# Style

The style operator can be used to get or set the style of nodes (e.g. string style, yaml style)

{% hint style="warning" %}
Note that versions prior to 4.18 require the 'eval/e' command to be specified. 

`yq e <exp> <file>`
{% endhint %}

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

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

## Set tagged style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="tagged"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
!!map
a: !!str cat
b: !!int 5
c: !!float 3.2
e: !!bool true
```

## Set double quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="double"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: "cat"
b: "5"
c: "3.2"
e: "true"
```

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

## Set single quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="single"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: 'cat'
b: '5'
c: '3.2'
e: 'true'
```

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

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

## Set flow quote style
Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
```
then
```bash
yq '.. style="flow"' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
{a: cat, b: 5, c: 3.2, e: true}
```

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

Given a sample.yml file of:
```yaml
a: cat
"b": 5
'c': 3.2
"e": true
```
then
```bash
yq '... style=""' sample.yml
```
will output
```yaml
a: cat
b: 5
c: 3.2
e: true
```

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

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