serialization - Ruby Yaml serialisation issue -

strange problem serialisation, doing wrong not sure is.

thanks in advance help.

input yaml document

--- ssl_user_clients:   - first_name: donnald     surname: duck     email: donnald.duck@acme.corp     country: fantasyland     state: desert     locality: disney     org_name: acme corp 

expected yaml document

--- ssl_user_clients:   - first_name: donnald     surname: duck     password: k)nzzc+&dg?-ry|0     email: donnald.duck@acme.corp     country: fantasyland     state: desert     locality: disney     org_name: acme corp 

strange result of code:

--- ssl_user_clients: - &1   first_name: donnald   surname: duck   email: donnald.duck@acme.corp   country: fantasyland   state: desert   locality: disney   org_name: acme corp *1:   first_name: donnald   surname: duck   email: donnald.duck@acme.corp   country: fantasyland   state: desert   locality: disney   org_name: acme corp   password: k)nzzc+&dg?-ry|0 

my ruby code:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby  require "yaml"  def generate_activation_code(size = 16)   charset = %w{0 1 2 3 4 6 7 9 c d e f g h j k m n p q r t v w x y z b c d e f g h j k m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ! @ $ % ^ & * ( ) _ ? ~ + - = / \ | < > { } [ ]}   (0...size).map{ charset.to_a[rand(charset.size)] }.join end   def get_cleaned_password     password = generate_activation_code     password.split().collect{|x| x.strip}.join() end   hash = yaml.load(file.read(argv[0]))  puts "hash file" puts hash puts puts   user in hash["ssl_user_clients"]     if not user["password"]         new_password = get_cleaned_password     end      pass = { "password" => new_password }     hash[user] = user.merge pass end   puts hash.to_yaml  open(argv[0], file::trunc) {} file.open(argv[0], 'w') {|f| f.write hash.to_yaml( :indent => 4, :useheader => true, :useversion => true ) } 

please may assist this has confounded me, did not expect see this.

some debug information.

hash file {"ssl_user_clients"=>[{"first_name"=>"donnald", "surname"=>"duck", "email"=>"donnald.duck@acme.corp", "country"=>"fantasyland", "state"=>"desert", "locality"=>"disney", "org_name"=>"acme corp"}]}  hash before hash.to_yaml {"ssl_user_clients"=>[{"first_name"=>"donnald",                          "surname"=>"duck",                         "email"=>"donnald.duck@acme.corp",                                "country"=>"fantasyland",                          "state"=>"desert",                          "locality"=>"disney",                         "org_name"=>"acme corp"}],                        {"first_name"=>"donnald",                          "surname"=>"duck",                          "email"=>"donnald.duck@acme.corp",                         "country"=>"fantasyland",                          "state"=>"desert",                          "locality"=>"disney",                          "org_name"=>"acme corp"}=>{"first_name"=>"donnald",                         "surname"=>"duck",                          "email"=>"donnald.duck@acme.corp",                         "country"=>"fantasyland",                          "state"=>"desert",                          "locality"=>"disney",                          "org_name"=>"acme corp",                          "password"=>"4?zkoff3^hmmc-<7"}} 

the change detailed below fixed mangling of yaml, output has indentation issues.

great stuff, works expected there indentation issue output.

the following fixed mangling per advise given @infused (thanks) below:

for user in hash["ssl_user_clients"]     if not user["password"]         user["password"] = get_cleaned_password     end end 

correct output expected.

--- ssl_user_clients:   - first_name: donnald     surname: duck     email: donnald.duck@acme.corp     country: fantasyland     state: desert     locality: disney     org_name: acme corp     password: =)%dohhpyrrx|?v= 

i had assumed following have ensured indentation correct.

to_yaml( :indent => 4, :useheader => true, :useversion => true ) } 

you mangling hash in for user in hash["ssl_user_clients"] loop, because user contains hash , you're creating new element using user key.

update passwords way:

for user in hash["ssl_user_clients"]   user['password'] = get_cleaned_password end 

now hash have updated passwords each user, can verify puts hash.to_yaml.