hyphens¶

What this rule does¶

Controls the number of spaces between the hyphen (-) and the value in block sequences.

Why this matters¶

Alignment. Consistent spacing keeps sequence items lined up under the same column, which matters for readability of long lists.
Diff stability. Editors that "fix" hyphen spacing during a save produce noisy diffs when the rule is unset.

Configuration¶

[rules.hyphens]
level = "error"
max-spaces-after = 1
dash-on-own-line = false

Option	Default	Description
`max-spaces-after`	`1`	Maximum spaces between the `-` and the item value.
`dash-on-own-line`	`false`	Require the `-` on its own line when the entry is a block mapping (ryl-only; TOML config only).

dash-on-own-line is a ryl-only extension with no yamllint counterpart, so it is configured in TOML config only and rejected in yamllint-compatible YAML config.

Examples¶

Allowed (defaults)¶

list:
  - first
  - second

Reported (defaults)¶

list:
  -  first
  -   second

Allowed (with `max-spaces-after: 3`)¶

list:
  -   first
  -   second

Reported (with `dash-on-own-line: true`)¶

The mapping starts on the dash's line, so the - is not on its own line:

items:
  - name: web
    port: 80

Allowed (with `dash-on-own-line: true`)¶

The - stands alone and the mapping body is indented below it (a dash carrying only an anchor/tag or a comment is also accepted, since the keys remain below):

items:
  -
    name: web
    port: 80

Automatic fixing¶

This rule does not auto-fix. Trim the extra spaces (max-spaces-after) or break the mapping onto the line below the - (dash-on-own-line) manually: re-indenting the mapping body is a structural change ryl will not make automatically.

indentation — controls how sequence items are indented relative to their parent key.
brackets and commas — the flow sequence equivalents.