README

MiniYAML is a minimalistic YAML loader and dumper for PHP. It handles the subset of YAML commonly used for configuration files and API responses.

Why MiniYAML?

Single file, zero dependencies. Drop miniyaml.php into your project and you are done — no Composer, no autoloader, no transitive dependencies.
Tiny footprint. The entire implementation is ~350 lines of straightforward PHP.
PHP template evaluation. The built-in InterpretPHP() method lets you embed <?= $var ?> tags directly in YAML, making it easy to build environment-specific configuration without a separate templating step. No other mainstream YAML library offers this.
Readable API. Three static methods — Load(), Dump(), InterpretPHP() — cover all common use cases without configuration overhead.
Runs on PHP 5.6 and up. Works on legacy hosting and old codebases where modern libraries have already dropped support.

Installation

composer require atk14/mini-yaml

Usage

Load

$ar = miniYAML::Load($yaml_string);

Options:

Option	Type	Default	Description
`nullable`	bool	`true`	Treat `null` and `NULL` as PHP `null`
`interpret_php`	bool	`false`	Evaluate PHP tags (`<?php ... ?>`) embedded in the YAML string
`values`	array	`[]`	Variables made available when `interpret_php` is enabled

// Disable null handling — "null" is kept as a plain string
$ar = miniYAML::Load($yaml_string, ["nullable" => false]);

// Evaluate embedded PHP
$yaml = miniYAML::Load($template, [
    "interpret_php" => true,
    "values" => ["domain" => "example.com"],
]);

Dump

$yaml = miniYAML::Dump($array);

Options:

Option	Type	Default	Description
`nullable`	bool	`true`	Dump PHP `null` as `NULL`; when `false`, dumps as empty string `""`

$yaml = miniYAML::Dump($array, ["nullable" => false]);

Supported YAML features

Load and Dump:

Hash (associative) arrays: key: value
Indexed (list) arrays: - item
Nested structures of arbitrary depth
Empty arrays: []
Quoted strings: "value" and 'value'
null / NULL values (controlled by the nullable option)
Comments: lines starting with #

Load only:

Literal block scalars (|) — newlines preserved
Folded block scalars (>) — newlines replaced with spaces

Dump only:

Strings containing newlines are automatically serialized as literal block scalars (|)
Strings requiring escaping (colons, special characters, YAML keywords, …) are wrapped in double quotes

Example

$yaml = '
---
status: success
message: Ok
data:
  domain: example.com
  admin:
  - Alice
  - Bob
  description: |
    First line.
    Second line.
';

$ar = miniYAML::Load($yaml);
// [
//   "status"  => "success",
//   "message" => "Ok",
//   "data"    => [
//     "domain"      => "example.com",
//     "admin"       => ["Alice", "Bob"],
//     "description" => "First line.\nSecond line.",
//   ]
// ]

echo miniYAML::Dump($ar);

Limitations

The following YAML features are not supported:

Multiline plain scalars (without | or >)
Anchors and aliases (&, *)
Explicit type tags (!!str, !!int, …)
Flow mappings and sequences ({…}, […]) — except empty array []
Documents with a common base indentation on all lines

MiniYAML is well-suited for YAML you write and control yourself. If the input comes from an external tool or another language, it may use syntax that MiniYAML silently misparses or ignores.

Alternatives

If MiniYAML does not cover your use case, consider these alternatives:

Library	Notes
symfony/yaml	Pure PHP, covers most of YAML 1.2. The standard choice for full YAML support; works standalone without the Symfony framework.
ext-yaml	PHP extension wrapping libyaml (C). Fastest option, full YAML 1.1 compliance. Requires server-level installation.
nette/neon	Pure PHP, implements NEON — a YAML-like format with PHP-native types. Not YAML, but a comfortable alternative if you control both ends.

Testing

composer update --dev
./vendor/bin/run_unit_tests test

License

MiniYAML is free software distributed under the terms of the MIT license

atk14 / mini-yaml

Maintainers

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