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YAML Indentation and Structure

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Indentation patterns, nested lists and maps, and practical commands for catching whitespace and structure mistakes.

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## Indentation rules
Two-space indentation
↗#
app:
  name: Cheatsheet.today
  seo:
    enabled: true

# Use consistent spaces for nested levels.

Mixed indentation example
↗#
app:
  name: Cheatsheet.today
   seo:
    enabled: true

# Illustrate a broken file caused by inconsistent nesting.

Sequence nested under a key
↗#
services:
  - api
  - web
  - worker

# Indent list items under their parent key.

Mappings inside a sequence
↗#
users:
  - name: Jonathan
    role: admin
  - name: Sarah
    role: editor

# Represent a list of objects cleanly.

## Linting and safe edits
Run yamllint with a custom config
↗#
yamllint -d '{extends: default, rules: {line-length: disable}}' config.yaml

# Use a project-specific lint profile.

Reveal hidden whitespace
↗#
sed -n 'l' config.yaml

# Print tabs and line endings to spot indentation issues.

Find tabs in YAML files
↗#
grep -nP '\t' config.yaml

# Locate tab characters that may break parsing.

Format YAML with Prettier
↗#
prettier --write config.yaml

# Normalize indentation and layout automatically.

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