Pkl ignores format when evaluating expressions #233

New Issue

2025-12-30T01:22:33+01:00

adam commented

2025-12-30 01:22:33 +01:00

Originally created by @pauloborges on GitHub (Oct 26, 2024).

Example file:

cat file.pkl
field {
    key = "value"
}

Evaluating the whole file works as expected:

pkl eval -f yaml file.pkl
field:
  key: value

But evaluating an expression ignores the format argument:

pkl eval -f yaml -x field file.pkl
new Dynamic { key = "value" }

Originally created by @pauloborges on GitHub (Oct 26, 2024). Example file: ``` cat file.pkl field { key = "value" } ``` Evaluating the whole file works as expected: ``` pkl eval -f yaml file.pkl field: key: value ``` But evaluating an expression ignores the format argument: ``` pkl eval -f yaml -x field file.pkl new Dynamic { key = "value" } ```

adam closed this issue

2025-12-30 01:22:33 +01:00

adam commented

2025-12-30 01:22:34 +01:00

@HT154 commented on GitHub (Oct 27, 2024):

This is currently expected behavior and not a bug, but this is definitely a valid feature request. You can emulate the desired behavior using -x 'output.renderer.renderValue(<expr>).

You can see how the output format selection is implemented here, which might help explain what's happening here: https://github.com/apple/pkl/blob/466ae6fd4c72aa7ccabde970131eccbc2a690b12/stdlib/base.pkl#L93-L107

@HT154 commented on GitHub (Oct 27, 2024): This is currently expected behavior and not a bug, but this is definitely a valid feature request. You can emulate the desired behavior using `-x 'output.renderer.renderValue(<expr>)`. You can see how the output format selection is implemented here, which might help explain what's happening here: https://github.com/apple/pkl/blob/466ae6fd4c72aa7ccabde970131eccbc2a690b12/stdlib/base.pkl#L93-L107

adam commented

2025-12-30 01:22:34 +01:00