yq/pkg/yqlib/doc/operators/load.md

Load

The load operators allows you to load in content from another file.

Note that you can use string operators like + and sub to modify the value in the yaml file to a path that exists in your system.

You can load files of the following supported types:

Format	Load Operator
Yaml	load
XML	load_xml
Properties	load_props
Plain String	load_str

Lets say there is a file ../../examples/thing.yml:

a: apple is included
b: cool

and a file small.xml:

<this>is some xml</this>

and small.properties:

this.is = a properties file

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

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

Simple example

Given a sample.yml file of:

myFile: ../../examples/thing.yml

then

yq 'load(.myFile)' sample.yml

will output

a: apple is included
b: cool.

Replace node with referenced file

Note that you can modify the filename in the load operator if needed.

Given a sample.yml file of:

something:
  file: thing.yml

then

yq '.something |= load("../../examples/" + .file)' sample.yml

will output

something:
  a: apple is included
  b: cool.

Replace all nodes with referenced file

Recursively match all the nodes (..) and then filter the ones that have a 'file' attribute.

Given a sample.yml file of:

something:
  file: thing.yml
over:
  here:
    - file: thing.yml

then

yq '(.. | select(has("file"))) |= load("../../examples/" + .file)' sample.yml

will output

something:
  a: apple is included
  b: cool.
over:
  here:
    - a: apple is included
      b: cool.

Replace node with referenced file as string

This will work for any text based file

Given a sample.yml file of:

something:
  file: thing.yml

then

yq '.something |= load_str("../../examples/" + .file)' sample.yml

will output

something: |-
  a: apple is included
  b: cool.  

Load from XML

Given a sample.yml file of:

cool: things

then

yq '.more_stuff = load_xml("../../examples/small.xml")' sample.yml

will output

cool: things
more_stuff:
  this: is some xml

Load from Properties

Given a sample.yml file of:

cool: things

then

yq '.more_stuff = load_props("../../examples/small.properties")' sample.yml

will output

cool: things
more_stuff:
  this:
    is: a properties file

Merge from properties

This can be used as a convenient way to update a yaml document

Given a sample.yml file of:

this:
  is: from yaml
  cool: ay

then

yq '. *= load_props("../../examples/small.properties")' sample.yml

will output

this:
  is: a properties file
  cool: ay