yq/mkdocs/read.md

yq r <yaml_file|json_file> <path>

{!snippets/works_with_json.md!}

Basic

Given a sample.yaml file of:

b:
  c: 2

then

yq r sample.yaml b.c

will output the value of '2'.

From Stdin

Given a sample.yaml file of:

cat sample.yaml | yq r - b.c

will output the value of '2'.

Splat

Given a sample.yaml file of:

---
bob:
  item1:
    cats: bananas
  item2:
    cats: apples
  thing:
    cats: oranges

then

yq r sample.yaml bob.*.cats

will output

- bananas
- apples
- oranges

Prefix Splat

Given a sample.yaml file of:

---
bob:
  item1:
    cats: bananas
  item2:
    cats: apples
  thing:
    cats: oranges

then

yq r sample.yaml bob.item*.cats

will output

- bananas
- apples

Multiple Documents - specify a single document

Given a sample.yaml file of:

something: else
---
b:
  c: 2

then

yq r -d1 sample.yaml b.c

will output the value of '2'.

Multiple Documents - read all documents

Reading all documents will return the result as an array. This can be converted to json using the '-j' flag if desired.

Given a sample.yaml file of:

name: Fred
age: 22
---
name: Stella
age: 23
---
name: Android
age: 232

then

yq r -d'*' sample.yaml name

will output:

- Fred
- Stella
- Android

Arrays

You can give an index to access a specific element: e.g.: given a sample file of

b:
  e:
    - name: fred
      value: 3
    - name: sam
      value: 4

then

yq r sample.yaml 'b.e[1].name'

will output 'sam'

Note that the path is in quotes to avoid the square brackets being interpreted by your shell.

Array Splat

e.g.: given a sample file of

b:
  e:
    - name: fred
      value: 3
    - name: sam
      value: 4

then

yq r sample.yaml 'b.e[*].name'

will output:

- fred
- sam

Note that the path is in quotes to avoid the square brackets being interpreted by your shell.

{!snippets/niche.md!}