Install python-yq with Homebrew, zypper, Nix, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• tomlq
• xq

Project history

The current project's published release series begins at 2.0; the documentation disclaims compatibility with an earlier unrelated yq project.

The 2.x line added XML processing, Homebrew distribution, YAML round-tripping, in-place editing, and TOML processing over time.

Later development added YAML 1.2 behavior, safer XML handling, comment-preserving round trips, YAML frontmatter support, and streaming-oriented processing.

Adoption history

The project was adopted as a way to reuse jq filters for YAML by transcoding YAML to JSON, invoking jq, and optionally converting the result back to YAML.

Its scope expanded into adjacent structured-data formats: `xq` handles XML and `tomlq` handles TOML.

The official changelog records Homebrew availability beginning in the 2.7 line, in-place editing in the 2.10 line, TOML support in the 2.12 line, and later YAML round-trip and streaming improvements.

How it is used

Pipe YAML through `yq <jq-filter>` or pass input filenames as arguments.

Use `-y` for YAML output, `-Y` when YAML tags and styles must survive a round trip, and `--in-place` for file edits.

Use `xq` for XML and `tomlq` for TOML; their format-specific output options support round-trip conversion.

Install jq separately because yq forwards filters and most command-line options to that executable.

Why package nerds care

This yq is the Python implementation whose defining feature is delegation to jq, so users retain jq's mature expression language instead of learning a separate query syntax.

The name is package-manager-sensitive because multiple unrelated projects are called yq; the official documentation explicitly says releases before its PyPI 2.0 series belonged to an unrelated project.

Timeline

• The published series for the current project starts at 2.0; earlier identically named releases were unrelated.
• 2018: The 2.7 line documented Homebrew availability and XML/TOML-related work.
• 2019: YAML round-trip preservation and in-place editing arrived in the 2.9 and 2.10 lines.
• 2021: The 2.12 line added the `tomlq` CLI and ended Python 2.7 support.
• 2022: The 3.0 line adopted YAML 1.2 parsing and rendering behavior.

Related projects

• jq is the processing engine behind yq and must be installed before using it.
• The unrelated Go-based yq by Mike Farah solves a similar shell data-processing problem with a standalone binary and its own expression implementation.

Sources

• https://kislyuk.github.io/yq/
• https://kislyuk.github.io/yq/changelog.html