diff --git a/src/controller/controller.ts b/src/controller/controller.ts
index 85f2c99..1770979 100644
--- a/src/controller/controller.ts
+++ b/src/controller/controller.ts
@@ -79,9 +79,7 @@ export class Controller {
         return []
       }
     }
-    if (this.settings.useLeadingDashes) {
-      newText = `---\n${newText}`
-    }
+    newText = this.yamlutil.setLeadingDashes(newText)
     return this.applyEdits(newText)
   }
 
@@ -129,8 +127,8 @@ export class Controller {
         return [] as TextEdit[]
       }
     })
-    if (this.editor.selection.isEmpty && this.settings.useLeadingDashes) {
-      newText = `---\n${newText}`
+    if (this.editor.selection.isEmpty) {
+      newText = this.yamlutil.setLeadingDashes(newText)
     }
     this.vscodeadapter.showMessage(Severity.INFO, "Keys resorted successfully")
     return this.applyEdits(newText)
diff --git a/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml b/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml
index db13cb8..a437969 100644
--- a/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml
+++ b/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
-key: value
-akey: value
\ No newline at end of file
+---
+akey: value
+key: value
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml b/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml
index db13cb8..a437969 100644
--- a/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml
+++ b/src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
-key: value
-akey: value
\ No newline at end of file
+---
+akey: value
+key: value
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/suite/controller/controller.test.ts b/src/test/suite/controller/controller.test.ts
index a0b2ae6..dcc5ed2 100644
--- a/src/test/suite/controller/controller.test.ts
+++ b/src/test/suite/controller/controller.test.ts
@@ -6,19 +6,22 @@ import { Uri, commands, window, workspace } from "vscode"
 
 import { Controller } from "../../../controller/controller"
 
+
 suite("Test sortYamlFiles", () => {
+  const fileContent = "---\nakey: value\nkey: value"
+
   test("should sort all yaml files in directory", async () => {
     const uri = Uri.parse(resolve("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1"))
 
     await commands.executeCommand("vscode-yaml-sort.sortYamlFilesInDirectory", uri)
 
     let sortedFile = readFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml", "utf-8").toString()
-    equal(sortedFile, "akey: value\nkey: value")
+    equal(sortedFile, fileContent)
     sortedFile = readFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml", "utf-8").toString()
-    equal(sortedFile, "akey: value\nkey: value")
+    equal(sortedFile, fileContent)
 
-    writeFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml", "key: value\nakey: value")
-    writeFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml", "key: value\nakey: value")
+    writeFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file.yaml", fileContent)
+    writeFileSync("./src/test/files/getYamlFilesInDirectory/folder1/file2.yaml", fileContent)
   })
 })
 
diff --git a/src/test/suite/util/resources/subfolder/.customyaml b/src/test/suite/util/resources/subfolder/.customyaml
index 7daacd5..95f455c 100644
--- a/src/test/suite/util/resources/subfolder/.customyaml
+++ b/src/test/suite/util/resources/subfolder/.customyaml
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
+---
 foo: bar
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/suite/util/yaml-util.test.ts b/src/test/suite/util/yaml-util.test.ts
index 695814a..3be04b0 100644
--- a/src/test/suite/util/yaml-util.test.ts
+++ b/src/test/suite/util/yaml-util.test.ts
@@ -52,9 +52,21 @@ suite("Test sortArrays", () => {
   })
 })
 
-suite("Test dumpYaml", () => {
+suite("Test YamlUtil - setLeadingDashes()", () => {
+  test("when setting useLeadingDashes is `true` should prepend `---\n` to text", () => {
+    const yamlutil = new YamlUtil()
+    const text = "lorem ipsum"
+    yamlutil.settings.useLeadingDashes = false
+    equal(yamlutil.setLeadingDashes(text), text)
 
-  test("when useCustomSortRecursively is set to `true` should recursively use customSort", () => {
+    yamlutil.settings.useLeadingDashes = true
+    const expected = "---\nlorem ipsum"
+    equal(yamlutil.setLeadingDashes(text), expected)
+  })
+})
+
+suite("Test dumpYaml", () => {
+  test("when useCustomSortRecursively is set to`true` should recursively use customSort", () => {
     const actual =
       "keyword1: value\n" +
       "keyword: value\n" +
diff --git a/src/util/file-util.ts b/src/util/file-util.ts
index ef49468..f802118 100644
--- a/src/util/file-util.ts
+++ b/src/util/file-util.ts
@@ -27,10 +27,12 @@ export class FileUtil {
   }
 
   sortFile(file: string) {
+    const yamlutil = new YamlUtil()
     const text = readFileSync(file, this.encoding).toString()
-    const sortedYaml = new YamlUtil().sortYaml(text, 0)
+    let sortedYaml = yamlutil.sortYaml(text, 0)
 
     if (sortedYaml) {
+      sortedYaml = yamlutil.setLeadingDashes(sortedYaml)
       writeFileSync(file, sortedYaml)
     } else {
       throw new Error(`File ${file} could not be sorted`)
diff --git a/src/util/yaml-util.ts b/src/util/yaml-util.ts
index b9a49af..6166df7 100644
--- a/src/util/yaml-util.ts
+++ b/src/util/yaml-util.ts
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ export class YamlUtil {
     return (!text.startsWith("|") && text.includes(":")) || text.startsWith("-")
   }
 
+  setLeadingDashes(text: string) {
+    if (this.settings.useLeadingDashes) {
+      return `---\n${text}`
+    }
+    return text
+  }
+
   transformMultilineValue(text: string) {
     let result = prependWhitespacesOnEachLine(text, this.settings.indent)
     if (text.endsWith("\n")) {