = "\x1e"
+
+// NewHclEncoder creates a new HCL encoder
+func NewHclEncoder(prefs HclPreferences) Encoder {
+	return &hclEncoder{prefs: prefs}
+}
+
+func (he *hclEncoder) CanHandleAliases() bool {
+	return false
+}
+
+func (he *hclEncoder) PrintDocumentSeparator(_ io.Writer) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (he *hclEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(_ io.Writer, _ string) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (he *hclEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	log.Debugf("I need to encode %v", NodeToString(node))
+	if node.Kind == ScalarNode {
+		return writeString(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+	}
+
+	f := hclwrite.NewEmptyFile()
+	body := f.Body()
+
+	// Collect comments as we encode
+	commentMap := make(map[string]string)
+	he.collectComments(node, "", commentMap)
+
+	if err := he.encodeNode(body, node); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to encode HCL: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	// Get the formatted output and remove extra spacing before '='
+	output := f.Bytes()
+	compactOutput := he.compactSpacing(output)
+
+	// Inject comments back into the output
+	finalOutput := he.injectComments(compactOutput, commentMap)
+
+	if he.prefs.ColorsEnabled {
+		colourized := he.colorizeHcl(finalOutput)
+		_, err := writer.Write(colourized)
+		return err
+	}
+
+	_, err := writer.Write(finalOutput)
+	return err
+}
+
+// compactSpacing removes extra whitespace before '=' in attribute assignments
+func (he *hclEncoder) compactSpacing(input []byte) []byte {
+	// Use regex to replace multiple spaces before = with single space
+	re := regexp.MustCompile(`(\S)\s{2,}=`)
+	return re.ReplaceAll(input, []byte("$1 ="))
+}
+
+// collectComments recursively collects comments from nodes for later injection
+func (he *hclEncoder) collectComments(node *CandidateNode, prefix string, commentMap map[string]string) {
+	if node == nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// For mapping nodes, collect comments from keys and values
+	if node.Kind == MappingNode {
+		// Collect root-level head comment if at root (prefix is empty)
+		if prefix == "" && node.HeadComment != "" {
+			commentMap[joinCommentPath("__root__", "head")] = node.HeadComment
+		}
+
+		for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+			keyNode := node.Content[i]
+			valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+			key := keyNode.Value
+
+			// Create a path for this key
+			path := joinCommentPath(prefix, key)
+
+			// Store comments from the key (head comments appear before the attribute)
+			if keyNode.HeadComment != "" {
+				commentMap[joinCommentPath(path, "head")] = keyNode.HeadComment
+			}
+			// Store comments from the value (line comments appear after the value)
+			if valueNode.LineComment != "" {
+				commentMap[joinCommentPath(path, "line")] = valueNode.LineComment
+			}
+			if valueNode.FootComment != "" {
+				commentMap[joinCommentPath(path, "foot")] = valueNode.FootComment
+			}
+
+			// Recurse into nested mappings
+			if valueNode.Kind == MappingNode {
+				he.collectComments(valueNode, path, commentMap)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// joinCommentPath concatenates path segments using commentPathSep, safely handling empty prefixes.
+func joinCommentPath(prefix, segment string) string {
+	if prefix == "" {
+		return segment
+	}
+	return prefix + commentPathSep + segment
+}
+
+// injectComments adds collected comments back into the HCL output
+func (he *hclEncoder) injectComments(output []byte, commentMap map[string]string) []byte {
+	// Convert output to string for easier manipulation
+	result := string(output)
+
+	// Root-level head comment (stored on the synthetic __root__/head path)
+	for path, comment := range commentMap {
+		if path == joinCommentPath("__root__", "head") {
+			trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(comment)
+			if trimmed != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(result, trimmed) {
+				result = trimmed + "\n" + result
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Attribute head comments: insert above matching assignment
+	for path, comment := range commentMap {
+		parts := strings.Split(path, commentPathSep)
+		if len(parts) < 2 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		commentType := parts[len(parts)-1]
+		key := parts[len(parts)-2]
+		if commentType != "head" || key == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(comment)
+		if trimmed == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		re := regexp.MustCompile(`(?m)^(\s*)` + regexp.QuoteMeta(key) + `\s*=`)
+		if re.MatchString(result) {
+			result = re.ReplaceAllString(result, "$1"+trimmed+"\n$0")
+		}
+	}
+
+	return []byte(result)
+}
+
+func (he *hclEncoder) colorizeHcl(input []byte) []byte {
+	hcl := string(input)
+	result := strings.Builder{}
+
+	// Create colour functions for different token types
+	commentColor := color.New(color.FgHiBlack).SprintFunc()
+	stringColor := color.New(color.FgGreen).SprintFunc()
+	numberColor := color.New(color.FgHiMagenta).SprintFunc()
+	keyColor := color.New(color.FgCyan).SprintFunc()
+	boolColor := color.New(color.FgHiMagenta).SprintFunc()
+
+	// Simple tokenization for HCL colouring
+	i := 0
+	for i < len(hcl) {
+		ch := hcl[i]
+
+		// Comments - from # to end of line
+		if ch == '#' {
+			end := i
+			for end < len(hcl) && hcl[end] != '\n' {
+				end++
+			}
+			result.WriteString(commentColor(hcl[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Strings - quoted text
+		if ch == '"' || ch == '\'' {
+			quote := ch
+			end := i + 1
+			for end < len(hcl) && hcl[end] != quote {
+				if hcl[end] == '\\' {
+					end++ // skip escaped char
+				}
+				end++
+			}
+			if end < len(hcl) {
+				end++ // include closing quote
+			}
+			result.WriteString(stringColor(hcl[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Numbers - sequences of digits, possibly with decimal point or minus
+		if (ch >= '0' && ch <= '9') || (ch == '-' && i+1 < len(hcl) && hcl[i+1] >= '0' && hcl[i+1] <= '9') {
+			end := i
+			if ch == '-' {
+				end++
+			}
+			for end < len(hcl) && ((hcl[end] >= '0' && hcl[end] <= '9') || hcl[end] == '.') {
+				end++
+			}
+			result.WriteString(numberColor(hcl[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Identifiers/keys - alphanumeric + underscore
+		if (ch >= 'a' && ch <= 'z') || (ch >= 'A' && ch <= 'Z') || ch == '_' {
+			end := i
+			for end < len(hcl) && ((hcl[end] >= 'a' && hcl[end] <= 'z') ||
+				(hcl[end] >= 'A' && hcl[end] <= 'Z') ||
+				(hcl[end] >= '0' && hcl[end] <= '9') ||
+				hcl[end] == '_' || hcl[end] == '-') {
+				end++
+			}
+			ident := hcl[i:end]
+
+			// Check if this is a keyword/reserved word
+			switch ident {
+			case "true", "false", "null":
+				result.WriteString(boolColor(ident))
+			default:
+				// Check if followed by = (it's a key)
+				j := end
+				for j < len(hcl) && (hcl[j] == ' ' || hcl[j] == '\t') {
+					j++
+				}
+				if j < len(hcl) && hcl[j] == '=' {
+					result.WriteString(keyColor(ident))
+				} else if j < len(hcl) && hcl[j] == '{' {
+					// Block type
+					result.WriteString(keyColor(ident))
+				} else {
+					result.WriteString(ident) // plain text for other identifiers
+				}
+			}
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Everything else (whitespace, operators, brackets) - no color
+		result.WriteByte(ch)
+		i++
+	}
+
+	return []byte(result.String())
+}
+
+// Helper runes for unquoted identifiers
+func isHCLIdentifierStart(r rune) bool {
+	return (r >= 'a' && r <= 'z') || (r >= 'A' && r <= 'Z') || r == '_'
+}
+
+func isHCLIdentifierPart(r rune) bool {
+	return (r >= 'a' && r <= 'z') || (r >= 'A' && r <= 'Z') || (r >= '0' && r <= '9') || r == '_' || r == '-'
+}
+
+func isValidHCLIdentifier(s string) bool {
+	if s == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	// HCL identifiers must start with a letter or underscore
+	// and contain only letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens
+	for i, r := range s {
+		if i == 0 {
+			if !isHCLIdentifierStart(r) {
+				return false
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		if !isHCLIdentifierPart(r) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// tokensForRawHCLExpr produces a minimal token stream for a simple HCL expression so we can
+// write it without introducing quotes (e.g. function calls like upper(message)).
+func tokensForRawHCLExpr(expr string) (hclwrite.Tokens, error) {
+	var tokens hclwrite.Tokens
+	for i := 0; i < len(expr); {
+		ch := expr[i]
+		switch {
+		case ch == ' ' || ch == '\t':
+			i++
+			continue
+		case isHCLIdentifierStart(rune(ch)):
+			start := i
+			i++
+			for i < len(expr) && isHCLIdentifierPart(rune(expr[i])) {
+				i++
+			}
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenIdent, Bytes: []byte(expr[start:i])})
+			continue
+		case ch >= '0' && ch <= '9':
+			start := i
+			i++
+			for i < len(expr) && ((expr[i] >= '0' && expr[i] <= '9') || expr[i] == '.') {
+				i++
+			}
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenNumberLit, Bytes: []byte(expr[start:i])})
+			continue
+		case ch == '(':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenOParen, Bytes: []byte{'('}})
+		case ch == ')':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenCParen, Bytes: []byte{')'}})
+		case ch == ',':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenComma, Bytes: []byte{','}})
+		case ch == '.':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenDot, Bytes: []byte{'.'}})
+		case ch == '+':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenPlus, Bytes: []byte{'+'}})
+		case ch == '-':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenMinus, Bytes: []byte{'-'}})
+		case ch == '*':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenStar, Bytes: []byte{'*'}})
+		case ch == '/':
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenSlash, Bytes: []byte{'/'}})
+		default:
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unsupported character %q in raw HCL expression", ch)
+		}
+		i++
+	}
+	return tokens, nil
+}
+
+// encodeAttribute encodes a value as an HCL attribute
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeAttribute(body *hclwrite.Body, key string, valueNode *CandidateNode) error {
+	if valueNode.Kind == ScalarNode && valueNode.Tag == "!!str" {
+		// Handle unquoted expressions (as-is, without quotes)
+		if valueNode.Style == 0 {
+			tokens, err := tokensForRawHCLExpr(valueNode.Value)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			body.SetAttributeRaw(key, tokens)
+			return nil
+		}
+		if valueNode.Style&LiteralStyle != 0 {
+			tokens, err := tokensForRawHCLExpr(valueNode.Value)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			body.SetAttributeRaw(key, tokens)
+			return nil
+		}
+		// Check if template with interpolation
+		if valueNode.Style&DoubleQuotedStyle != 0 && strings.Contains(valueNode.Value, "${") {
+			return he.encodeTemplateAttribute(body, key, valueNode.Value)
+		}
+		// Check if unquoted identifier
+		if isValidHCLIdentifier(valueNode.Value) && valueNode.Style == 0 {
+			traversal := hcl.Traversal{
+				hcl.TraverseRoot{Name: valueNode.Value},
+			}
+			body.SetAttributeTraversal(key, traversal)
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	// Default: use cty.Value for quoted strings and all other types
+	ctyValue, err := nodeToCtyValue(valueNode)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	body.SetAttributeValue(key, ctyValue)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// encodeTemplateAttribute encodes a template string with ${} interpolations
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeTemplateAttribute(body *hclwrite.Body, key string, templateStr string) error {
+	tokens := hclwrite.Tokens{
+		{Type: hclsyntax.TokenOQuote, Bytes: []byte{'"'}},
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(templateStr); i++ {
+		if i < len(templateStr)-1 && templateStr[i] == '$' && templateStr[i+1] == '{' {
+			// Start of template interpolation
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{
+				Type:  hclsyntax.TokenTemplateInterp,
+				Bytes: []byte("${"),
+			})
+			i++ // skip the '{'
+			// Find the matching '}'
+			start := i + 1
+			depth := 1
+			for i++; i < len(templateStr) && depth > 0; i++ {
+				switch templateStr[i] {
+				case '{':
+					depth++
+				case '}':
+					depth--
+				}
+			}
+			i-- // back up to the '}'
+			interpExpr := templateStr[start:i]
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{
+				Type:  hclsyntax.TokenIdent,
+				Bytes: []byte(interpExpr),
+			})
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{
+				Type:  hclsyntax.TokenTemplateSeqEnd,
+				Bytes: []byte("}"),
+			})
+		} else {
+			// Regular character
+			tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{
+				Type:  hclsyntax.TokenQuotedLit,
+				Bytes: []byte{templateStr[i]},
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	tokens = append(tokens, &hclwrite.Token{Type: hclsyntax.TokenCQuote, Bytes: []byte{'"'}})
+	body.SetAttributeRaw(key, tokens)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// encodeBlockIfMapping attempts to encode a value as a block. Returns true if it was encoded as a block.
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeBlockIfMapping(body *hclwrite.Body, key string, valueNode *CandidateNode) bool {
+	if valueNode.Kind != MappingNode || valueNode.Style == FlowStyle {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// If EncodeSeparate is set, emit children as separate blocks regardless of label extraction
+	if valueNode.EncodeSeparate {
+		if handled, _ := he.encodeMappingChildrenAsBlocks(body, key, valueNode); handled {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Try to extract block labels from a single-entry mapping chain
+	if labels, bodyNode, ok := extractBlockLabels(valueNode); ok {
+		if len(labels) > 1 && mappingChildrenAllMappings(bodyNode) {
+			primaryLabels := labels[:len(labels)-1]
+			nestedType := labels[len(labels)-1]
+			block := body.AppendNewBlock(key, primaryLabels)
+			if handled, err := he.encodeMappingChildrenAsBlocks(block.Body(), nestedType, bodyNode); err == nil && handled {
+				return true
+			}
+			if err := he.encodeNodeAttributes(block.Body(), bodyNode); err == nil {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+		block := body.AppendNewBlock(key, labels)
+		if err := he.encodeNodeAttributes(block.Body(), bodyNode); err == nil {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+
+	// If all child values are mappings, treat each child key as a labelled instance of this block type
+	if handled, _ := he.encodeMappingChildrenAsBlocks(body, key, valueNode); handled {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	// No labels detected, render as unlabelled block
+	block := body.AppendNewBlock(key, nil)
+	if err := he.encodeNodeAttributes(block.Body(), valueNode); err == nil {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
+// encodeNode encodes a CandidateNode directly to HCL, preserving style information
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeNode(body *hclwrite.Body, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	if node.Kind != MappingNode {
+		return fmt.Errorf("HCL encoder expects a mapping at the root level, got %v", kindToString(node.Kind))
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+		keyNode := node.Content[i]
+		valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+		key := keyNode.Value
+
+		// Render as block or attribute depending on value type
+		if he.encodeBlockIfMapping(body, key, valueNode) {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Render as attribute: key = value
+		if err := he.encodeAttribute(body, key, valueNode); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// mappingChildrenAllMappings reports whether all values in a mapping node are non-flow mappings.
+func mappingChildrenAllMappings(node *CandidateNode) bool {
+	if node == nil || node.Kind != MappingNode || node.Style == FlowStyle {
+		return false
+	}
+	if len(node.Content) == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+		childVal := node.Content[i+1]
+		if childVal.Kind != MappingNode || childVal.Style == FlowStyle {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// encodeMappingChildrenAsBlocks emits a block for each mapping child, treating the child key as a label.
+// Returns handled=true when it emitted blocks.
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeMappingChildrenAsBlocks(body *hclwrite.Body, blockType string, valueNode *CandidateNode) (bool, error) {
+	if !mappingChildrenAllMappings(valueNode) {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	// Only emit as separate blocks if EncodeSeparate is true
+	// This allows the encoder to respect the original block structure preserved by the decoder
+	if !valueNode.EncodeSeparate {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(valueNode.Content); i += 2 {
+		childKey := valueNode.Content[i].Value
+		childVal := valueNode.Content[i+1]
+
+		// Check if this child also represents multiple blocks (all children are mappings)
+		if mappingChildrenAllMappings(childVal) {
+			// Recursively emit each grandchild as a separate block with extended labels
+			for j := 0; j < len(childVal.Content); j += 2 {
+				grandchildKey := childVal.Content[j].Value
+				grandchildVal := childVal.Content[j+1]
+				labels := []string{childKey, grandchildKey}
+
+				// Try to extract additional labels if this is a single-entry chain
+				if extraLabels, bodyNode, ok := extractBlockLabels(grandchildVal); ok {
+					labels = append(labels, extraLabels...)
+					grandchildVal = bodyNode
+				}
+
+				block := body.AppendNewBlock(blockType, labels)
+				if err := he.encodeNodeAttributes(block.Body(), grandchildVal); err != nil {
+					return true, err
+				}
+			}
+		} else {
+			// Single block with this child as label(s)
+			labels := []string{childKey}
+			if extraLabels, bodyNode, ok := extractBlockLabels(childVal); ok {
+				labels = append(labels, extraLabels...)
+				childVal = bodyNode
+			}
+			block := body.AppendNewBlock(blockType, labels)
+			if err := he.encodeNodeAttributes(block.Body(), childVal); err != nil {
+				return true, err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return true, nil
+}
+
+// encodeNodeAttributes encodes the attributes of a mapping node (used for blocks)
+func (he *hclEncoder) encodeNodeAttributes(body *hclwrite.Body, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	if node.Kind != MappingNode {
+		return fmt.Errorf("expected mapping node for block body")
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+		keyNode := node.Content[i]
+		valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+		key := keyNode.Value
+
+		// Render as block or attribute depending on value type
+		if he.encodeBlockIfMapping(body, key, valueNode) {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Render attribute for non-block value
+		if err := he.encodeAttribute(body, key, valueNode); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// extractBlockLabels detects a chain of single-entry mappings that encode block labels.
+// It returns the collected labels and the final mapping to be used as the block body.
+// Pattern: {label1: {label2: { ... {bodyMap} }}}
+func extractBlockLabels(node *CandidateNode) ([]string, *CandidateNode, bool) {
+	var labels []string
+	current := node
+	for current != nil && current.Kind == MappingNode && len(current.Content) == 2 {
+		keyNode := current.Content[0]
+		valNode := current.Content[1]
+		if valNode.Kind != MappingNode {
+			break
+		}
+		labels = append(labels, keyNode.Value)
+		// If the child is itself a single mapping entry with a mapping value, keep descending.
+		if len(valNode.Content) == 2 && valNode.Content[1].Kind == MappingNode {
+			current = valNode
+			continue
+		}
+		// Otherwise, we have reached the body mapping.
+		return labels, valNode, true
+	}
+	return nil, nil, false
+}
+
+// nodeToCtyValue converts a CandidateNode directly to cty.Value, preserving order
+func nodeToCtyValue(node *CandidateNode) (cty.Value, error) {
+	switch node.Kind {
+	case ScalarNode:
+		// Parse scalar value based on its tag
+		switch node.Tag {
+		case "!!bool":
+			return cty.BoolVal(node.Value == "true"), nil
+		case "!!int":
+			var i int64
+			_, err := fmt.Sscanf(node.Value, "%d", &i)
+			if err != nil {
+				return cty.NilVal, err
+			}
+			return cty.NumberIntVal(i), nil
+		case "!!float":
+			var f float64
+			_, err := fmt.Sscanf(node.Value, "%f", &f)
+			if err != nil {
+				return cty.NilVal, err
+			}
+			return cty.NumberFloatVal(f), nil
+		case "!!null":
+			return cty.NullVal(cty.DynamicPseudoType), nil
+		default:
+			// Default to string
+			return cty.StringVal(node.Value), nil
+		}
+	case MappingNode:
+		// Preserve order by iterating Content directly
+		m := make(map[string]cty.Value)
+		for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+			keyNode := node.Content[i]
+			valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+			v, err := nodeToCtyValue(valueNode)
+			if err != nil {
+				return cty.NilVal, err
+			}
+			m[keyNode.Value] = v
+		}
+		return cty.ObjectVal(m), nil
+	case SequenceNode:
+		vals := make([]cty.Value, len(node.Content))
+		for i, item := range node.Content {
+			v, err := nodeToCtyValue(item)
+			if err != nil {
+				return cty.NilVal, err
+			}
+			vals[i] = v
+		}
+		return cty.TupleVal(vals), nil
+	case AliasNode:
+		return cty.NilVal, fmt.Errorf("HCL encoder does not support aliases")
+	default:
+		return cty.NilVal, fmt.Errorf("unsupported node kind: %v", node.Kind)
+	}
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_kyaml.go

@@ -0,0 +1,318 @@
+//go:build !yq_nokyaml
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"io"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type kyamlEncoder struct {
+	prefs KYamlPreferences
+}
+
+func NewKYamlEncoder(prefs KYamlPreferences) Encoder {
+	return &kyamlEncoder{prefs: prefs}
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) CanHandleAliases() bool {
+	// KYAML is a restricted subset; avoid emitting anchors/aliases.
+	return false
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) PrintDocumentSeparator(writer io.Writer) error {
+	return PrintYAMLDocumentSeparator(writer, ke.prefs.PrintDocSeparators)
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(writer io.Writer, content string) error {
+	return PrintYAMLLeadingContent(writer, content, ke.prefs.PrintDocSeparators, ke.prefs.ColorsEnabled)
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	log.Debug("encoderKYaml - going to print %v", NodeToString(node))
+	if node.Kind == ScalarNode && ke.prefs.UnwrapScalar {
+		return writeString(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+	}
+
+	destination := writer
+	tempBuffer := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+	if ke.prefs.ColorsEnabled {
+		destination = tempBuffer
+	}
+
+	// Mirror the YAML encoder behaviour: trailing comments on the document root
+	// are stored in FootComment and need to be printed after the document.
+	trailingContent := node.FootComment
+
+	if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(destination, node.HeadComment, 0); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := ke.writeNode(destination, node, 0); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := ke.writeInlineComment(destination, node.LineComment); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := writeString(destination, "\n"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := ke.PrintLeadingContent(destination, trailingContent); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if ke.prefs.ColorsEnabled {
+		return colorizeAndPrint(tempBuffer.Bytes(), writer)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeNode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode, indent int) error {
+	switch node.Kind {
+	case MappingNode:
+		return ke.writeMapping(writer, node, indent)
+	case SequenceNode:
+		return ke.writeSequence(writer, node, indent)
+	case ScalarNode:
+		return writeString(writer, ke.formatScalar(node))
+	case AliasNode:
+		// Should have been exploded by the printer, but handle defensively.
+		if node.Alias == nil {
+			return writeString(writer, "null")
+		}
+		return ke.writeNode(writer, node.Alias, indent)
+	default:
+		return writeString(writer, "null")
+	}
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeMapping(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode, indent int) error {
+	if len(node.Content) == 0 {
+		return writeString(writer, "{}")
+	}
+	if err := writeString(writer, "{\n"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	for i := 0; i+1 < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+		keyNode := node.Content[i]
+		valueNode := node.Content[i+1]
+
+		entryIndent := indent + ke.prefs.Indent
+		if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(writer, keyNode.HeadComment, entryIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if valueNode.HeadComment != "" && valueNode.HeadComment != keyNode.HeadComment {
+			if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(writer, valueNode.HeadComment, entryIndent); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+
+		if err := ke.writeIndent(writer, entryIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, ke.formatKey(keyNode)); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, ": "); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeNode(writer, valueNode, entryIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		// Always emit a trailing comma; KYAML encourages explicit separators,
+		// and this ensures all quoted strings have a trailing `",` as requested.
+		if err := writeString(writer, ","); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		inline := valueNode.LineComment
+		if inline == "" {
+			inline = keyNode.LineComment
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeInlineComment(writer, inline); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, "\n"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		foot := valueNode.FootComment
+		if foot == "" {
+			foot = keyNode.FootComment
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(writer, foot, entryIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	if err := ke.writeIndent(writer, indent); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return writeString(writer, "}")
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeSequence(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode, indent int) error {
+	if len(node.Content) == 0 {
+		return writeString(writer, "[]")
+	}
+	if err := writeString(writer, "[\n"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	for _, child := range node.Content {
+		itemIndent := indent + ke.prefs.Indent
+		if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(writer, child.HeadComment, itemIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeIndent(writer, itemIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeNode(writer, child, itemIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, ","); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeInlineComment(writer, child.LineComment); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, "\n"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := ke.writeCommentBlock(writer, child.FootComment, itemIndent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	if err := ke.writeIndent(writer, indent); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return writeString(writer, "]")
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeIndent(writer io.Writer, indent int) error {
+	if indent <= 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return writeString(writer, strings.Repeat(" ", indent))
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) formatKey(keyNode *CandidateNode) string {
+	// KYAML examples use bare keys. Quote keys only when needed.
+	key := keyNode.Value
+	if isValidKYamlBareKey(key) {
+		return key
+	}
+	return `"` + escapeDoubleQuotedString(key) + `"`
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) formatScalar(node *CandidateNode) string {
+	switch node.Tag {
+	case "!!null":
+		return "null"
+	case "!!bool":
+		return strings.ToLower(node.Value)
+	case "!!int", "!!float":
+		return node.Value
+	case "!!str":
+		return `"` + escapeDoubleQuotedString(node.Value) + `"`
+	default:
+		// Fall back to a string representation to avoid implicit typing surprises.
+		return `"` + escapeDoubleQuotedString(node.Value) + `"`
+	}
+}
+
+var kyamlBareKeyRe = regexp.MustCompile(`^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_-]*$`)
+
+func isValidKYamlBareKey(s string) bool {
+	// Conservative: require an identifier-like key; otherwise quote.
+	if s == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	return kyamlBareKeyRe.MatchString(s)
+}
+
+func escapeDoubleQuotedString(s string) string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	b.Grow(len(s) + 2)
+
+	for _, r := range s {
+		switch r {
+		case '\\':
+			b.WriteString(`\\`)
+		case '"':
+			b.WriteString(`\"`)
+		case '\n':
+			b.WriteString(`\n`)
+		case '\r':
+			b.WriteString(`\r`)
+		case '\t':
+			b.WriteString(`\t`)
+		default:
+			if r < 0x20 {
+				// YAML double-quoted strings support \uXXXX escapes.
+				b.WriteString(`\u`)
+				hex := "0000" + strings.ToUpper(strconv.FormatInt(int64(r), 16))
+				b.WriteString(hex[len(hex)-4:])
+			} else {
+				b.WriteRune(r)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeCommentBlock(writer io.Writer, comment string, indent int) error {
+	if strings.TrimSpace(comment) == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	lines := strings.Split(strings.ReplaceAll(comment, "\r\n", "\n"), "\n")
+	for _, line := range lines {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if trimmed == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if err := ke.writeIndent(writer, indent); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		toWrite := line
+		if !commentLineRe.MatchString(toWrite) {
+			toWrite = "# " + toWrite
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, toWrite); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := writeString(writer, "\n"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (ke *kyamlEncoder) writeInlineComment(writer io.Writer, comment string) error {
+	comment = strings.TrimSpace(strings.ReplaceAll(comment, "\r\n", "\n"))
+	if comment == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	lines := strings.Split(comment, "\n")
+	first := strings.TrimSpace(lines[0])
+	if first == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(first, "#") {
+		first = "# " + first
+	}
+
+	if err := writeString(writer, " "); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return writeString(writer, first)
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_shellvariables.go

@@ -57,7 +57,13 @@ func (pe *shellVariablesEncoder) doEncode(w *io.Writer, node *CandidateNode, pat
 			// let's just pick a fallback key to use if we are encoding a single scalar
 			nonemptyPath = "value"
 		}
-		_, err := io.WriteString(*w, nonemptyPath+"="+quoteValue(node.Value)+"\n")
+		var valueString string
+		if pe.prefs.UnwrapScalar {
+			valueString = node.Value
+		} else {
+			valueString = quoteValue(node.Value)
+		}
+		_, err := io.WriteString(*w, nonemptyPath+"="+valueString+"\n")
 		return err
 	case SequenceNode:
 		for index, child := range node.Content {

pkg/yqlib/encoder_shellvariables_test.go

@@ -135,3 +135,36 @@ func TestShellVariablesEncoderCustomSeparatorArray(t *testing.T) {
 func TestShellVariablesEncoderCustomSeparatorSingleChar(t *testing.T) {
 	assertEncodesToWithSeparator(t, "a:\n b: value", "aXb=value", "X")
 }
+
+func assertEncodesToUnwrapped(t *testing.T, yaml string, shellvars string) {
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+
+	originalUnwrapScalar := ConfiguredShellVariablesPreferences.UnwrapScalar
+	defer func() {
+		ConfiguredShellVariablesPreferences.UnwrapScalar = originalUnwrapScalar
+	}()
+
+	ConfiguredShellVariablesPreferences.UnwrapScalar = true
+
+	var encoder = NewShellVariablesEncoder()
+	inputs, err := readDocuments(strings.NewReader(yaml), "test.yml", 0, NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences))
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	node := inputs.Front().Value.(*CandidateNode)
+	err = encoder.Encode(writer, node)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	writer.Flush()
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, shellvars, strings.TrimSuffix(output.String(), "\n"))
+}
+
+func TestShellVariablesEncoderUnwrapScalar(t *testing.T) {
+	assertEncodesToUnwrapped(t, "a: Lewis Carroll", "a=Lewis Carroll")
+	assertEncodesToUnwrapped(t, "b: 123", "b=123")
+	assertEncodesToUnwrapped(t, "c: true", "c=true")
+	assertEncodesToUnwrapped(t, "d: value with spaces", "d=value with spaces")
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_toml.go

@@ -1,22 +1,58 @@
+//go:build !yq_notoml
+
 package yqlib
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 )
 
 type tomlEncoder struct {
+	wroteRootAttr bool // Track if we wrote root-level attributes before tables
+	prefs         TomlPreferences
 }
 
 func NewTomlEncoder() Encoder {
-	return &tomlEncoder{}
+	return NewTomlEncoderWithPrefs(ConfiguredTomlPreferences)
+}
+
+func NewTomlEncoderWithPrefs(prefs TomlPreferences) Encoder {
+	return &tomlEncoder{prefs: prefs}
 }
 
 func (te *tomlEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
-	if node.Kind == ScalarNode {
-		return writeString(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+	if node.Kind != MappingNode {
+		// For standalone selections, TOML tests expect raw value for scalars
+		if node.Kind == ScalarNode {
+			return writeString(writer, node.Value+"\n")
+		}
+		return fmt.Errorf("TOML encoder expects a mapping at the root level")
 	}
-	return fmt.Errorf("only scalars (e.g. strings, numbers, booleans) are supported for TOML output at the moment. Please use yaml output format (-oy) until the encoder has been fully implemented")
+
+	// Encode to a buffer first if colors are enabled
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	var targetWriter io.Writer
+	targetWriter = writer
+	if te.prefs.ColorsEnabled {
+		targetWriter = &buf
+	}
+
+	// Encode a root mapping as a sequence of attributes, tables, and arrays of tables
+	if err := te.encodeRootMapping(targetWriter, node); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if te.prefs.ColorsEnabled {
+		colourised := te.colorizeToml(buf.Bytes())
+		_, err := writer.Write(colourised)
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (te *tomlEncoder) PrintDocumentSeparator(_ io.Writer) error {
@@ -30,3 +66,725 @@ func (te *tomlEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(_ io.Writer, _ string) error {
 func (te *tomlEncoder) CanHandleAliases() bool {
 	return false
 }
+
+// ---- helpers ----
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) writeComment(w io.Writer, comment string) error {
+	if comment == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	lines := strings.Split(comment, "\n")
+	for _, line := range lines {
+		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
+			line = "# " + line
+		}
+		if _, err := w.Write([]byte(line + "\n")); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) formatScalar(node *CandidateNode) string {
+	switch node.Tag {
+	case "!!str":
+		// Quote strings per TOML spec
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%q", node.Value)
+	case "!!bool", "!!int", "!!float":
+		return node.Value
+	case "!!null":
+		// TOML does not have null; encode as empty string
+		return `""`
+	default:
+		return node.Value
+	}
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) encodeRootMapping(w io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	te.wroteRootAttr = false // Reset state
+
+	// Write root head comment if present (at the very beginning, no leading blank line)
+	if node.HeadComment != "" {
+		if err := te.writeComment(w, node.HeadComment); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Preserve existing order by iterating Content
+	for i := 0; i < len(node.Content); i += 2 {
+		keyNode := node.Content[i]
+		valNode := node.Content[i+1]
+		if err := te.encodeTopLevelEntry(w, []string{keyNode.Value}, valNode); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// encodeTopLevelEntry encodes a key/value at the root, dispatching to attribute, table, or array-of-tables
+func (te *tomlEncoder) encodeTopLevelEntry(w io.Writer, path []string, node *CandidateNode) error {
+	if len(path) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot encode TOML entry with empty path")
+	}
+
+	switch node.Kind {
+	case ScalarNode:
+		// key = value
+		return te.writeAttribute(w, path[len(path)-1], node)
+	case SequenceNode:
+		// Empty arrays should be encoded as [] attributes
+		if len(node.Content) == 0 {
+			return te.writeArrayAttribute(w, path[len(path)-1], node)
+		}
+
+		// If all items are mappings => array of tables; else => array attribute
+		allMaps := true
+		for _, it := range node.Content {
+			if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+				allMaps = false
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if allMaps {
+			key := path[len(path)-1]
+			for _, it := range node.Content {
+				// [[key]] then body
+				if _, err := w.Write([]byte("[[" + key + "]]\n")); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				if err := te.encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w, []string{key}, it); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+		// Regular array attribute
+		return te.writeArrayAttribute(w, path[len(path)-1], node)
+	case MappingNode:
+		// Inline table if not EncodeSeparate, else emit separate tables/arrays of tables for children under this path
+		if !node.EncodeSeparate {
+			// If children contain mappings or arrays of mappings, prefer separate sections
+			if te.hasEncodeSeparateChild(node) || te.hasStructuralChildren(node) {
+				return te.encodeSeparateMapping(w, path, node)
+			}
+			return te.writeInlineTableAttribute(w, path[len(path)-1], node)
+		}
+		return te.encodeSeparateMapping(w, path, node)
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported node kind for TOML: %v", node.Kind)
+	}
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) writeAttribute(w io.Writer, key string, value *CandidateNode) error {
+	te.wroteRootAttr = true // Mark that we wrote a root attribute
+
+	// Write head comment before the attribute
+	if err := te.writeComment(w, value.HeadComment); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Write the attribute
+	line := key + " = " + te.formatScalar(value)
+
+	// Add line comment if present
+	if value.LineComment != "" {
+		lineComment := strings.TrimSpace(value.LineComment)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(lineComment, "#") {
+			lineComment = "# " + lineComment
+		}
+		line += "  " + lineComment
+	}
+
+	_, err := w.Write([]byte(line + "\n"))
+	return err
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) writeArrayAttribute(w io.Writer, key string, seq *CandidateNode) error {
+	te.wroteRootAttr = true // Mark that we wrote a root attribute
+
+	// Write head comment before the array
+	if err := te.writeComment(w, seq.HeadComment); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Handle empty arrays
+	if len(seq.Content) == 0 {
+		line := key + " = []"
+		if seq.LineComment != "" {
+			lineComment := strings.TrimSpace(seq.LineComment)
+			if !strings.HasPrefix(lineComment, "#") {
+				lineComment = "# " + lineComment
+			}
+			line += "  " + lineComment
+		}
+		_, err := w.Write([]byte(line + "\n"))
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Check if any array elements have head comments - if so, use multiline format
+	hasElementComments := false
+	for _, it := range seq.Content {
+		if it.HeadComment != "" {
+			hasElementComments = true
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if hasElementComments {
+		// Write multiline array format with comments
+		if _, err := w.Write([]byte(key + " = [\n")); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		for i, it := range seq.Content {
+			// Write head comment for this element
+			if it.HeadComment != "" {
+				commentLines := strings.Split(it.HeadComment, "\n")
+				for _, commentLine := range commentLines {
+					if strings.TrimSpace(commentLine) != "" {
+						if !strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(commentLine), "#") {
+							commentLine = "# " + commentLine
+						}
+						if _, err := w.Write([]byte("  " + commentLine + "\n")); err != nil {
+							return err
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			// Write the element value
+			var itemStr string
+			switch it.Kind {
+			case ScalarNode:
+				itemStr = te.formatScalar(it)
+			case SequenceNode:
+				nested, err := te.sequenceToInlineArray(it)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				itemStr = nested
+			case MappingNode:
+				inline, err := te.mappingToInlineTable(it)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				itemStr = inline
+			case AliasNode:
+				return fmt.Errorf("aliases are not supported in TOML")
+			default:
+				return fmt.Errorf("unsupported array item kind: %v", it.Kind)
+			}
+
+			// Always add trailing comma in multiline arrays
+			itemStr += ","
+
+			if _, err := w.Write([]byte("  " + itemStr + "\n")); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+
+			// Add blank line between elements (except after the last one)
+			if i < len(seq.Content)-1 {
+				if _, err := w.Write([]byte("\n")); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		if _, err := w.Write([]byte("]\n")); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// Join scalars or nested arrays recursively into TOML array syntax
+	items := make([]string, 0, len(seq.Content))
+	for _, it := range seq.Content {
+		switch it.Kind {
+		case ScalarNode:
+			items = append(items, te.formatScalar(it))
+		case SequenceNode:
+			// Nested arrays: encode inline
+			nested, err := te.sequenceToInlineArray(it)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			items = append(items, nested)
+		case MappingNode:
+			// Inline table inside array
+			inline, err := te.mappingToInlineTable(it)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			items = append(items, inline)
+		case AliasNode:
+			return fmt.Errorf("aliases are not supported in TOML")
+		default:
+			return fmt.Errorf("unsupported array item kind: %v", it.Kind)
+		}
+	}
+
+	line := key + " = [" + strings.Join(items, ", ") + "]"
+
+	// Add line comment if present
+	if seq.LineComment != "" {
+		lineComment := strings.TrimSpace(seq.LineComment)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(lineComment, "#") {
+			lineComment = "# " + lineComment
+		}
+		line += "  " + lineComment
+	}
+
+	_, err := w.Write([]byte(line + "\n"))
+	return err
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) sequenceToInlineArray(seq *CandidateNode) (string, error) {
+	items := make([]string, 0, len(seq.Content))
+	for _, it := range seq.Content {
+		switch it.Kind {
+		case ScalarNode:
+			items = append(items, te.formatScalar(it))
+		case SequenceNode:
+			nested, err := te.sequenceToInlineArray(it)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			items = append(items, nested)
+		case MappingNode:
+			inline, err := te.mappingToInlineTable(it)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			items = append(items, inline)
+		default:
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("unsupported array item kind: %v", it.Kind)
+		}
+	}
+	return "[" + strings.Join(items, ", ") + "]", nil
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) mappingToInlineTable(m *CandidateNode) (string, error) {
+	// key = { a = 1, b = "x" }
+	parts := make([]string, 0, len(m.Content)/2)
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		k := m.Content[i].Value
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		switch v.Kind {
+		case ScalarNode:
+			parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("%s = %s", k, te.formatScalar(v)))
+		case SequenceNode:
+			// inline array in inline table
+			arr, err := te.sequenceToInlineArray(v)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("%s = %s", k, arr))
+		case MappingNode:
+			// nested inline table
+			inline, err := te.mappingToInlineTable(v)
+			if err != nil {
+				return "", err
+			}
+			parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("%s = %s", k, inline))
+		default:
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("unsupported inline table value kind: %v", v.Kind)
+		}
+	}
+	return "{ " + strings.Join(parts, ", ") + " }", nil
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) writeInlineTableAttribute(w io.Writer, key string, m *CandidateNode) error {
+	inline, err := te.mappingToInlineTable(m)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	_, err = w.Write([]byte(key + " = " + inline + "\n"))
+	return err
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) writeTableHeader(w io.Writer, path []string, m *CandidateNode) error {
+	// Add blank line before table header (or before comment if present) if we wrote root attributes
+	needsBlankLine := te.wroteRootAttr
+	if needsBlankLine {
+		if _, err := w.Write([]byte("\n")); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		te.wroteRootAttr = false // Only add once
+	}
+
+	// Write head comment before the table header
+	if m.HeadComment != "" {
+		if err := te.writeComment(w, m.HeadComment); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Write table header [a.b.c]
+	header := "[" + strings.Join(path, ".") + "]\n"
+	_, err := w.Write([]byte(header))
+	return err
+}
+
+// encodeSeparateMapping handles a mapping that should be encoded as table sections.
+// It emits the table header for this mapping if it has any content, then processes children.
+func (te *tomlEncoder) encodeSeparateMapping(w io.Writer, path []string, m *CandidateNode) error {
+	// Check if this mapping has any non-mapping, non-array-of-tables children (i.e., attributes)
+	hasAttrs := false
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		if v.Kind == ScalarNode {
+			hasAttrs = true
+			break
+		}
+		if v.Kind == SequenceNode {
+			// Check if it's NOT an array of tables
+			allMaps := true
+			for _, it := range v.Content {
+				if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+					allMaps = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if !allMaps {
+				hasAttrs = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// If there are attributes or if the mapping is empty, emit the table header
+	if hasAttrs || len(m.Content) == 0 {
+		if err := te.writeTableHeader(w, path, m); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := te.encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w, path, m); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// No attributes, just nested structures - process children
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		k := m.Content[i].Value
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		switch v.Kind {
+		case MappingNode:
+			// Emit [path.k]
+			newPath := append(append([]string{}, path...), k)
+			if err := te.writeTableHeader(w, newPath, v); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			if err := te.encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w, newPath, v); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		case SequenceNode:
+			// If sequence of maps, emit [[path.k]] per element
+			allMaps := true
+			for _, it := range v.Content {
+				if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+					allMaps = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if allMaps {
+				key := strings.Join(append(append([]string{}, path...), k), ".")
+				for _, it := range v.Content {
+					if _, err := w.Write([]byte("[[" + key + "]]\n")); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					if err := te.encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w, append(append([]string{}, path...), k), it); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+				}
+			} else {
+				// Regular array attribute under the current table path
+				if err := te.writeArrayAttribute(w, k, v); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		case ScalarNode:
+			// Attributes directly under the current table path
+			if err := te.writeAttribute(w, k, v); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) hasEncodeSeparateChild(m *CandidateNode) bool {
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		if v.Kind == MappingNode && v.EncodeSeparate {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func (te *tomlEncoder) hasStructuralChildren(m *CandidateNode) bool {
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		// Only consider it structural if mapping has EncodeSeparate or is non-empty
+		if v.Kind == MappingNode && v.EncodeSeparate {
+			return true
+		}
+		if v.Kind == SequenceNode {
+			allMaps := true
+			for _, it := range v.Content {
+				if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+					allMaps = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if allMaps {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// encodeMappingBodyWithPath encodes attributes and nested arrays of tables using full dotted path context
+func (te *tomlEncoder) encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w io.Writer, path []string, m *CandidateNode) error {
+	// First, attributes (scalars and non-map arrays)
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		k := m.Content[i].Value
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		switch v.Kind {
+		case ScalarNode:
+			if err := te.writeAttribute(w, k, v); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		case SequenceNode:
+			allMaps := true
+			for _, it := range v.Content {
+				if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+					allMaps = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if !allMaps {
+				if err := te.writeArrayAttribute(w, k, v); err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Then, nested arrays of tables with full path
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		k := m.Content[i].Value
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		if v.Kind == SequenceNode {
+			allMaps := true
+			for _, it := range v.Content {
+				if it.Kind != MappingNode {
+					allMaps = false
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if allMaps {
+				dotted := strings.Join(append(append([]string{}, path...), k), ".")
+				for _, it := range v.Content {
+					if _, err := w.Write([]byte("[[" + dotted + "]]\n")); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+					if err := te.encodeMappingBodyWithPath(w, append(append([]string{}, path...), k), it); err != nil {
+						return err
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Finally, child mappings that are not marked EncodeSeparate get inlined as attributes
+	for i := 0; i < len(m.Content); i += 2 {
+		k := m.Content[i].Value
+		v := m.Content[i+1]
+		if v.Kind == MappingNode && !v.EncodeSeparate {
+			if err := te.writeInlineTableAttribute(w, k, v); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// colorizeToml applies syntax highlighting to TOML output using fatih/color
+func (te *tomlEncoder) colorizeToml(input []byte) []byte {
+	toml := string(input)
+	result := strings.Builder{}
+
+	// Force color output (don't check for TTY)
+	color.NoColor = false
+
+	// Create color functions for different token types
+	// Use EnableColor() to ensure colors work even when NO_COLOR env is set
+	commentColorObj := color.New(color.FgHiBlack)
+	commentColorObj.EnableColor()
+	stringColorObj := color.New(color.FgGreen)
+	stringColorObj.EnableColor()
+	numberColorObj := color.New(color.FgHiMagenta)
+	numberColorObj.EnableColor()
+	keyColorObj := color.New(color.FgCyan)
+	keyColorObj.EnableColor()
+	boolColorObj := color.New(color.FgHiMagenta)
+	boolColorObj.EnableColor()
+	sectionColorObj := color.New(color.FgYellow, color.Bold)
+	sectionColorObj.EnableColor()
+
+	commentColor := commentColorObj.SprintFunc()
+	stringColor := stringColorObj.SprintFunc()
+	numberColor := numberColorObj.SprintFunc()
+	keyColor := keyColorObj.SprintFunc()
+	boolColor := boolColorObj.SprintFunc()
+	sectionColor := sectionColorObj.SprintFunc()
+
+	// Simple tokenization for TOML colouring
+	i := 0
+	for i < len(toml) {
+		ch := toml[i]
+
+		// Comments - from # to end of line
+		if ch == '#' {
+			end := i
+			for end < len(toml) && toml[end] != '\n' {
+				end++
+			}
+			result.WriteString(commentColor(toml[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Table sections - [section] or [[array]]
+		// Only treat '[' as a table section if it appears at the start of the line
+		// (possibly after whitespace). This avoids mis-colouring inline arrays like
+		// "ports = [8000, 8001]" as table sections.
+		if ch == '[' {
+			isSectionHeader := true
+			if i > 0 {
+				isSectionHeader = false
+				j := i - 1
+				for j >= 0 && toml[j] != '\n' {
+					if toml[j] != ' ' && toml[j] != '\t' && toml[j] != '\r' {
+						// Found a non-whitespace character before this '[' on the same line,
+						// so this is not a table header.
+						break
+					}
+					j--
+				}
+				if j < 0 || toml[j] == '\n' {
+					// Reached the start of the string or a newline without encountering
+					// any non-whitespace, so '[' is at the logical start of the line.
+					isSectionHeader = true
+				}
+			}
+			if isSectionHeader {
+				end := i + 1
+				// Check for [[
+				if end < len(toml) && toml[end] == '[' {
+					end++
+				}
+				// Find closing ]
+				for end < len(toml) && toml[end] != ']' {
+					end++
+				}
+				// Include closing ]
+				if end < len(toml) {
+					end++
+					// Check for ]]
+					if end < len(toml) && toml[end] == ']' {
+						end++
+					}
+				}
+				result.WriteString(sectionColor(toml[i:end]))
+				i = end
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Strings - quoted text (double or single quotes)
+		if ch == '"' || ch == '\'' {
+			quote := ch
+			end := i + 1
+			for end < len(toml) {
+				if toml[end] == quote {
+					break
+				}
+				if toml[end] == '\\' && end+1 < len(toml) {
+					// Skip the backslash and the escaped character
+					end += 2
+					continue
+				}
+				end++
+			}
+			if end < len(toml) {
+				end++ // include closing quote
+			}
+			result.WriteString(stringColor(toml[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Numbers - sequences of digits, possibly with decimal point or minus
+		if (ch >= '0' && ch <= '9') || (ch == '-' && i+1 < len(toml) && toml[i+1] >= '0' && toml[i+1] <= '9') {
+			end := i
+			if ch == '-' {
+				end++
+			}
+			for end < len(toml) {
+				c := toml[end]
+				if (c >= '0' && c <= '9') || c == '.' || c == 'e' || c == 'E' {
+					end++
+				} else if (c == '+' || c == '-') && end > 0 && (toml[end-1] == 'e' || toml[end-1] == 'E') {
+					// Only allow + or - immediately after 'e' or 'E' for scientific notation
+					end++
+				} else {
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			result.WriteString(numberColor(toml[i:end]))
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Identifiers/keys - alphanumeric + underscore + dash
+		if (ch >= 'a' && ch <= 'z') || (ch >= 'A' && ch <= 'Z') || ch == '_' {
+			end := i
+			for end < len(toml) && ((toml[end] >= 'a' && toml[end] <= 'z') ||
+				(toml[end] >= 'A' && toml[end] <= 'Z') ||
+				(toml[end] >= '0' && toml[end] <= '9') ||
+				toml[end] == '_' || toml[end] == '-') {
+				end++
+			}
+			ident := toml[i:end]
+
+			// Check if this is a boolean/null keyword
+			switch ident {
+			case "true", "false":
+				result.WriteString(boolColor(ident))
+			default:
+				// Check if followed by = or whitespace then = (it's a key)
+				j := end
+				for j < len(toml) && (toml[j] == ' ' || toml[j] == '\t') {
+					j++
+				}
+				if j < len(toml) && toml[j] == '=' {
+					result.WriteString(keyColor(ident))
+				} else {
+					result.WriteString(ident) // plain text for other identifiers
+				}
+			}
+			i = end
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Everything else (whitespace, operators, brackets) - no color
+		result.WriteByte(ch)
+		i++
+	}
+
+	return []byte(result.String())
+}

pkg/yqlib/encoder_yaml.go

@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
 package yqlib
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
-	"errors"
 	"io"
-	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/fatih/color"
 	"go.yaml.in/yaml/v4"
 )
 
@@ -25,64 +21,24 @@ func (ye *yamlEncoder) CanHandleAliases() bool {
 }
 
 func (ye *yamlEncoder) PrintDocumentSeparator(writer io.Writer) error {
-	if ye.prefs.PrintDocSeparators {
-		log.Debug("writing doc sep")
-		if err := writeString(writer, "---\n"); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	return nil
+	return PrintYAMLDocumentSeparator(writer, ye.prefs.PrintDocSeparators)
 }
 
 func (ye *yamlEncoder) PrintLeadingContent(writer io.Writer, content string) error {
-	reader := bufio.NewReader(strings.NewReader(content))
-
-	var commentLineRegEx = regexp.MustCompile(`^\s*#`)
-
-	for {
-
-		readline, errReading := reader.ReadString('\n')
-		if errReading != nil && !errors.Is(errReading, io.EOF) {
-			return errReading
-		}
-		if strings.Contains(readline, "$yqDocSeparator$") {
-
-			if err := ye.PrintDocumentSeparator(writer); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-		} else {
-			if len(readline) > 0 && readline != "\n" && readline[0] != '%' && !commentLineRegEx.MatchString(readline) {
-				readline = "# " + readline
-			}
-			if ye.prefs.ColorsEnabled && strings.TrimSpace(readline) != "" {
-				readline = format(color.FgHiBlack) + readline + format(color.Reset)
-			}
-			if err := writeString(writer, readline); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-		}
-
-		if errors.Is(errReading, io.EOF) {
-			if readline != "" {
-				// the last comment we read didn't have a newline, put one in
-				if err := writeString(writer, "\n"); err != nil {
-					return err
-				}
-			}
-			break
-		}
-	}
-
-	return nil
+	return PrintYAMLLeadingContent(writer, content, ye.prefs.PrintDocSeparators, ye.prefs.ColorsEnabled)
 }
 
 func (ye *yamlEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
 	log.Debug("encoderYaml - going to print %v", NodeToString(node))
+	// Detect line ending style from LeadingContent
+	lineEnding := "\n"
+	if strings.Contains(node.LeadingContent, "\r\n") {
+		lineEnding = "\r\n"
+	}
 	if node.Kind == ScalarNode && ye.prefs.UnwrapScalar {
 		valueToPrint := node.Value
 		if node.LeadingContent == "" || valueToPrint != "" {
-			valueToPrint = valueToPrint + "\n"
+			valueToPrint = valueToPrint + lineEnding
 		}
 		return writeString(writer, valueToPrint)
 	}
@@ -96,6 +52,9 @@ func (ye *yamlEncoder) Encode(writer io.Writer, node *CandidateNode) error {
 	var encoder = yaml.NewEncoder(destination)
 
 	encoder.SetIndent(ye.prefs.Indent)
+	if ye.prefs.CompactSequenceIndent {
+		encoder.CompactSeqIndent()
+	}
 
 	target, err := node.MarshalYAML()
 

pkg/yqlib/file_utils.go

@@ -7,7 +7,15 @@ import (
 )
 
 func tryRenameFile(from string, to string) error {
-	if renameError := os.Rename(from, to); renameError != nil {
+	if info, err := os.Lstat(to); err == nil && info.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink != 0 {
+		log.Debug("Target file is symlink, skipping rename and attempting to copy contents")
+
+		if copyError := copyFileContents(from, to); copyError != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("failed copying from %v to %v: %w", from, to, copyError)
+		}
+		tryRemoveTempFile(from)
+		return nil
+	} else if renameError := os.Rename(from, to); renameError != nil {
 		log.Debugf("Error renaming from %v to %v, attempting to copy contents", from, to)
 		log.Debug(renameError.Error())
 		log.Debug("going to try copying instead")

pkg/yqlib/format.go

@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@ var YamlFormat = &Format{"yaml", []string{"y", "yml"},
 	func() Decoder { return NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences) },
 }
 
+var KYamlFormat = &Format{"kyaml", []string{"ky"},
+	func() Encoder { return NewKYamlEncoder(ConfiguredKYamlPreferences) },
+	// KYaml is stricter YAML
+	func() Decoder { return NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences) },
+}
+
 var JSONFormat = &Format{"json", []string{"j"},
 	func() Encoder { return NewJSONEncoder(ConfiguredJSONPreferences) },
 	func() Decoder { return NewJSONDecoder() },
@@ -63,10 +69,15 @@ var ShFormat = &Format{"", nil,
 }
 
 var TomlFormat = &Format{"toml", []string{},
-	func() Encoder { return NewTomlEncoder() },
+	func() Encoder { return NewTomlEncoderWithPrefs(ConfiguredTomlPreferences) },
 	func() Decoder { return NewTomlDecoder() },
 }
 
+var HclFormat = &Format{"hcl", []string{"h", "tf"},
+	func() Encoder { return NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences) },
+	func() Decoder { return NewHclDecoder() },
+}
+
 var ShellVariablesFormat = &Format{"shell", []string{"s", "sh"},
 	func() Encoder { return NewShellVariablesEncoder() },
 	nil,
@@ -84,6 +95,7 @@ var INIFormat = &Format{"ini", []string{"i"},
 
 var Formats = []*Format{
 	YamlFormat,
+	KYamlFormat,
 	JSONFormat,
 	PropertiesFormat,
 	CSVFormat,
@@ -93,6 +105,7 @@ var Formats = []*Format{
 	UriFormat,
 	ShFormat,
 	TomlFormat,
+	HclFormat,
 	ShellVariablesFormat,
 	LuaFormat,
 	INIFormat,

pkg/yqlib/hcl.go

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package yqlib
+
+type HclPreferences struct {
+	ColorsEnabled bool
+}
+
+func NewDefaultHclPreferences() HclPreferences {
+	return HclPreferences{ColorsEnabled: false}
+}
+
+func (p *HclPreferences) Copy() HclPreferences {
+	return HclPreferences{ColorsEnabled: p.ColorsEnabled}
+}
+
+var ConfiguredHclPreferences = NewDefaultHclPreferences()

pkg/yqlib/hcl_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,585 @@
+//go:build !yq_nohcl
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+)
+
+var nestedExample = `service "http" "web_proxy" {
+  listen_addr = "127.0.0.1:8080"
+}`
+
+var nestedExampleYaml = "service:\n  http:\n    web_proxy:\n      listen_addr: \"127.0.0.1:8080\"\n"
+
+var multipleBlockLabelKeys = `service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+`
+var multipleBlockLabelKeysExpected = `service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server"]
+  }
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+`
+
+var multipleBlockLabelKeysExpectedUpdate = `service "cat" {
+  process "main" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "server", "meow"]
+  }
+  process "management" {
+    command = ["/usr/local/bin/awesome-app", "management"]
+  }
+}
+`
+
+var multipleBlockLabelKeysExpectedYaml = `service:
+  cat:
+    process:
+      main:
+        command:
+          - "/usr/local/bin/awesome-app"
+          - "server"
+      management:
+        command:
+          - "/usr/local/bin/awesome-app"
+          - "management"
+`
+
+var simpleSample = `# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)`
+
+var simpleSampleExpected = `# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum = 1 + addend
+# String interpolation and templates
+message = "Hello, ${name}!"
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message = upper(message)
+`
+
+var simpleSampleExpectedYaml = `# Arithmetic with literals and application-provided variables
+sum: 1 + addend
+# String interpolation and templates
+message: "Hello, ${name}!"
+# Application-provided functions
+shouty_message: upper(message)
+`
+
+var hclFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
+	{
+		description:  "Parse HCL",
+		input:        `io_mode = "async"`,
+		expected:     "io_mode: \"async\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Simple decode, no quotes",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `io_mode = async`,
+		expected:     "io_mode: async\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Simple roundtrip, no quotes",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `io_mode = async`,
+		expected:     "io_mode = async\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Nested decode",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        nestedExample,
+		expected:     nestedExampleYaml,
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Template decode",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `message = "Hello, ${name}!"`,
+		expected:     "message: \"Hello, ${name}!\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: with template",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `message = "Hello, ${name}!"`,
+		expected:     "message = \"Hello, ${name}!\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: with function",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `shouty_message = upper(message)`,
+		expected:     "shouty_message = upper(message)\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: with arithmetic",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `sum = 1 + addend`,
+		expected:     "sum = 1 + addend\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Arithmetic decode",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `sum = 1 + addend`,
+		expected:     "sum: 1 + addend\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "number attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `port = 8080`,
+		expected:     "port: 8080\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "float attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `pi = 3.14`,
+		expected:     "pi: 3.14\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "boolean attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `enabled = true`,
+		expected:     "enabled: true\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "object/map attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `obj = { a = 1, b = "two" }`,
+		expected:     "obj: {a: 1, b: \"two\"}\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "nested block",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `server { port = 8080 }`,
+		expected:     "server:\n  port: 8080\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "multiple attributes",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "name = \"app\"\nversion = 1\nenabled = true",
+		expected:     "name: \"app\"\nversion: 1\nenabled: true\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "binary expression",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `count = 0 - 42`,
+		expected:     "count: -42\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "negative number",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `count = -42`,
+		expected:     "count: -42\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "scientific notation",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `value = 1e-3`,
+		expected:     "value: 0.001\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "nested object",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `config = { db = { host = "localhost", port = 5432 } }`,
+		expected:     "config: {db: {host: \"localhost\", port: 5432}}\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "mixed list",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `values = [1, "two", true]`,
+		expected:     "values:\n  - 1\n  - \"two\"\n  - true\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: Sample Doc",
+		input:        multipleBlockLabelKeys,
+		expected:     multipleBlockLabelKeysExpected,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: With an update",
+		input:        multipleBlockLabelKeys,
+		expression:   `.service.cat.process.main.command += "meow"`,
+		expected:     multipleBlockLabelKeysExpectedUpdate,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Parse HCL: Sample Doc",
+		input:        multipleBlockLabelKeys,
+		expected:     multipleBlockLabelKeysExpectedYaml,
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "block with labels",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `resource "aws_instance" "example" { ami = "ami-12345" }`,
+		expected:     "resource:\n  aws_instance:\n    example:\n      ami: \"ami-12345\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "block with labels roundtrip",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `resource "aws_instance" "example" { ami = "ami-12345" }`,
+		expected:     "resource \"aws_instance\" \"example\" {\n  ami = \"ami-12345\"\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip simple attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `io_mode = "async"`,
+		expected:     `io_mode = "async"` + "\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip number attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `port = 8080`,
+		expected:     "port = 8080\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip float attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `pi = 3.14`,
+		expected:     "pi = 3.14\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip boolean attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `enabled = true`,
+		expected:     "enabled = true\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip list of strings",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `tags = ["a", "b"]`,
+		expected:     "tags = [\"a\", \"b\"]\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip object/map attribute",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `obj = { a = 1, b = "two" }`,
+		expected:     "obj = {\n  a = 1\n  b = \"two\"\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip nested block",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `server { port = 8080 }`,
+		expected:     "server {\n  port = 8080\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip multiple attributes",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "name = \"app\"\nversion = 1\nenabled = true",
+		expected:     "name = \"app\"\nversion = 1\nenabled = true\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Parse HCL: with comments",
+		input:        "# Configuration\nport = 8080 # server port",
+		expected:     "# Configuration\nport: 8080 # server port\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: with comments",
+		input:        "# Configuration\nport = 8080",
+		expected:     "# Configuration\nport = 8080\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip:  extraction",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        simpleSample,
+		expression:   ".shouty_message",
+		expected:     "upper(message)\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: With templates, functions and arithmetic",
+		input:        simpleSample,
+		expected:     simpleSampleExpected,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip example",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        simpleSample,
+		expected:     simpleSampleExpectedYaml,
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Parse HCL: List of strings",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `tags = ["a", "b"]`,
+		expected:     "tags:\n  - \"a\"\n  - \"b\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip list of objects",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `items = [{ name = "a", value = 1 }, { name = "b", value = 2 }]`,
+		expected:     "items = [{\n  name = \"a\"\n  value = 1\n  }, {\n  name = \"b\"\n  value = 2\n}]\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip nested blocks with same name",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "database \"primary\" {\n  host = \"localhost\"\n  port = 5432\n}\ndatabase \"replica\" {\n  host = \"replica.local\"\n  port = 5433\n}",
+		expected:     "database \"primary\" {\n  host = \"localhost\"\n  port = 5432\n}\ndatabase \"replica\" {\n  host = \"replica.local\"\n  port = 5433\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip mixed nested structure",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "servers \"web\" {\n  addresses = [\"10.0.1.1\", \"10.0.1.2\"]\n  port = 8080\n}",
+		expected:     "servers \"web\" {\n  addresses = [\"10.0.1.1\", \"10.0.1.2\"]\n  port = 8080\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip null value",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `value = null`,
+		expected:     "value = null\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip empty list",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `items = []`,
+		expected:     "items = []\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip empty object",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `config = {}`,
+		expected:     "config = {}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: Separate blocks with same name.",
+		input:        "resource \"aws_instance\" \"web\" {\n  ami = \"ami-12345\"\n}\nresource \"aws_instance\" \"db\" {\n  ami = \"ami-67890\"\n}",
+		expected:     "resource \"aws_instance\" \"web\" {\n  ami = \"ami-12345\"\n}\nresource \"aws_instance\" \"db\" {\n  ami = \"ami-67890\"\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip deeply nested structure",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "app \"database\" \"primary\" \"connection\" {\n  host = \"db.local\"\n  port = 5432\n}",
+		expected:     "app \"database\" \"primary\" \"connection\" {\n  host = \"db.local\"\n  port = 5432\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "roundtrip with leading comments",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "# Main config\nenabled = true\nport = 8080",
+		expected:     "# Main config\nenabled = true\nport = 8080\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Multiple attributes with comments (comment safety with safe path separator)",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "# Database config\ndb_host = \"localhost\"\n# Connection pool\ndb_pool = 10",
+		expected:     "# Database config\ndb_host = \"localhost\"\n# Connection pool\ndb_pool = 10\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Nested blocks with head comments",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "service \"api\" {\n  # Listen address\n  listen = \"0.0.0.0:8080\"\n  # TLS enabled\n  tls = true\n}",
+		expected:     "service \"api\" {\n  # Listen address\n  listen = \"0.0.0.0:8080\"\n  # TLS enabled\n  tls = true\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Multiple blocks with EncodeSeparate preservation",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "resource \"aws_s3_bucket\" \"bucket1\" {\n  bucket = \"my-bucket-1\"\n}\nresource \"aws_s3_bucket\" \"bucket2\" {\n  bucket = \"my-bucket-2\"\n}",
+		expected:     "resource \"aws_s3_bucket\" \"bucket1\" {\n  bucket = \"my-bucket-1\"\n}\nresource \"aws_s3_bucket\" \"bucket2\" {\n  bucket = \"my-bucket-2\"\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Blocks with same name handled separately",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "server \"primary\" { port = 8080 }\nserver \"backup\" { port = 8081 }",
+		expected:     "server \"primary\" {\n  port = 8080\n}\nserver \"backup\" {\n  port = 8081\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Block label with dot roundtrip (commentPathSep)",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        "service \"api.service\" {\n  port = 8080\n}",
+		expected:     "service \"api.service\" {\n  port = 8080\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Nested template expression",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `message = "User: ${username}, Role: ${user_role}"`,
+		expected:     "message = \"User: ${username}, Role: ${user_role}\"\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Empty object roundtrip",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `obj = {}`,
+		expected:     "obj = {}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Null value in block",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        `service { optional_field = null }`,
+		expected:     "service {\n  optional_field = null\n}\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+}
+
+func testHclScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "decode":
+		result := mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewHclDecoder(), NewYamlEncoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences))
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, result, s.description)
+	case "roundtrip":
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(t, s.expected, mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewHclDecoder(), NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences)), s.description)
+	}
+}
+
+func documentHclScenario(_ *testing.T, w *bufio.Writer, i interface{}) {
+	s := i.(formatScenario)
+
+	if s.skipDoc {
+		return
+	}
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "", "decode":
+		documentHclDecodeScenario(w, s)
+	case "roundtrip":
+		documentHclRoundTripScenario(w, s)
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
+	}
+}
+
+func documentHclDecodeScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.hcl file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```hcl\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+	expression := s.expression
+	if s.expression != "" {
+		expression = fmt.Sprintf(" '%v'", s.expression)
+	}
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -oy%v sample.hcl\n```\n", expression))
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewHclDecoder(), NewYamlEncoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences))))
+}
+
+func documentHclRoundTripScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.hcl file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```hcl\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+	expression := s.expression
+	if s.expression != "" {
+		expression = fmt.Sprintf(" '%v'", s.expression)
+	}
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq%v sample.hcl\n```\n", expression))
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```hcl\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewHclDecoder(), NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences))))
+}
+
+func TestHclEncoderPrintDocumentSeparator(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences)
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&buf)
+
+	err := encoder.PrintDocumentSeparator(writer)
+	writer.Flush()
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", buf.String())
+}
+
+func TestHclEncoderPrintLeadingContent(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences)
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&buf)
+
+	err := encoder.PrintLeadingContent(writer, "some content")
+	writer.Flush()
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", buf.String())
+}
+
+func TestHclEncoderCanHandleAliases(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewHclEncoder(ConfiguredHclPreferences)
+	test.AssertResult(t, false, encoder.CanHandleAliases())
+}
+
+func TestHclFormatScenarios(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range hclFormatScenarios {
+		testHclScenario(t, tt)
+	}
+	genericScenarios := make([]interface{}, len(hclFormatScenarios))
+	for i, s := range hclFormatScenarios {
+		genericScenarios[i] = s
+	}
+	documentScenarios(t, "usage", "hcl", genericScenarios, documentHclScenario)
+}

pkg/yqlib/kyaml.go

@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+//go:build !yq_nokyaml
+
+package yqlib
+
+type KYamlPreferences struct {
+	Indent             int
+	ColorsEnabled      bool
+	PrintDocSeparators bool
+	UnwrapScalar       bool
+}
+
+func NewDefaultKYamlPreferences() KYamlPreferences {
+	return KYamlPreferences{
+		Indent:             2,
+		ColorsEnabled:      false,
+		PrintDocSeparators: true,
+		UnwrapScalar:       true,
+	}
+}
+
+func (p *KYamlPreferences) Copy() KYamlPreferences {
+	return KYamlPreferences{
+		Indent:             p.Indent,
+		ColorsEnabled:      p.ColorsEnabled,
+		PrintDocSeparators: p.PrintDocSeparators,
+		UnwrapScalar:       p.UnwrapScalar,
+	}
+}
+
+var ConfiguredKYamlPreferences = NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()

pkg/yqlib/kyaml_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,542 @@
+//go:build !yq_nokyaml
+
+package yqlib
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
+)
+
+var ansiRe = regexp.MustCompile(`\x1b\[[0-9;]*m`)
+
+func stripANSI(s string) string {
+	return ansiRe.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
+}
+
+var kyamlFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
+	{
+		description:    "Encode kyaml: plain string scalar",
+		subdescription: "Strings are always double-quoted in KYaml output.",
+		scenarioType:   "encode",
+		indent:         2,
+		input:          "cat\n",
+		expected:       "\"cat\"\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "encode plain int scalar",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "12\n",
+		expected:     "12\n",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "encode plain bool scalar",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "true\n",
+		expected:     "true\n",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "encode plain null scalar",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "null\n",
+		expected:     "null\n",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "encode flow mapping and sequence",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "a: b\nc:\n  - d\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  a: \"b\",\n" +
+			"  c: [\n" +
+			"    \"d\",\n" +
+			"  ],\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "encode non-string scalars",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input: "a: 12\n" +
+			"b: true\n" +
+			"c: null\n" +
+			"d: \"true\"\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  a: 12,\n" +
+			"  b: true,\n" +
+			"  c: null,\n" +
+			"  d: \"true\",\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "quote non-identifier keys",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "\"1a\": b\n\"has space\": c\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  \"1a\": \"b\",\n" +
+			"  \"has space\": \"c\",\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "escape quoted strings",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input:        "a: \"line1\\nline2\\t\\\"q\\\"\"\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  a: \"line1\\nline2\\t\\\"q\\\"\",\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "preserve comments when encoding",
+		scenarioType: "encode",
+		indent:       2,
+		input: "# leading\n" +
+			"a: 1 # a line\n" +
+			"# head b\n" +
+			"b: 2\n" +
+			"c:\n" +
+			"  # head d\n" +
+			"  - d # d line\n" +
+			"  - e\n" +
+			"# trailing\n",
+		expected: "# leading\n" +
+			"{\n" +
+			"  a: 1, # a line\n" +
+			"  # head b\n" +
+			"  b: 2,\n" +
+			"  c: [\n" +
+			"    # head d\n" +
+			"    \"d\", # d line\n" +
+			"    \"e\",\n" +
+			"  ],\n" +
+			"  # trailing\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "Encode kyaml: anchors and aliases",
+		subdescription: "KYaml output does not support anchors/aliases; they are expanded to concrete values.",
+		scenarioType:   "encode",
+		indent:         2,
+		input: "base: &base\n" +
+			"  a: b\n" +
+			"copy: *base\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  base: {\n" +
+			"    a: \"b\",\n" +
+			"  },\n" +
+			"  copy: {\n" +
+			"    a: \"b\",\n" +
+			"  },\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "Encode kyaml: yaml to kyaml shows formatting differences",
+		subdescription: "KYaml uses flow-style collections (braces/brackets) and explicit commas.",
+		scenarioType:   "encode",
+		indent:         2,
+		input: "person:\n" +
+			"  name: John\n" +
+			"  pets:\n" +
+			"    - cat\n" +
+			"    - dog\n",
+		expected: "{\n" +
+			"  person: {\n" +
+			"    name: \"John\",\n" +
+			"    pets: [\n" +
+			"      \"cat\",\n" +
+			"      \"dog\",\n" +
+			"    ],\n" +
+			"  },\n" +
+			"}\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "Encode kyaml: nested lists of objects",
+		subdescription: "Lists and objects can be nested arbitrarily; KYaml always uses flow-style collections.",
+		scenarioType:   "encode",
+		indent:         2,
+		input: "- name: a\n" +
+			"  items:\n" +
+			"    - id: 1\n" +
+			"      tags:\n" +
+			"        - k: x\n" +
+			"          v: y\n" +
+			"        - k: x2\n" +
+			"          v: y2\n" +
+			"    - id: 2\n" +
+			"      tags:\n" +
+			"        - k: z\n" +
+			"          v: w\n",
+		expected: "[\n" +
+			"  {\n" +
+			"    name: \"a\",\n" +
+			"    items: [\n" +
+			"      {\n" +
+			"        id: 1,\n" +
+			"        tags: [\n" +
+			"          {\n" +
+			"            k: \"x\",\n" +
+			"            v: \"y\",\n" +
+			"          },\n" +
+			"          {\n" +
+			"            k: \"x2\",\n" +
+			"            v: \"y2\",\n" +
+			"          },\n" +
+			"        ],\n" +
+			"      },\n" +
+			"      {\n" +
+			"        id: 2,\n" +
+			"        tags: [\n" +
+			"          {\n" +
+			"            k: \"z\",\n" +
+			"            v: \"w\",\n" +
+			"          },\n" +
+			"        ],\n" +
+			"      },\n" +
+			"    ],\n" +
+			"  },\n" +
+			"]\n",
+	},
+}
+
+func testKYamlScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {
+	prefs := ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.Copy()
+	prefs.Indent = s.indent
+	prefs.UnwrapScalar = false
+
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "encode":
+		test.AssertResultWithContext(
+			t,
+			s.expected,
+			mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences), NewKYamlEncoder(prefs)),
+			s.description,
+		)
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
+	}
+}
+
+func documentKYamlScenario(_ *testing.T, w *bufio.Writer, i interface{}) {
+	s := i.(formatScenario)
+	if s.skipDoc {
+		return
+	}
+
+	switch s.scenarioType {
+	case "encode":
+		documentKYamlEncodeScenario(w, s)
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled scenario type %q", s.scenarioType))
+	}
+}
+
+func documentKYamlEncodeScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("## %v\n", s.description))
+
+	if s.subdescription != "" {
+		writeOrPanic(w, s.subdescription)
+		writeOrPanic(w, "\n\n")
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "Given a sample.yml file of:\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
+
+	expression := s.expression
+	if expression == "" {
+		expression = "."
+	}
+
+	if s.indent == 2 {
+		writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -o=kyaml '%v' sample.yml\n```\n", expression))
+	} else {
+		writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -o=kyaml -I=%v '%v' sample.yml\n```\n", s.indent, expression))
+	}
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
+
+	prefs := ConfiguredKYamlPreferences.Copy()
+	prefs.Indent = s.indent
+	prefs.UnwrapScalar = false
+
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewYamlDecoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences), NewKYamlEncoder(prefs))))
+}
+
+func TestKYamlFormatScenarios(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, s := range kyamlFormatScenarios {
+		testKYamlScenario(t, s)
+	}
+
+	genericScenarios := make([]interface{}, len(kyamlFormatScenarios))
+	for i, s := range kyamlFormatScenarios {
+		genericScenarios[i] = s
+	}
+	documentScenarios(t, "usage", "kyaml", genericScenarios, documentKYamlScenario)
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderPrintDocumentSeparator(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("enabled", func(t *testing.T) {
+		prefs := NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()
+		prefs.PrintDocSeparators = true
+
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := NewKYamlEncoder(prefs).PrintDocumentSeparator(&buf)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "---\n" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected doc separator, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("disabled", func(t *testing.T) {
+		prefs := NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()
+		prefs.PrintDocSeparators = false
+
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := NewKYamlEncoder(prefs).PrintDocumentSeparator(&buf)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected no output, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderEncodeUnwrapScalar(t *testing.T) {
+	prefs := NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()
+	prefs.UnwrapScalar = true
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	err := NewKYamlEncoder(prefs).Encode(&buf, &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "cat",
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if buf.String() != "cat\n" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected unwrapped scalar, got %q", buf.String())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderEncodeColorsEnabled(t *testing.T) {
+	prefs := NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()
+	prefs.UnwrapScalar = false
+	prefs.ColorsEnabled = true
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	err := NewKYamlEncoder(prefs).Encode(&buf, &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "a"},
+			{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!str", Value: "b"},
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	out := stripANSI(buf.String())
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "a:") || !strings.Contains(out, "\"b\"") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected colourised output to contain rendered tokens, got %q", out)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderWriteNodeAliasAndUnknown(t *testing.T) {
+	ke := NewKYamlEncoder(NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()).(*kyamlEncoder)
+
+	t.Run("alias_nil", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{Kind: AliasNode}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "null" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected null for nil alias, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("alias_value", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{
+			Kind:  AliasNode,
+			Alias: &CandidateNode{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!int", Value: "12"},
+		}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "12" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected dereferenced alias value, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("unknown_kind", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{Kind: Kind(12345)}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "null" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected null for unknown kind, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderEmptyCollections(t *testing.T) {
+	ke := NewKYamlEncoder(NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()).(*kyamlEncoder)
+
+	t.Run("empty_mapping", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{Kind: MappingNode}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "{}" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected empty mapping, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("empty_sequence", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{Kind: SequenceNode}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "[]" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected empty sequence, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderScalarFallbackAndEscaping(t *testing.T) {
+	ke := NewKYamlEncoder(NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()).(*kyamlEncoder)
+
+	t.Run("unknown_tag_falls_back_to_string", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{Kind: ScalarNode, Tag: "!!timestamp", Value: "2020-01-01T00:00:00Z"}, 0)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != "\"2020-01-01T00:00:00Z\"" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected quoted fallback, got %q", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("escape_double_quoted", func(t *testing.T) {
+		got := escapeDoubleQuotedString("a\\b\"c\n\r\t" + string(rune(0x01)))
+		want := "a\\\\b\\\"c\\n\\r\\t\\u0001"
+		if got != want {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %q, got %q", want, got)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("valid_bare_key", func(t *testing.T) {
+		if isValidKYamlBareKey("") {
+			t.Fatalf("expected empty string to be invalid")
+		}
+		if isValidKYamlBareKey("1a") {
+			t.Fatalf("expected leading digit to be invalid")
+		}
+		if !isValidKYamlBareKey("a_b-2") {
+			t.Fatalf("expected identifier-like key to be valid")
+		}
+	})
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderCommentsInMapping(t *testing.T) {
+	prefs := NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()
+	prefs.UnwrapScalar = false
+	ke := NewKYamlEncoder(prefs).(*kyamlEncoder)
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	err := ke.writeNode(&buf, &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Content: []*CandidateNode{
+			{
+				Kind:        ScalarNode,
+				Tag:         "!!str",
+				Value:       "a",
+				HeadComment: "key head",
+				LineComment: "key line",
+				FootComment: "key foot",
+			},
+			{
+				Kind:        ScalarNode,
+				Tag:         "!!str",
+				Value:       "b",
+				HeadComment: "value head",
+			},
+		},
+	}, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	out := buf.String()
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "# key head\n") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected key head comment, got %q", out)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "# value head\n") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected value head comment, got %q", out)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, ", # key line\n") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected inline key comment fallback, got %q", out)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(out, "# key foot\n") {
+		t.Fatalf("expected foot comment fallback, got %q", out)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestKYamlEncoderCommentBlockAndInlineComment(t *testing.T) {
+	ke := NewKYamlEncoder(NewDefaultKYamlPreferences()).(*kyamlEncoder)
+
+	t.Run("comment_block_prefixing_and_crlf", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeCommentBlock(&buf, "line1\r\n\r\n# already\r\nline2", 2)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		want := "  # line1\n  # already\n  # line2\n"
+		if buf.String() != want {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %q, got %q", want, buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("inline_comment_prefix_and_first_line_only", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeInlineComment(&buf, "hello\r\nsecond line")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != " # hello" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %q, got %q", " # hello", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("inline_comment_already_prefixed", func(t *testing.T) {
+		var buf bytes.Buffer
+		err := ke.writeInlineComment(&buf, "# hello")
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if buf.String() != " # hello" {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %q, got %q", " # hello", buf.String())
+		}
+	})
+}

pkg/yqlib/lexer.go

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func unwrap(value string) string {
 }
 
 func extractNumberParameter(value string) (int, error) {
-	parameterParser := regexp.MustCompile(`.*\(([0-9]+)\)`)
+	parameterParser := regexp.MustCompile(`.*\((-?[0-9]+)\)`)
 	matches := parameterParser.FindStringSubmatch(value)
 	var indent, errParsingInt = parseInt(matches[1])
 	if errParsingInt != nil {

pkg/yqlib/lexer_participle.go

@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ var participleYqRules = []*participleYqRule{
 	simpleOp("sort_?keys", sortKeysOpType),
 
 	{"ArrayToMap", "array_?to_?map", expressionOpToken(`(.[] | select(. != null) ) as $i ireduce({}; .[$i | key] = $i)`), 0},
-
+	{"Root", "root", expressionOpToken(`parent(-1)`), 0},
 	{"YamlEncodeWithIndent", `to_?yaml\([0-9]+\)`, encodeParseIndent(YamlFormat), 0},
 	{"XMLEncodeWithIndent", `to_?xml\([0-9]+\)`, encodeParseIndent(XMLFormat), 0},
 	{"JSONEncodeWithIndent", `to_?json\([0-9]+\)`, encodeParseIndent(JSONFormat), 0},
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ var participleYqRules = []*participleYqRule{
 	simpleOp("split", splitStringOpType),
 
 	simpleOp("parents", getParentsOpType),
-	{"ParentWithLevel", `parent\([0-9]+\)`, parentWithLevel(), 0},
+	{"ParentWithLevel", `parent\(-?[0-9]+\)`, parentWithLevel(), 0},
 	{"ParentWithDefaultLevel", `parent`, parentWithDefaultLevel(), 0},
 
 	simpleOp("keys", keysOpType),
@@ -451,6 +451,7 @@ func multiplyWithPrefs(op *operationType) yqAction {
 			prefs.AssignPrefs.ClobberCustomTags = true
 		}
 		prefs.TraversePrefs.DontFollowAlias = true
+		prefs.TraversePrefs.ExactKeyMatch = true
 		op := &Operation{OperationType: op, Value: multiplyOpType.Type, StringValue: options, Preferences: prefs}
 		return &token{TokenType: operationToken, Operation: op}, nil
 	}

pkg/yqlib/lib.go

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ func GetLogger() *logging.Logger {
 }
 
 func getContentValueByKey(content []*CandidateNode, key string) *CandidateNode {
-	for index := 0; index < len(content); index = index + 2 {
+	for index := 0; index < len(content)-1; index = index + 2 {
 		keyNode := content[index]
 		valueNode := content[index+1]
 		if keyNode.Value == key {
@@ -187,15 +187,69 @@ func parseInt(numberString string) (int, error) {
 }
 
 func processEscapeCharacters(original string) string {
-	value := original
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\\"", "\"")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\n", "\n")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\t", "\t")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\r", "\r")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\f", "\f")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\v", "\v")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\b", "\b")
-	value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\\a", "\a")
+	if original == "" {
+		return original
+	}
+
+	var result strings.Builder
+	runes := []rune(original)
+
+	for i := 0; i < len(runes); i++ {
+		if runes[i] == '\\' && i < len(runes)-1 {
+			next := runes[i+1]
+			switch next {
+			case '\\':
+				// Check if followed by opening bracket - if so, preserve both backslashes
+				// this is required for string interpolation to work correctly.
+				if i+2 < len(runes) && runes[i+2] == '(' {
+					// Preserve \\ when followed by (
+					result.WriteRune('\\')
+					result.WriteRune('\\')
+					i++ // Skip the next backslash (we'll process the ( normally on next iteration)
+					continue
+				}
+				// Escaped backslash: \\ -> \
+				result.WriteRune('\\')
+				i++ // Skip the next backslash
+				continue
+			case '"':
+				result.WriteRune('"')
+				i++ // Skip the quote
+				continue
+			case 'n':
+				result.WriteRune('\n')
+				i++ // Skip the 'n'
+				continue
+			case 't':
+				result.WriteRune('\t')
+				i++ // Skip the 't'
+				continue
+			case 'r':
+				result.WriteRune('\r')
+				i++ // Skip the 'r'
+				continue
+			case 'f':
+				result.WriteRune('\f')
+				i++ // Skip the 'f'
+				continue
+			case 'v':
+				result.WriteRune('\v')
+				i++ // Skip the 'v'
+				continue
+			case 'b':
+				result.WriteRune('\b')
+				i++ // Skip the 'b'
+				continue
+			case 'a':
+				result.WriteRune('\a')
+				i++ // Skip the 'a'
+				continue
+			}
+		}
+		result.WriteRune(runes[i])
+	}
+
+	value := result.String()
 	if value != original {
 		log.Debug("processEscapeCharacters from [%v] to [%v]", original, value)
 	}

pkg/yqlib/lib_test.go

@@ -408,3 +408,122 @@ func TestKindString(t *testing.T) {
 	test.AssertResult(t, "AliasNode", KindString(AliasNode))
 	test.AssertResult(t, "unknown!", KindString(Kind(999))) // Invalid kind
 }
+
+type processEscapeCharactersScenario struct {
+	input    string
+	expected string
+}
+
+var processEscapeCharactersScenarios = []processEscapeCharactersScenario{
+	{
+		input:    "",
+		expected: "",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello",
+		expected: "hello",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\\"",
+		expected: "\"",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\\"world",
+		expected: "hello\"world",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\n",
+		expected: "\n",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "line1\\nline2",
+		expected: "line1\nline2",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\t",
+		expected: "\t",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\tworld",
+		expected: "hello\tworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\r",
+		expected: "\r",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\rworld",
+		expected: "hello\rworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\f",
+		expected: "\f",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\fworld",
+		expected: "hello\fworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\v",
+		expected: "\v",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\vworld",
+		expected: "hello\vworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\b",
+		expected: "\b",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\bworld",
+		expected: "hello\bworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\a",
+		expected: "\a",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "hello\\aworld",
+		expected: "hello\aworld",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\\"\\n\\t\\r\\f\\v\\b\\a",
+		expected: "\"\n\t\r\f\v\b\a",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "multiple\\nlines\\twith\\ttabs",
+		expected: "multiple\nlines\twith\ttabs",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "quote\\\"here",
+		expected: "quote\"here",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\\\",
+		expected: "\\", // Backslash is processed: "\\\\" becomes "\\"
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "\\\"test\\\"",
+		expected: "\"test\"",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "a\\\\b",
+		expected: "a\\b", // Tests roundtrip: "a\\\\b" should become "a\\b"
+	},
+	{
+		input:    "Hi \\\\(.value)",
+		expected: "Hi \\\\(.value)",
+	},
+	{
+		input:    `a\\b`,
+		expected: "a\\b",
+	},
+}
+
+func TestProcessEscapeCharacters(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tt := range processEscapeCharactersScenarios {
+		actual := processEscapeCharacters(tt.input)
+		test.AssertResultComplexWithContext(t, tt.expected, actual, fmt.Sprintf("Input: %q", tt.input))
+	}
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_hcl.go

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+//go:build yq_nohcl
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewHclDecoder() Decoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewHclEncoder(_ HclPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_kyaml.go

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+//go:build yq_nokyaml
+
+package yqlib
+
+func NewKYamlEncoder(_ KYamlPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/no_toml.go

@@ -5,3 +5,11 @@ package yqlib
 func NewTomlDecoder() Decoder {
 	return nil
 }
+
+func NewTomlEncoder() Encoder {
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewTomlEncoderWithPrefs(prefs TomlPreferences) Encoder {
+	return nil
+}

pkg/yqlib/operator_anchors_aliases_test.go

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 )
 
-var specDocument = `- &CENTER { x: 1, y: 2 }
+var specDocument = `- &CENTRE { x: 1, y: 2 }
 - &LEFT { x: 0, y: 2 }
 - &BIG { r: 10 }
 - &SMALL { r: 1 }
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ var fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 	{
 		description:    "FIXED: Merge multiple maps",
 		subdescription: "Taken from https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. Same values as legacy, but with the correct key order.",
-		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTER, *BIG ]\n",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTRE, *BIG ]\n",
 		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
 		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::x: 1\ny: 2\nr: 10\n"},
 	},
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ var fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:        true,
-		description:    "Exploding merge anchor should not explode neighbors",
+		description:    "Exploding merge anchor should not explode neighbours",
 		subdescription: "b must not be exploded, as `r: *a` will become invalid",
 		document:       `{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {<<: *b}}`,
 		expression:     `explode(.c)`,
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ var fixedAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:        true,
-		description:    "Exploding sequence merge anchor should not explode neighbors",
+		description:    "Exploding sequence merge anchor should not explode neighbours",
 		subdescription: "b must not be exploded, as `r: *a` will become invalid",
 		document:       `{b: &b {a: &a 42}, r: *a, c: {<<: [*b]}}`,
 		expression:     `explode(.c)`,
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ var badAnchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 	{
 		description:    "LEGACY: Merge multiple maps",
 		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html. This has the correct data, but the wrong key order; set --yaml-fix-merge-anchor-to-spec=true to fix the key order.",
-		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTER, *BIG ]\n",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : [ *CENTRE, *BIG ]\n",
 		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
 		expected:       []string{"D0, P[4], (!!map)::r: 10\nx: 1\ny: 2\n"},
 	},
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ var anchorOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 	{
 		description:    "Merge one map",
 		subdescription: "see https://yaml.org/type/merge.html",
-		document:       specDocument + "- << : *CENTER\n  r: 10\n",
+		document:       specDocument + "- << : *CENTRE\n  r: 10\n",
 		expression:     ".[4] | explode(.)",
 		expected:       []string{expectedSpecResult},
 	},

pkg/yqlib/operator_env.go

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func envOperator(_ *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Expressi
 		node = &CandidateNode{
 			Kind:  ScalarNode,
 			Tag:   "!!str",
-			Value: processEscapeCharacters(rawValue),
+			Value: rawValue,
 		}
 	} else if rawValue == "" {
 		return Context{}, fmt.Errorf("value for env variable '%v' not provided in env()", envName)

pkg/yqlib/operator_env_test.go

@@ -63,78 +63,6 @@ var envOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"12\"\n",
 		},
 	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with newline escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\n"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: |\n    string with a\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with tab escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\t"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\t\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with carriage return escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\r"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\r\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with form feed escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\f"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\f\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with vertical tab escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\v"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\v\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with backspace escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\b"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\b\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with alert/bell escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\a"},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: \"string with a\\a\"\n",
-		},
-	},
-	{
-		description:          "strenv with double quote escape",
-		skipDoc:              true,
-		environmentVariables: map[string]string{"myenv": "string with a\\\""},
-		expression:           `.a = strenv(myenv)`,
-		expected: []string{
-			"D0, P[], ()::a: string with a\"\n",
-		},
-	},
 	{
 		description:          "Dynamically update a path from an environment variable",
 		subdescription:       "The env variable can be any valid yq expression.",

pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply.go

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func multiplyAssignOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNod
 
 func multiplyOperator(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *ExpressionNode) (Context, error) {
 	log.Debugf("MultiplyOperator")
-	return crossFunction(d, context, expressionNode, multiply(expressionNode.Operation.Preferences.(multiplyPreferences)), false)
+	return crossFunction(d, context.ReadOnlyClone(), expressionNode, multiply(expressionNode.Operation.Preferences.(multiplyPreferences)), false)
 }
 
 func getComments(lhs *CandidateNode, rhs *CandidateNode) (leadingContent string, headComment string, footComment string) {
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ func mergeObjects(d *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, lhs *CandidateNode, rhs
 
 	// only need to recurse the array if we are doing a deep merge
 	prefs := recursiveDescentPreferences{RecurseArray: preferences.DeepMergeArrays,
-		TraversePreferences: traversePreferences{DontFollowAlias: true, IncludeMapKeys: true}}
+		TraversePreferences: traversePreferences{DontFollowAlias: true, IncludeMapKeys: true, ExactKeyMatch: true}}
 	log.Debugf("merge - preferences.DeepMergeArrays %v", preferences.DeepMergeArrays)
 	log.Debugf("merge - preferences.AppendArrays %v", preferences.AppendArrays)
 	err := recursiveDecent(results, context.SingleChildContext(rhs), prefs)

pkg/yqlib/operator_multiply_test.go

@@ -86,7 +86,35 @@ c:
   <<: *cat
 `
 
+var mergeWithGlobA = `
+"**cat": things,
+"meow**cat": stuff
+`
+
+var mergeWithGlobB = `
+"**cat": newThings,
+`
+
 var multiplyOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
+	{
+		description: "multiple should be readonly",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    "",
+		expression:  ".x |= (root | (.a * .b))",
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], ()::x: null\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "glob keys are treated as literals when merging",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    mergeWithGlobA,
+		document2:   mergeWithGlobB,
+		expression:  `select(fi == 0) * select(fi == 1)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::\n\"**cat\": newThings,\n\"meow**cat\": stuff\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		skipDoc:    true,
 		document:   mergeArrayWithAnchors,

pkg/yqlib/operator_parent.go

@@ -35,9 +35,28 @@ func getParentOperator(_ *dataTreeNavigator, context Context, expressionNode *Ex
 
 	for el := context.MatchingNodes.Front(); el != nil; el = el.Next() {
 		candidate := el.Value.(*CandidateNode)
+
+		// Handle negative levels: count total parents first
+		levelsToGoUp := prefs.Level
+		if prefs.Level < 0 {
+			// Count all parents
+			totalParents := 0
+			temp := candidate.Parent
+			for temp != nil {
+				totalParents++
+				temp = temp.Parent
+			}
+			// Convert negative index to positive
+			// -1 means last parent (root), -2 means second to last, etc.
+			levelsToGoUp = totalParents + prefs.Level + 1
+			if levelsToGoUp < 0 {
+				levelsToGoUp = 0
+			}
+		}
+
 		currentLevel := 0
-		for currentLevel < prefs.Level && candidate != nil {
-			log.Debugf("currentLevel: %v, desired: %v", currentLevel, prefs.Level)
+		for currentLevel < levelsToGoUp && candidate != nil {
+			log.Debugf("currentLevel: %v, desired: %v", currentLevel, levelsToGoUp)
 			log.Debugf("candidate: %v", NodeToString(candidate))
 			candidate = candidate.Parent
 			currentLevel++

pkg/yqlib/operator_parent_test.go

@@ -38,6 +38,58 @@ var parentOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!seq)::- {c: cat}\n- {b: {c: cat}}\n- {a: {b: {c: cat}}}\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		description:    "Get the top (root) parent",
+		subdescription: "Use negative numbers to get the top parents. You can think of this as indexing into the 'parents' array above",
+		document:       "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:     `.a.b.c | parent(-1)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a:\n    b:\n        c: cat\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description:    "Root",
+		subdescription: "Alias for parent(-1), returns the top level parent. This is usually the document node.",
+		document:       "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:     `.a.b.c | root`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a:\n    b:\n        c: cat\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "boundary negative",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:  `.a.b.c | parent(-3)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[a b], (!!map)::c: cat\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "large negative",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:  `.a.b.c | parent(-10)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[a b c], (!!str)::cat\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "parent zero",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:  `.a.b.c | parent(0)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[a b c], (!!str)::cat\n",
+		},
+	},
+	{
+		description: "large positive",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		document:    "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:  `.a.b.c | parent(10)`,
+		expected:    []string{},
+	},
 	{
 		description:    "N-th parent",
 		subdescription: "You can optionally supply the number of levels to go up for the parent, the default being 1.",
@@ -55,6 +107,15 @@ var parentOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
 			"D0, P[], (!!map)::a:\n    b:\n        c: cat\n",
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		description:    "N-th negative",
+		subdescription: "Similarly, use negative numbers to index backwards from the parents array",
+		document:       "a:\n  b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		expression:     `.a.b.c | parent(-2)`,
+		expected: []string{
+			"D0, P[a], (!!map)::b:\n    c: cat\n",
+		},
+	},
 	{
 		description: "No parent",
 		document:    `{}`,

pkg/yqlib/operator_traverse_path.go

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ type traversePreferences struct {
 	DontAutoCreate       bool // by default, we automatically create entries on the fly.
 	DontIncludeMapValues bool
 	OptionalTraverse     bool // e.g. .adf?
+	ExactKeyMatch        bool // by default we let wild/glob patterns. Don't do that for merge though.
 }
 
 func splat(context Context, prefs traversePreferences) (Context, error) {
@@ -216,7 +217,11 @@ func traverseArrayWithIndices(node *CandidateNode, indices []*CandidateNode, pre
 	return newMatches, nil
 }
 
-func keyMatches(key *CandidateNode, wantedKey string) bool {
+func keyMatches(key *CandidateNode, wantedKey string, exactKeyMatch bool) bool {
+	if exactKeyMatch {
+		// this is used for merge
+		return key.Value == wantedKey
+	}
 	return matchKey(key.Value, wantedKey)
 }
 
@@ -303,7 +308,7 @@ func doTraverseMap(newMatches *orderedmap.OrderedMap, node *CandidateNode, wante
 					return err
 				}
 			}
-		} else if splat || keyMatches(key, wantedKey) {
+		} else if splat || keyMatches(key, wantedKey, prefs.ExactKeyMatch) {
 			log.Debug("MATCHED")
 			if prefs.IncludeMapKeys {
 				log.Debug("including key")

pkg/yqlib/printer.go

@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func (p *resultsPrinter) PrintResults(matchingNodes *list.List) error {
 			tempBufferBytes := tempBuffer.Bytes()
 			if bytes.IndexByte(tempBufferBytes, 0) != -1 {
 				return fmt.Errorf(
-					"can't serialize value because it contains NUL char and you are using NUL separated output",
+					"can't serialise value because it contains NUL char and you are using NUL separated output",
 				)
 			}
 			if _, err := writer.Write(tempBufferBytes); err != nil {

pkg/yqlib/printer_node_info_test.go

@@ -49,3 +49,179 @@ func TestNodeInfoPrinter_PrintResults(t *testing.T) {
 	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "footComment: foot"))
 	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "anchor: anchor"))
 }
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_PrintedAnything_True(t *testing.T) {
+	node := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "test",
+	}
+	listNodes := list.New()
+	listNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	// Before printing, should be false
+	test.AssertResult(t, false, printer.PrintedAnything())
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// After printing, should be true
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, printer.PrintedAnything())
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_PrintedAnything_False(t *testing.T) {
+	listNodes := list.New()
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// No nodes printed, should still be false
+	test.AssertResult(t, false, printer.PrintedAnything())
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_SetNulSepOutput(_ *testing.T) {
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	// Should not panic or error
+	printer.SetNulSepOutput(true)
+	printer.SetNulSepOutput(false)
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_SetAppendix(t *testing.T) {
+	node := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "test",
+	}
+	listNodes := list.New()
+	listNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	appendixText := "This is appendix text\n"
+	appendixReader := strings.NewReader(appendixText)
+	printer.SetAppendix(appendixReader)
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	outStr := output.String()
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "test"))
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, appendixText))
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_MultipleNodes(t *testing.T) {
+	node1 := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "first",
+	}
+	node2 := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "second",
+	}
+	listNodes := list.New()
+	listNodes.PushBack(node1)
+	listNodes.PushBack(node2)
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	outStr := output.String()
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "value: first"))
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "value: second"))
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_SequenceNode(t *testing.T) {
+	node := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  SequenceNode,
+		Tag:   "!!seq",
+		Style: FlowStyle,
+	}
+	listNodes := list.New()
+	listNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	outStr := output.String()
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "kind: SequenceNode"))
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "tag: '!!seq'"))
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "style: FlowStyle"))
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_MappingNode(t *testing.T) {
+	node := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind: MappingNode,
+		Tag:  "!!map",
+	}
+	listNodes := list.New()
+	listNodes.PushBack(node)
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	outStr := output.String()
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "kind: MappingNode"))
+	test.AssertResult(t, true, strings.Contains(outStr, "tag: '!!map'"))
+}
+
+func TestNodeInfoPrinter_EmptyList(t *testing.T) {
+	listNodes := list.New()
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&output)
+	printer := NewNodeInfoPrinter(NewSinglePrinterWriter(writer))
+
+	err := printer.PrintResults(listNodes)
+	writer.Flush()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("PrintResults error: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", output.String())
+	test.AssertResult(t, false, printer.PrintedAnything())
+}

pkg/yqlib/printer_test.go

@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ func TestPrinterNulSeparatorWithNullChar(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("Expected error for null character in NUL separated output")
 	}
 
-	expectedError := "can't serialize value because it contains NUL char and you are using NUL separated output"
+	expectedError := "can't serialise value because it contains NUL char and you are using NUL separated output"
 	if err.Error() != expectedError {
 		t.Fatalf("Expected error '%s', got '%s'", expectedError, err.Error())
 	}

pkg/yqlib/shellvariables.go

@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@ package yqlib
 
 type ShellVariablesPreferences struct {
 	KeySeparator string
+	UnwrapScalar bool
 }
 
 func NewDefaultShellVariablesPreferences() ShellVariablesPreferences {
 	return ShellVariablesPreferences{
 		KeySeparator: "_",
+		UnwrapScalar: false,
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/toml.go

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package yqlib
+
+type TomlPreferences struct {
+	ColorsEnabled bool
+}
+
+func NewDefaultTomlPreferences() TomlPreferences {
+	return TomlPreferences{ColorsEnabled: false}
+}
+
+func (p *TomlPreferences) Copy() TomlPreferences {
+	return TomlPreferences{ColorsEnabled: p.ColorsEnabled}
+}
+
+var ConfiguredTomlPreferences = NewDefaultTomlPreferences()

pkg/yqlib/toml_test.go

@@ -2,9 +2,12 @@ package yqlib
 
 import (
 	"bufio"
+	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/fatih/color"
 	"github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4/test"
 )
 
@@ -175,6 +178,115 @@ var expectedSampleWithHeader = `servers:
     ip: 10.0.0.1
 `
 
+// Roundtrip fixtures
+var rtInlineTableAttr = `name = { first = "Tom", last = "Preston-Werner" }
+`
+
+var rtTableSection = `[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom"
+age = 36
+`
+
+var rtArrayOfTables = `[[fruits]]
+name = "apple"
+[[fruits.varieties]]
+name = "red delicious"
+`
+
+var rtArraysAndScalars = `A = ["hello", ["world", "again"]]
+B = 12
+`
+
+var rtSimple = `A = "hello"
+B = 12
+`
+
+var rtDeepPaths = `[person]
+name = "hello"
+address = "12 cat st"
+`
+
+var rtEmptyArray = `A = []
+`
+
+var rtSampleTable = `var = "x"
+
+[owner.contact]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+age = 36
+`
+
+var rtEmptyTable = `[dependencies]
+`
+
+var rtComments = `# This is a comment
+A = "hello"  # inline comment
+B = 12
+
+# Table comment
+[person]
+name = "Tom"  # name comment
+`
+
+// Reproduce bug for https://github.com/mikefarah/yq/issues/2588
+// Bug: standalone comments inside a table cause subsequent key-values to be assigned at root.
+var issue2588RustToolchainWithComments = `[owner]
+# comment
+name = "Tomer"
+`
+
+var tableWithComment = `[owner]
+# comment
+[things]
+`
+
+var sampleFromWeb = `# This is a TOML document
+title = "TOML Example"
+
+[owner]
+name = "Tom Preston-Werner"
+dob = 1979-05-27T07:32:00-08:00
+
+[database]
+enabled = true
+ports = [8000, 8001, 8002]
+data = [["delta", "phi"], [3.14]]
+temp_targets = { cpu = 79.5, case = 72.0 }
+
+# [servers] yq can't do this one yet
+[servers.alpha]
+ip = "10.0.0.1"
+role = "frontend"
+
+[servers.beta]
+ip = "10.0.0.2"
+role = "backend"
+`
+
+var subArrays = `
+[[array]]
+
+[[array.subarray]]
+
+[[array.subarray.subsubarray]]
+`
+
+var tomlTableWithComments = `[section]
+the_array = [
+  # comment
+  "value 1",
+
+  # comment
+  "value 2",
+]
+`
+
+var expectedSubArrays = `array:
+  - subarray:
+      - subsubarray:
+          - {}
+`
+
 var tomlScenarios = []formatScenario{
 	{
 		skipDoc:      true,
@@ -382,6 +494,126 @@ var tomlScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		expected:     expectedMultipleEmptyTables,
 		scenarioType: "decode",
 	},
+	{
+		description:  "subArrays",
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        subArrays,
+		expected:     expectedSubArrays,
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	// Roundtrip scenarios
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: inline table attribute",
+		input:        rtInlineTableAttr,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtInlineTableAttr,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: table section",
+		input:        rtTableSection,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtTableSection,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: array of tables",
+		input:        rtArrayOfTables,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtArrayOfTables,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: arrays and scalars",
+		input:        rtArraysAndScalars,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtArraysAndScalars,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: simple",
+		input:        rtSimple,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtSimple,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: deep paths",
+		input:        rtDeepPaths,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtDeepPaths,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: empty array",
+		input:        rtEmptyArray,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtEmptyArray,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: sample table",
+		input:        rtSampleTable,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtSampleTable,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: empty table",
+		input:        rtEmptyTable,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtEmptyTable,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: comments",
+		input:        rtComments,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     rtComments,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		description:  "Issue #2588: comments inside table must not flatten (.owner.name)",
+		input:        issue2588RustToolchainWithComments,
+		expression:   ".owner.name",
+		expected:     "Tomer\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		description:  "Issue #2588: comments inside table must not flatten (.name)",
+		input:        issue2588RustToolchainWithComments,
+		expression:   ".name",
+		expected:     "null\n",
+		scenarioType: "decode",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        issue2588RustToolchainWithComments,
+		expected:     issue2588RustToolchainWithComments,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        tableWithComment,
+		expression:   ".owner | headComment",
+		expected:     "comment\n",
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		description:  "Roundtrip: sample from web",
+		input:        sampleFromWeb,
+		expression:   ".",
+		expected:     sampleFromWeb,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
+	{
+		skipDoc:      true,
+		input:        tomlTableWithComments,
+		expected:     tomlTableWithComments,
+		scenarioType: "roundtrip",
+	},
 }
 
 func testTomlScenario(t *testing.T, s formatScenario) {
@@ -471,3 +703,295 @@ func TestTomlScenarios(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	documentScenarios(t, "usage", "toml", genericScenarios, documentTomlScenario)
 }
+
+// TestTomlColourization tests that colourization correctly distinguishes
+// between table section headers and inline arrays
+func TestTomlColourization(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save and restore color state
+	oldNoColor := color.NoColor
+	color.NoColor = false
+	defer func() { color.NoColor = oldNoColor }()
+
+	// Test that inline arrays are not coloured as table sections
+	encoder := &tomlEncoder{prefs: TomlPreferences{ColorsEnabled: true}}
+
+	// Create TOML with both table sections and inline arrays
+	input := []byte(`[database]
+enabled = true
+ports = [8000, 8001, 8002]
+
+[servers]
+alpha = "test"
+`)
+
+	result := encoder.colorizeToml(input)
+	resultStr := string(result)
+
+	// The bug would cause the inline array [8000, 8001, 8002] to be
+	// coloured with the section colour (Yellow + Bold) instead of being
+	// left uncoloured or coloured differently.
+	//
+	// To test this, we check that the section colour codes appear only
+	// for actual table sections, not for inline arrays.
+
+	// Get the ANSI codes for section colour (Yellow + Bold)
+	sectionColourObj := color.New(color.FgYellow, color.Bold)
+	sectionColourObj.EnableColor()
+	sampleSection := sectionColourObj.Sprint("[database]")
+
+	// Extract just the ANSI codes from the sample
+	// ANSI codes start with \x1b[
+	var ansiStart string
+	for i := 0; i < len(sampleSection); i++ {
+		if sampleSection[i] == '\x1b' {
+			// Find the end of the ANSI sequence (ends with 'm')
+			end := i
+			for end < len(sampleSection) && sampleSection[end] != 'm' {
+				end++
+			}
+			if end < len(sampleSection) {
+				ansiStart = sampleSection[i : end+1]
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Count how many times the section colour appears in the output
+	// It should appear exactly twice: once for [database] and once for [servers]
+	// If it appears more times (e.g., for [8000, 8001, 8002]), that's the bug
+	sectionColourCount := strings.Count(resultStr, ansiStart)
+
+	// We expect exactly 2 occurrences (for [database] and [servers])
+	// The bug would cause more occurrences (e.g., also for [8000)
+	if sectionColourCount != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("Expected section colour to appear exactly 2 times (for [database] and [servers]), but it appeared %d times.\nOutput: %s", sectionColourCount, resultStr)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTomlColorisationNumberBug(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save and restore color state
+	oldNoColor := color.NoColor
+	color.NoColor = false
+	defer func() { color.NoColor = oldNoColor }()
+
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	tomlEncoder := encoder.(*tomlEncoder)
+
+	// Test case that exposes the bug: "123-+-45" should NOT be colourised as a single number
+	input := "A = 123-+-45\n"
+	result := string(tomlEncoder.colorizeToml([]byte(input)))
+
+	// The bug causes "123-+-45" to be colourised as one token
+	// It should stop at "123" because the next character '-' is not valid in this position
+	if strings.Contains(result, "123-+-45") {
+		// Check if it's colourised as a single token (no color codes in the middle)
+		idx := strings.Index(result, "123-+-45")
+		// Look backwards for color code
+		beforeIdx := idx - 1
+		for beforeIdx >= 0 && result[beforeIdx] != '\x1b' {
+			beforeIdx--
+		}
+		// Look forward for reset code
+		afterIdx := idx + 8 // length of "123-+-45"
+		hasResetAfter := false
+		for afterIdx < len(result) && afterIdx < idx+20 {
+			if result[afterIdx] == '\x1b' {
+				hasResetAfter = true
+				break
+			}
+			afterIdx++
+		}
+
+		if beforeIdx >= 0 && hasResetAfter {
+			// The entire "123-+-45" is wrapped in color codes - this is the bug!
+			t.Errorf("BUG DETECTED: '123-+-45' is incorrectly colourised as a single number")
+			t.Errorf("Expected only '123' to be colourised as a number, but got the entire '123-+-45'")
+			t.Logf("Full output: %q", result)
+			t.Fail()
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Additional test cases for the bug
+	bugTests := []struct {
+		name            string
+		input           string
+		invalidSequence string
+		description     string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:            "consecutive minuses",
+			input:           "A = 123--45\n",
+			invalidSequence: "123--45",
+			description:     "'123--45' should not be colourised as a single number",
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "plus in middle",
+			input:           "A = 123+45\n",
+			invalidSequence: "123+45",
+			description:     "'123+45' should not be colourised as a single number",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range bugTests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result := string(tomlEncoder.colorizeToml([]byte(tt.input)))
+			if strings.Contains(result, tt.invalidSequence) {
+				idx := strings.Index(result, tt.invalidSequence)
+				beforeIdx := idx - 1
+				for beforeIdx >= 0 && result[beforeIdx] != '\x1b' {
+					beforeIdx--
+				}
+				afterIdx := idx + len(tt.invalidSequence)
+				hasResetAfter := false
+				for afterIdx < len(result) && afterIdx < idx+20 {
+					if result[afterIdx] == '\x1b' {
+						hasResetAfter = true
+						break
+					}
+					afterIdx++
+				}
+
+				if beforeIdx >= 0 && hasResetAfter {
+					t.Errorf("BUG: %s", tt.description)
+					t.Logf("Full output: %q", result)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+	// Test that valid scientific notation still works
+	validTests := []struct {
+		name  string
+		input string
+	}{
+		{"scientific positive", "A = 1.23e+45\n"},
+		{"scientific negative", "A = 6.626e-34\n"},
+		{"scientific uppercase", "A = 1.23E+10\n"},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range validTests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result := tomlEncoder.colorizeToml([]byte(tt.input))
+			if len(result) == 0 {
+				t.Error("Expected non-empty colourised output")
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// Tests that the encoder handles empty path slices gracefully
+func TestTomlEmptyPathPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	tomlEncoder := encoder.(*tomlEncoder)
+
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+
+	// Create a simple scalar node
+	scalarNode := &CandidateNode{
+		Kind:  ScalarNode,
+		Tag:   "!!str",
+		Value: "test",
+	}
+
+	// Test with empty path - this should not panic
+	err := tomlEncoder.encodeTopLevelEntry(&buf, []string{}, scalarNode)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("Expected error when encoding with empty path, got nil")
+	}
+
+}
+
+// TestTomlStringEscapeColourization tests that string colourization correctly
+// handles escape sequences, particularly escaped quotes at the end of strings
+func TestTomlStringEscapeColourization(t *testing.T) {
+	// Save and restore color state
+	oldNoColor := color.NoColor
+	color.NoColor = false
+	defer func() { color.NoColor = oldNoColor }()
+
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	tomlEncoder := encoder.(*tomlEncoder)
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		name        string
+		input       string
+		description string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:        "escaped quote at end",
+			input:       `A = "test\""` + "\n",
+			description: "String ending with escaped quote should be colourised correctly",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "escaped backslash then quote",
+			input:       `A = "test\\\""` + "\n",
+			description: "String with escaped backslash followed by escaped quote",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "escaped quote in middle",
+			input:       `A = "test\"middle"` + "\n",
+			description: "String with escaped quote in the middle should be colourised correctly",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "multiple escaped quotes",
+			input:       `A = "\"test\""` + "\n",
+			description: "String with escaped quotes at start and end",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "escaped newline",
+			input:       `A = "test\n"` + "\n",
+			description: "String with escaped newline should be colourised correctly",
+		},
+		{
+			name:        "single quote with escaped single quote",
+			input:       `A = 'test\''` + "\n",
+			description: "Single-quoted string with escaped single quote",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range testCases {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			// The test should not panic and should return some output
+			result := tomlEncoder.colorizeToml([]byte(tt.input))
+			if len(result) == 0 {
+				t.Error("Expected non-empty colourised output")
+			}
+
+			// Check that the result contains the input string (with color codes)
+			// At minimum, it should contain "A" and "="
+			resultStr := string(result)
+			if !strings.Contains(resultStr, "A") || !strings.Contains(resultStr, "=") {
+				t.Errorf("Expected output to contain 'A' and '=', got: %q", resultStr)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTomlEncoderPrintDocumentSeparator(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&buf)
+
+	err := encoder.PrintDocumentSeparator(writer)
+	writer.Flush()
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", buf.String())
+}
+
+func TestTomlEncoderPrintLeadingContent(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	writer := bufio.NewWriter(&buf)
+
+	err := encoder.PrintLeadingContent(writer, "some content")
+	writer.Flush()
+
+	test.AssertResult(t, nil, err)
+	test.AssertResult(t, "", buf.String())
+}
+
+func TestTomlEncoderCanHandleAliases(t *testing.T) {
+	encoder := NewTomlEncoder()
+	test.AssertResult(t, false, encoder.CanHandleAliases())
+}

pkg/yqlib/write_in_place_handler_test.go

@@ -139,6 +139,66 @@ func TestWriteInPlaceHandlerImpl_FinishWriteInPlace_Failure(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestWriteInPlaceHandlerImpl_FinishWriteInPlace_Symlink_Success(t *testing.T) {
+	// Create a temporary directory and file for testing
+	tempDir := t.TempDir()
+	inputFile := filepath.Join(tempDir, "input.yaml")
+	symlinkFile := filepath.Join(tempDir, "symlink.yaml")
+
+	// Create input file with some content
+	content := []byte("test: value\n")
+	err := os.WriteFile(inputFile, content, 0600)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to create input file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	err = os.Symlink(inputFile, symlinkFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to symlink to input file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	handler := NewWriteInPlaceHandler(symlinkFile)
+	tempFile, err := handler.CreateTempFile()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("CreateTempFile failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer tempFile.Close()
+
+	// Write some content to temp file
+	tempContent := []byte("updated: content\n")
+	_, err = tempFile.Write(tempContent)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to write to temp file: %v", err)
+	}
+	tempFile.Close()
+
+	// Test successful finish
+	err = handler.FinishWriteInPlace(true)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("FinishWriteInPlace failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Verify that the symlink is still present
+	info, err := os.Lstat(symlinkFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to lstat input file: %v", err)
+	}
+	if info.Mode()&os.ModeSymlink == 0 {
+		t.Errorf("Input file symlink is no longer present")
+	}
+
+	// Verify the original file was updated
+	updatedContent, err := os.ReadFile(inputFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Failed to read updated file: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if string(updatedContent) != string(tempContent) {
+		t.Errorf("File content not updated correctly. Expected %q, got %q",
+			string(tempContent), string(updatedContent))
+	}
+}
+
 func TestWriteInPlaceHandlerImpl_CreateTempFile_Permissions(t *testing.T) {
 	// Create a temporary directory and file for testing
 	tempDir := t.TempDir()

pkg/yqlib/xml_test.go

@@ -713,10 +713,10 @@ func documentXMLDecodeScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
 	expression := s.expression
-	if expression == "" {
-		expression = "."
+	if s.expression != "" {
+		expression = fmt.Sprintf(" '%v'", s.expression)
 	}
-	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -oy '%v' sample.xml\n```\n", expression))
+	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```bash\nyq -oy%v sample.xml\n```\n", expression))
 	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```yaml\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewXMLDecoder(ConfiguredXMLPreferences), NewYamlEncoder(ConfiguredYamlPreferences))))
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ func documentXMLDecodeKeepNsScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```xml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
-	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-keep-namespace=false '.' sample.xml\n```\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-keep-namespace=false sample.xml\n```\n")
 	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
 	prefs := NewDefaultXmlPreferences()
 	prefs.KeepNamespace = false
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@ func documentXMLDecodeKeepNsRawTokenScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario)
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```xml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
-	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-raw-token=false '.' sample.xml\n```\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-raw-token=false sample.xml\n```\n")
 	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
 
 	prefs := NewDefaultXmlPreferences()
@@ -803,7 +803,7 @@ func documentXMLRoundTripScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```xml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
-	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq '.' sample.xml\n```\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq sample.xml\n```\n")
 	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```xml\n%v```\n\n", mustProcessFormatScenario(s, NewXMLDecoder(ConfiguredXMLPreferences), NewXMLEncoder(ConfiguredXMLPreferences))))
@@ -821,7 +821,7 @@ func documentXMLSkipDirectivesScenario(w *bufio.Writer, s formatScenario) {
 	writeOrPanic(w, fmt.Sprintf("```xml\n%v\n```\n", s.input))
 
 	writeOrPanic(w, "then\n")
-	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-skip-directives '.' sample.xml\n```\n")
+	writeOrPanic(w, "```bash\nyq --xml-skip-directives sample.xml\n```\n")
 	writeOrPanic(w, "will output\n")
 	prefs := NewDefaultXmlPreferences()
 	prefs.SkipDirectives = true

pkg/yqlib/yaml.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ type YamlPreferences struct {
 	UnwrapScalar                bool
 	EvaluateTogether            bool
 	FixMergeAnchorToSpec        bool
+	CompactSequenceIndent       bool
 }
 
 func NewDefaultYamlPreferences() YamlPreferences {
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ func NewDefaultYamlPreferences() YamlPreferences {
 		UnwrapScalar:                true,
 		EvaluateTogether:            false,
 		FixMergeAnchorToSpec:        false,
+		CompactSequenceIndent:       false,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ func (p *YamlPreferences) Copy() YamlPreferences {
 		UnwrapScalar:                p.UnwrapScalar,
 		EvaluateTogether:            p.EvaluateTogether,
 		FixMergeAnchorToSpec:        p.FixMergeAnchorToSpec,
+		CompactSequenceIndent:       p.CompactSequenceIndent,
 	}
 }
 

pkg/yqlib/yaml_test.go

@@ -13,6 +13,31 @@ var yamlFormatScenarios = []formatScenario{
 		input:       "--- cat",
 		expected:    "---\ncat\n",
 	},
+	{
+		description: "CRLF doc separator",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "---\r\ncat\r\n",
+		expected:    "---\r\ncat\r\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "yaml directive preserved (LF)",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "%YAML 1.1\n---\ncat\n",
+		expected:    "%YAML 1.1\n---\ncat\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "yaml directive preserved (CRLF)",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "%YAML 1.1\r\n---\r\ncat\r\n",
+		expected:    "%YAML 1.1\r\n---\r\ncat\r\n",
+	},
+	{
+		description: "comment only no trailing newline",
+		skipDoc:     true,
+		input:       "# hello",
+		expected:    "# hello\n",
+	},
+
 	{
 		description: "scalar with doc separator",
 		skipDoc:     true,

project-words.txt

@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ cleanup
 cmlu
 colorise
 colors
+Colors
+colourize
 compinit
 coolioo
 coverprofile
@@ -189,8 +191,11 @@ risentveber
 rmescandon
 Rosey
 roundtrip
+roundtrips
 Roundtrip
 roundtripping
+Interp
+interp
 runningvms
 sadface
 selfupdate
@@ -265,4 +270,31 @@ noprops
 nosh
 noshell
 tinygo
-nonexistent
+nonexistent
+hclsyntax
+hclwrite
+nohcl
+zclconf
+cty
+go-cty
+Colorisation
+goimports
+errorlint
+RDBMS
+expeñded
+bananabananabananabanana
+edwinjhlee
+flox
+unlabelled
+kyaml
+KYAML
+nokyaml
+buildvcs
+behaviour
+GOFLAGS
+gocache
+subsubarray
+Ffile
+Fquery
+coverpkg
+gsub

release_notes.txt

@@ -1,3 +1,41 @@
+4.52.4:
+  - Dropping windows/arm - no longer supported in cross-compile
+
+4.52.3:
+  - Fixing comments in TOML arrays (#2592)
+  - Bumped dependencies
+
+
+4.52.2:
+  - Fixed bad instructions file breaking go-install (#2587) Thanks @theyoprst
+  - Fixed TOML table scope after comments (#2588) Thanks @tomers
+  - Multiply uses a readonly context (#2558)
+  - Fixed merge globbing wildcards in keys (#2564)
+  - Fixing TOML subarray parsing issue (#2581)
+
+4.52.1:
+  - TOML encoder support - you can now roundtrip! #1364
+  - Parent now supports negative indices, and added a 'root' command for referencing the top level document
+  - Fixed scalar encoding for HCL
+  - Add --yaml-compact-seq-indent / -c flag for compact sequence indentation (#2583) Thanks @jfenal
+  - Add symlink check to file rename util (#2576) Thanks @Elias-elastisys
+  - Powershell fixed default command used for __completeNoDesc alias (#2568) Thanks @teejaded
+  - Unwrap scalars in shell output mode. (#2548) Thanks @flintwinters
+  - Added K8S KYAML output format support (#2560) Thanks @robbat2
+
+  - Bumped dependencies
+  - Special shout out to @ccoVeille for reviewing my PRs!
+
+4.50.1:
+  - Added HCL support!
+  - Fixing handling of CRLF #2352
+  - Bumped dependencies
+
+4.49.2:
+  - Fixing escape character bugs :sweat: #2517
+  - Fixing snap release pipeline #2518 Thanks @aalexjo
+
+
 4.49.1:
   - Added `--security` flags to disable env and file ops #2515
   - Fixing TOML ArrayTable parsing issues #1758

scripts/build-small-yq.sh

@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-go build -tags "yq_nolua yq_noini yq_notoml yq_noxml yq_nojson" -ldflags "-s -w" .
+go build -tags "yq_nolua yq_noini yq_notoml yq_noxml yq_nojson yq_nohcl yq_nokyaml" -ldflags "-s -w" .

scripts/build-tinygo-yq.sh

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # Currently, the `yq_nojson` feature must be enabled when using TinyGo.
-tinygo build -no-debug -tags "yq_nolua yq_noini yq_notoml yq_noxml yq_nojson yq_nocsv yq_nobase64 yq_nouri yq_noprops yq_nosh yq_noshell" .
+tinygo build -no-debug -tags "yq_nolua yq_noini yq_notoml yq_noxml yq_nojson yq_nocsv yq_nobase64 yq_nouri yq_noprops yq_nosh yq_noshell yq_nohcl yq_nokyaml" .

scripts/check.sh

@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 set -o errexit
 set -o pipefail
 
-# TODO: Check if the found golangci-lint version matches the expected version (e.g., v1.62.0), especially if falling back to PATH version.
-
 GOPATH_LINT="$(go env GOPATH)/bin/golangci-lint"
 BIN_LINT="./bin/golangci-lint"
 LINT_CMD=""
@@ -22,4 +20,4 @@ else
     exit 1
 fi
 
-"$LINT_CMD" run --verbose
+GOFLAGS="${GOFLAGS}" "$LINT_CMD" run --verbose

scripts/coverage.sh

@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 set -e
 
 echo "Running tests and generating coverage..."
-go test -coverprofile=coverage.out -v $(go list ./... | grep -v -E 'examples' | grep -v -E 'test')
+packages=$(go list ./... | grep -v -E 'examples' | grep -v -E 'test' | tr '\n' ',' | sed 's/,$//')
+test_packages=$(go list ./... | grep -v -E 'examples' | grep -v -E 'test' | grep -v '^github.com/mikefarah/yq/v4$')
+go test -coverprofile=coverage.out -coverpkg="$packages" -v $test_packages
 
 echo "Generating HTML coverage report..."
 go tool cover -html=coverage.out -o coverage.html
@@ -58,11 +60,31 @@ tail -n +1 coverage_sorted.txt | while read percent file; do
 done
 
 echo ""
-echo "Top 10 files needing attention (lowest coverage):"
+echo "Top 10 files by uncovered statements:"
 echo "================================================="
-grep -v "TOTAL:" coverage_sorted.txt | tail -10 | while read percent file; do
+# Calculate uncovered statements for each file and sort by that
+go tool cover -func=coverage.out | grep -E "\.go:[0-9]+:" | \
+awk '{
+    # Extract filename and percentage
+    split($1, parts, ":")
+    file = parts[1]
+    pct = $NF
+    gsub(/%/, "", pct)
+    
+    # Track stats per file
+    total[file]++
+    covered[file] += pct
+}
+END {
+    for (file in total) {
+        avg_pct = covered[file] / total[file]
+        uncovered = total[file] * (100 - avg_pct) / 100
+        covered_count = total[file] - uncovered
+        printf "%.0f %d %.0f %.1f %s\n", uncovered, total[file], covered_count, avg_pct, file
+    }
+}' | sort -rn | head -10 | while read uncovered total covered pct file; do
     filename=$(basename "$file")
-    printf "%-60s %8.1f%%\n" "$filename" "$percent"
+    printf "%-60s %4d uncovered (%4d/%4d, %5.1f%%)\n" "$filename" "$uncovered" "$covered" "$total" "$pct"
 done
 
 echo ""