i18n_yaml_sorter

A simple YAML Hash deep sorter that will not mess with the way your strings and text values were written. Made exclusively to sort the YAML Hash keys commonly used in the i18n gem and Rails’ apps. It will not sort arrays, YAML objects, etc.

It doesn’t parse the YAML and dumps it again, it just sorts the lines, it’s pure and simple magic! That way, it guarantees you can keep using your nice YAML constructs to create large text values, as we usually do in i18n files.

It includes a simple TextMate bundle and a rake task for Rails, so you can keep all those .yml files sorted in no time.

Motivation

As your rails i18n app grows, it becomes very boring to keep all locale files in sync. You have to add all keys in the same order, in different languages, or you will get yourself into a mess and will lose precious time comparing the files in different locales and looking for the appropriate translation keys whenever you want to change something or see if a key is missing.

If you try deserializing/serializing the yml files using the YAML parser, to get them in the same order, you will figure that your strings in the YAMLs will be “standarized” to whatever the YAML generator prefers (eg.: strings in double quotes, character escapes, etc). It will also mess up your indentation (and use its defaults) and remove your comments.

i18n_yaml_sorter to the rescue! Add it to TextMate and you will be able to sort your yaml file in nanoseconds. Your file will look pristine, like it was human edited.

Tested in ruby-1.8.7-p334 and ruby-1.9.2-p290, should work everywhere since it is so simple. Rake task works in Rails 3.1, not sure about older versions though (patch updates are welcome, if you find it doesn’t).

Simple Example

This:

pt-BR:
  # Note how this is a nice way of inputing
  # paragraphs of text in YAML. 
  apples: >
    Maçãs são boas,
    só não coma 
    seus iPods!
  grapes: Não comemos elas.
  bananas: |
    Bananas são "legais":
      - Elas são <b> doces </b>.
      isto: não é chave

    Por isto todos gostam de bananas!
en-US:
  # Note that our comments are important:
  # Don't let your yaml sorter delete them!
  grapes: We dont' eat them.
  bananas: |
    Bananas are "nice":
      - They are <b> sweet </b>.
      this: not a key  

    That is why everyone like bananas!
  apples: >
    Apples are fine,
    just don't eat your 
    iPods!

Becomes:

en-US:
  # Note that our comments are important:
  # Don't let your yaml sorter delete them!
  apples: >
    Apples are fine,
    just don't eat your 
    iPods!
  bananas: |
    Bananas are "nice":
      - They are <b> sweet </b>.
      this: not a key  

    That is why everyone like bananas!
  grapes: We dont' eat them.
pt-BR:
  # Note how this is a nice way of inputing
  # paragraphs of text in YAML. 
  apples: >
    Maçãs são boas,
    só não coma 
    seus iPods!
  bananas: |
    Bananas são "legais":
      - Elas são <b> doces </b>.
      isto: não é chave

    Por isto todos gostam de bananas!
  grapes: Não comemos elas.

What if you use some method that employ’s Ruby’s YAML library to help do the task for you? You would get an output like that (note it removes your comments):

en-US: 
  apples: Apples are fine, just don't eat your  iPods!
  bananas: |
    Bananas are "nice":
      - They are <b> sweet </b>.
      this: not a key  

    That is why everyone like bananas!

  grapes: We dont' eat them.
pt-BR: 
  apples: "Ma\xC3\xA7\xC3\xA3s s\xC3\xA3o boas, s\xC3\xB3 n\xC3\xA3o coma  seus iPods!\n"
  bananas: "Bananas s\xC3\xA3o \"legais\":\n  - Elas s\xC3\xA3o <b> doces </b>.\n  isto: n\xC3\xA3o \xC3\xA9 chave\n\n\
    Por isto todos gostam de bananas!\n"
  grapes: "N\xC3\xA3o comemos elas."

More complex example

This:

b_two:
  a_1: Simple most common text
  b_two: |
    This is the best way of
    inputing large chunks of text
    in the YAML files.

    Note that this format keeps blank
    lines in the same indentation.
  d_four: "We can also 
    use the boring \"
    across multiple lines 
    but have to escape then."
  e_five: Or you can do it 
    like that as well, it also works.
  c_three:
      a: "Marcelo"
      d_4: Rafael
      # Your comments will be untouched
      # but will be bound to the element
      # on top of them (d_4 here).
      "b": Bernardo
      c_3:
          unify: Luiz
          klass: Lucas
a_one: > 
  This is another way 
  of inputing text. It
  will squish whitespace
  when deserialized
  (like HTML does).

Becomes:

a_one: > 
  This is another way 
  of inputing text. It
  will squish whitespace
  when deserialized
  (like HTML does).
b_two:
  a_1: Simple most common text
  b_two: |
    This is the best way of
    inputing large chunks of text
    in the YAML files.

    Note that this format keeps blank
    lines in the same indentation.
 d_four: "We can also 
    use the boring \"
    across multiple lines 
    but have to escape then."
  c_three:
      a: "Marcelo"
      "b": Bernardo
      c_3:
          klass: Lucas
          unify: Luiz
      d_4: Rafael
      # Your comments will be untouched
      # but will be bound to the element
      # on top of them (d_4 here).
  e_five: Or you can do it 
    like that as well, it also works.

Installing

Easy, just install the gem:

$ gem install i18n_yaml_sorter

Then the sort_yaml command line tool will be available. If you prefer using Ruby (in your rakes, etc), use the simple I18nYamlSorter::Sort class.

Textmate Bundle

Run this command in the Terminal to install it:

$ sort_yaml -i

A TextMate bundle, named “Yaml Sort” will be installed in your user home path. Press “Shift+Command+S” or use the Bundles menu to invoke it. The opened yaml file (or just the part of it that is selected) will be sorted. To edit the selected part of the file, make sure it is valid YAML by itself, or your yaml file might be corrupted (you can always Undo if you mess up).

Rails Rake Taks

Declare it as a dependency in your app Gemfile, under the development group:

gem 'i18n_yaml_sorter', :group => :development

Run bundle install under your Rails’ app:

$ bundle install

Now run the rake task under your Rails’ app to sort all the i18n files in your config/locales dir:

$rake i18n:sort

Command line Input / Output

sort_yaml will operate on STDIN and STDOUT, so sorting an existing yaml file should be as easy as:

$ sort_yaml < in.yml > out.yml

TODO: Add command line arguments parsing and options, so you can, for instance, sort a whole dir of yaml files.

Changelog

0.2 - Improves gem, tests, adds TextMate Bundle, adds Rails’ Rake task.
0.1 - Initial release

Future improvements (Forks Welcome!)

Make sort_yaml smart, take directories, etc
Refactoring: internal code is still a bit ugly, but works

Note on Patches/Pull Requests

Fork the project.
Make your feature addition or bug fix.
Add tests for it. This is important so I don’t break it in a future version unintentionally.
Commit, do not mess with rakefile, version, or history. (if you want to have your own version, that is fine but bump version in a commit by itself I can ignore when I pull)
Send me a pull request. Bonus points for topic branches.