How do I parse YAML into a hash/object? - ruby

Question

I have a YAML file with a few entries that look like this:
001:
:title: Some title
:description: Some body text maybe
002:
:title: Some title
:description: Some body text maybe
I'm using the following Ruby method to parse that YAML file into a set of objects I can iterate over:
def parse_yaml(file)
YAML::load(File.open(File.join(settings.yaml_folder, file)))
end
def use_yaml
#items = parse_yaml('items.yml')
#items.each do |item|
x = item[1][:title]
etc...
end
end
Now, that method works, but I find it queer that I need to use item[1][:title] to access the attributes of the object I'm iterating over. How can I build my YAML file or my parsing code to allow me to use the more standard item[:title]?

Answer 1

It's a Hash. The parse_yaml output is:
{ 1=>
{ :title=>"Some title",
:description=>"Some body text maybe"},
2=> { :title=>"Some title",
:description=>"Some body text maybe" }
}
You may to use the each_value method like this:
#...
#items = parse_yaml('items.yml')
#items.each_value do |item|
x = item[:title]
# ... etc
end
Recomend: YAML for Ruby

Answer 2

The underlying issue is that your YAML file is storing your data as a hash, and trying to access it like an array.
To convert your data into array format:
---
- :title: Some title
:description: Some body text maybe
- :title: Some title
:description: Some body text maybe
Also interesting to note, the reason you had to use item[1][:title] to reference your items is that the keys 001 and 002 are converted to integers by YAML.load.
You can confirm this in irb:
irb(main):015:0> YAML.load(File.open("./test.yml"))
=> {1=>{:title=>"Some title", :description=>"Some body text maybe"}, 2=>{:title=>"Some title", :description=>"Some body text maybe"}}

Answer 3

Your YAML is the serialisation of a hash so you could do:
#items.each do |key, item|
#do something with item[:title]
end
Or change your YAML to look like:
- :title: blah
:description: description
- :title: second title
:description: second description
Which will result in YAML.load returning an array.