Can someone explain when to add dashes and when not to in YAML?

Hi @tim.poth,

In the network policy definition found in the official documentation (referenced by your link above), the hyphens are used for different purposes.

Hyphens used as part of a default construct, such as:

  ingress:
  - from:

  egress:
  - to:

Hyphens used for the grouping of properties part of a condition, and to separate conditions from other conditions. In addition, the hyphens below have the meaning of "OR" when conditions are evaluated:

    - ipBlock:
        cidr: 172.17.0.0/16
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          project: myproject
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          role: frontend

For the purpose of grouping of relevant properties, or to separate objects that are part of an array. Keep in mind that single object arrays also require the use of hyphens:

Multi-container pod definitions

Init containers pod definitions

Volumes with associated volume mounts definitions

Ports of a multi-port container definition

While properties are typically listed in alphabetical order, they may be arranged differently based on personal preference:

  ports:
    - port: 80
      protocol: TCP
      name: http
      targetPort: 9376
    - name: https
      port: 443
      targetPort: 9377
      protocol: TCP

Regards,
-Chris