How can I sort YAML files?

Question

I\'ve been trying to sort an i18n translations YAML file with Ruby so I can manage new translations in a better and organized way, but I\'ve been wondering if there is something

Answer 1

In Ruby 1.8 hashes don't have a particular order, so you cannot just sort them.

You could monkey-patch/overwrite the to_yaml method of Hash like this:

#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w

require 'yaml'

class Hash
  def to_yaml(opts = {})
    YAML::quick_emit(self, opts) do |out|
      out.map(taguri, to_yaml_style) do |map|
        keys.sort.each do |k|
          v = self[k]
          map.add(k, v)
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

dict = YAML.load($<.read)

puts dict.to_yaml

Of course, the exact details may depend on your version of YAML/Ruby. The example above is for Ruby 1.8.6.