Adding alias and anchor in yml file

[kelly-scalapay]

Im unable to have the & and * characters appear as not in quote, is there a way I can do the below without it wrapping the values for the anchor and alias in quotes for a bitbucket-pipelines.yml file.

    yq e '.definitions.steps = [{
        "step":"&Check-dev", 
            "name":"Check dev", 
            "script":["script.sh"]
        }] + .definitions.steps' bitbucket-pipelines.yml

and then the below:

yq '.pipelines.branches.develop = [{"step":"*Check-dev"}] + .pipelines.branches.develop ' bitbucket-pipelines.yml

Id like it to look like the below:

definitions:
  caches:
    npm: $HOME/.npm
  steps:
    - step: &Check-dev
        name: Check dev
        script:
          - script.sh

pipelines:
  branches:
    develop:
      - step: *Check-dev

but i get the below:

definitions:
  caches:
    npm: $HOME/.npm
  steps:
    - step: '&Check-dev'
        name: Check dev
        script:
          - script.sh

pipelines:
  branches:
    develop:
    - step: '*Check-dev'

[mikefarah]

Yep - you need to use the anchor and alias operators, documented here: https://mikefarah.gitbook.io/yq/operators/anchor-and-alias-operators

[mikefarah]

I'm getting confused as to what you are trying to do. The command you have there with .develop[] will match every item in the array.

[kelly-scalapay]

Im trying to insert a new step under the develop section, ideally if my yml looks like the below:

pipelines:
  branches:
    develop:
      - step: *Check-test
      - step: *Check-prod

Id like it to add the Check-dev step at the beginning

pipelines:
  branches:
    develop:
      - step: *Check-dev
      - step: *Check-test
      - step: *Check-prod

[mikefarah]

Ok I see - you can do this:

yq '.pipelines.branches.develop |= [ {"step": null} | .step alias="Check-dev" ] + .' data.yaml

• Use |= to relatively update the item (so you can reference is using .)
• Need to create a new entry {"step": null}, then set the step to an alias

[kelly-scalapay]

Thanks so much, exactly what i was after.

Is there an example you could point me to on how I could do the above but target it to be inserted after a specific step? Such as add the check-dev step after a dev-config step if it exists?

Thanks again.

[mikefarah]

Good question, I think that's worthy of a separate discussion, I've made one here: #1520