2.36. Anchors and Aliases in YAML

REFER: The reader creates reference attributes on the element that has an anchor or an alias. The element with the anchor obtains the id attribute containing the name from the anchor as the attribute value. The element with the alias gets the ref attribute also containing the name of the anchor as the attribute value. You can define the anchor and alias attribute names by setting the anchorAttributeName and aliasAttributeName properties.

RESOLVE: The reader resolves the value or the data structure of an anchor when its alias is encountered. This means that the SAX events of the anchor are repeated as child events of the alias element. When a YAML document contains a lot of anchors or anchors and a substantial data structure this can lead to memory problems.

REFER_RESOLVE: This is a combination of REFER and RESOLVE. The anchor and alias attributes are set but the anchor value or data structure is also resolved. This option is useful when the name of the anchor has a business meaning.