Converters

YAML to CSV Converter

YAML record lists in, spreadsheet-ready CSV out — flattened columns, RFC 4180 quoting, no manual reshaping.

In short

Convert YAML to CSV online: a YAML list of records becomes spreadsheet rows with flattened columns and correct quoting. Exact error positions. Free.

By NaveenKumar T · Updated 18 Sep 2026

Learn: YAML Tutorial: Read and Write It Without Fear

Instant in-browser conversion
Validates input first
Handles wrapped record lists

Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste or open here is uploaded, logged, or stored.How we handle data →

Example

YAML to CSV: input and output

A stock list wrapped under a single stock: key, with a nested location mapping, a tags list that is empty on one item, a field present on only one record, and a note containing a comma.

Input · YAML

stock:
  - sku: BLT-10
    qty: 140
    location: { aisle: 4, bin: B2 }
    tags: [fastener, steel]
  - sku: WSH-05
    qty: 0
    location: { aisle: 4, bin: C1 }
    tags: []
  - sku: GSK-77
    qty: 12
    location: { aisle: 9, bin: A7 }
    discontinued: true
    note: "Replaces GSK-70, see memo"

Output · CSV

sku,qty,location.aisle,location.bin,tags.0,tags.1,tags,discontinued,note
BLT-10,140,4,B2,fastener,steel,,,
WSH-05,0,4,C1,,,[],,
GSK-77,12,9,A7,,,,true,"Replaces GSK-70, see memo"

The stock: wrapper was unwrapped automatically. location.aisle and location.bin are dot-path columns, the first item's tags list spread into tags.0 and tags.1 while the second item's empty list produced a separate tags column holding [], the discontinued column exists only because the third record has it, and the note with a comma was quoted.

Learn more

How YAML to CSV conversion works

The YAML is parsed with full 1.2 semantics, single-key wrappers are unwrapped (a top-level key holding your list doesn't get in the way), and each list entry becomes a CSV row. Nested mappings flatten to dot-path columns; the header is the union of all fields across entries, so heterogeneous records still align.

Values containing commas, quotes, or newlines are quoted per RFC 4180, and YAML's typed scalars (numbers, booleans) serialize as their plain text forms.

When to convert YAML to CSV

Inventories, user lists, and test matrices often live in YAML for easy editing — until someone needs them in a spreadsheet or a database import. This converter does the parse-flatten-escape pipeline in one click, which is also the quickest way to eyeball a long YAML list as a table.

Help

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about the YAML to CSV.

01Does the YAML need to already be a flat list of records?

Not flat, but list-shaped: the top level (or a single wrapper key holding it) needs to be a YAML sequence, and each item's own nesting is then flattened into dot-path columns automatically. A document that is one big nested mapping with no list at all still converts — just as the single wide row described below, rather than the one-row-per-record shape CSV is good at.

02My YAML is one nested document, not a list — what will the CSV look like?

A single row whose columns are the flattened dot-paths of every leaf value. That's correct but wide; CSV shines when the YAML is a sequence of similar mappings. If your records live under a key (records: [...]), the converter unwraps it automatically.

03How do YAML types — nulls, booleans, nested lists, block scalars — land in the cells?

null and ~ become empty cells; true and false are written as text. A nested list expands into indexed columns (tags.0, tags.1), and a record whose list is empty gets a separate tags column holding the text []. A | block scalar keeps its line breaks, so that cell is wrapped in quotes and spans several lines — spreadsheets handle this, but naive line-based tools will not. Quoted YAML strings such as "007" stay strings and are written with their zeros intact.

Keep working