Grunt: Access YAML symbols in external file

Question

I am trying to reference values from an external YAML file in my Gruntfile. I am reading the YAML with no problems using:

external_config: grunt.file.readYAML('config.yml')

My config.yml file contains the following:

foo: abc
:bar: def

I can use <% %> templating to get the value for foo in my Gruntfile just fine:

foo: '<%= external_config.foo %>'

But I can't seem to be able to get the value for :bar. I have learned the colon in front of the key denotes a symbol (Colon in the front: YAML syntax), but I have no idea how to get to its value from my Gruntfile.

bar: '<%= external_config.bar %>' // doesn't work
bar: '<%= external_config.:bar %>' // throws error "Unexpected token :"
bar: '<%= external_config.\:bar %>' // throws error "Unexpected token :"

I cannot modify the YAML file. Is there a way to do this?

1) What happens if you run grunt with `--verbose`? 2) Have you tried `external_config[':bar']`? — Maria Ines Parnisari, Mar 14 '16 at 04:01
@mparnisari `external_config[':bar']` worked like a charm — thank you! Please add it as an answer so I can mark it as accepted. — João Beleza Freire, Mar 14 '16 at 08:06

Maria Ines Parnisari · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-14T12:34:16.760

1

Use external_config[':bar'] within the template.

Explanation: Grunt is just plain JavaScript, so you can access an object's properties by using the bracket notation.

edited Mar 14 '16 at 12:34

answered Mar 14 '16 at 10:21

Maria Ines Parnisari

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Grunt: Access YAML symbols in external file

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