How to preserve line endings in strings with YAML?

Ruby
1

Hi all,

Normally I would expect that
YAML.load(x.to_yaml) == x
for all sensible values of x.

However, this does not seem to be the case if the string contains
certain new line characters, for example:
YAML.load(“abc\r\n”.to_yaml) # => “abc\n” ("\r" lost)
YAML.load("\r\n".to_yaml) # => “” ("\r\n" lost)
YAML.load("\n".to_yaml) # => “” ("\n" lost)

My question is: how can I configure YAML to preserve my line endings?
I’m using Ruby 1.8.4-preview2 and have Googled for a solution without
success. Note that the :UseBlock option to to_yaml does not help.

The reason that I need this functionality is that I would like to store
a string which includes a digital signature in a YAML document. Any
corruption of the line endings changes the string and consequently
invalidates the digital signature.

Thanks very much,

Tom

2

From: “Tom P.” [email protected]

YAML.load(“abc\r\n”.to_yaml) # => “abc\n” (“\r” lost)
YAML.load(“\r\n”.to_yaml) # => “” (“\r\n” lost)
YAML.load(“\n”.to_yaml) # => “” (“\n” lost)

My question is: how can I configure YAML to preserve my line endings?
I’m using Ruby 1.8.4-preview2 and have Googled for a solution without
success. Note that the :UseBlock option to to_yaml does not help.

On my system, ruby 1.8.2 (2004-12-25) [i386-mswin32], the first two
seemed to work:

YAML.load(“abc\r\n”.to_yaml)
=> “abc\r\n”
YAML.load(“\r\n”.to_yaml)
=> “\r\n”

But the third didn’t:

YAML.load(“\n”.to_yaml)
=> " "

I guess if all else fails you could:

CGI.unescape(YAML.load(CGI.escape(“\n”).to_yaml))
=> “\n”

Regards,

Bill

3

Sorry to bump, but the timing of my initial posting (early hours of
Sunday morning European time, late Saturday US time, Sunday Japanese
time) was probably unwise.

Tom P. wrote:

Hi all,

Normally I would expect that
YAML.load(x.to_yaml) == x
for all sensible values of x.

However, this does not seem to be the case if the string contains
certain new line characters, for example:
YAML.load(“abc\r\n”.to_yaml) # => “abc\n” ("\r" lost)
YAML.load("\r\n".to_yaml) # => “” ("\r\n" lost)
YAML.load("\n".to_yaml) # => “” ("\n" lost)

My question is: how can I configure YAML to preserve my line endings?
I’m using Ruby 1.8.4-preview2 and have Googled for a solution without
success. Note that the :UseBlock option to to_yaml does not help.

The reason that I need this functionality is that I would like to store
a string which includes a digital signature in a YAML document. Any
corruption of the line endings changes the string and consequently
invalidates the digital signature.

Thanks very much,

Tom

No more bumps (promise!)

Cheers,

Tom

4

That’s part of the YAML specification.
To keep newlines, use the pipe syntax, like this:

signature: |
ax890a
b0098b

=> { ‘signature’ => “ax890a\nb0098b\n” }

There are several other newline-keeping options…
Suggested reading:
http://yaml4r.sourceforge.net/cookbook/
Look under ‘blocks’

cheers,
jf

5

BTW: If you are storing binary data, you would need to convert it to
Base64 to get printable characters only (and handle the newlines
yourself).

Here’s an example from the spec (http://yaml.org/spec/current.html )

picture: |
R0lGODlhDAAMAIQAAP//9/X
17unp5WZmZgAAAOfn515eXv
Pz7Y6OjuDg4J+fn5OTk6enp
56enmleECcgggoBADs=

jf

On 12/13/05, Johannes F. [email protected] wrote:

Suggested reading:
http://yaml4r.sourceforge.net/cookbook/
Look under ‘blocks’