Malformed YAML

Statac couldn’t read some YAML: the front matter of a page, or a settings or data file. The message says what it found and points at the place to fix, such as a quote that is never closed or a line indented too far.

What you’ll see

error  Malformed YAML: `"` is never closed
  End the value with another `"`.
  More: https://statac.dev/e/malformed-yaml/

In the terminal the message also names the file and line where there is one, and marks the exact text.

Why Statac stops

Past the mistake, Statac can’t tell which values you meant, and a guess could publish the wrong title, date or address without anyone noticing.

How to fix it

Look at the place the caret points to. Common causes:

A quote or bracket opened and never closed. Close it on the same value.
A tab used for indentation. YAML indents with spaces only.
Text after a closing quote. Put the whole value inside the quotes.
A backslash in double quotes that YAML doesn’t know, such as \q. Write \\ for a backslash, or use single quotes.
A --- line inside the YAML, which starts a second document. A file holds one.

Example

In content/post-1.md:

---
title: "Post 1
---

The quote is never closed. End the value with another ":

---
title: "Post 1"
---

Its name

Name	`malformed-yaml`
In the terminal	`statac explain malformed-yaml`
To stop showing it	It stops the build, so it can't be quietened.