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    transform_request
    datasets
    examples
+   yaml
    command_line
    contribute
    about
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+# YAML Features
+
+The YAML file format (with our extensions) provides a powerful and compact way of representing ServiceX queries. Two features in particular can be leveraged to make definitions clear and avoid duplication: the use of definitional anchors/aliases, and the inclusion of other YAML files.
+
+## Using anchors and aliases
+The standard YAML language has the concepts of _anchors_ and _aliases_. An _anchor_ is a string prefixed by "&" which then refers to the contents of that particular YAML item, and which can be reused later by using an _alias_ which is the same string prefixed with "*" (the syntax is conceptually similar to that of making a pointer and dereferencing it in C/C++). The anchor must be defined before being used as an alias.
+
+One can define an anchor once and reuse it as an alias many times. So, for example, a cut may be defined as `&DEF_mycut <cut definition>` and then referred to in queries as `*DEF_mycut`. By convention (although not strictly required) the anchors are grouped in a `Definitions` block at the start of the YAML file; this avoids clutter in the `General` and `Sample` blocks and allows reordering of those blocks without having to worry about the ordering of anchors and aliases.
+
+A configuration file using this feature would look like
+
+```yaml
+Definitions:
+  - &DEF_query !PythonFunction |
+        def run_query(input_filenames=None):
+              return []
+
+Sample:
+  - Name: mysample
+    Query: *DEF_query
+    ...
+```
+
+## Including other YAML files
+We have extended the standard YAML file format to allow the inclusion of the contents of another YAML file, with the `!include` syntax.
+
+For example, we can have a main YAML file like this:
+```yaml
+Definitions:
+    !include definitions.yaml
+
+Sample:
+  - Name: mysample
+    Query: *DEF_query
+    ...
+```
+which includes a `definitions.yaml` file that looks like this:
+```yaml
+- &DEF_query !PythonFunction |
+        def run_query(input_filenames=None):
+            return []
+```
+By factoring the files like this and using anchors and aliases, the top-level file can be kept readable.
+
+## A note on string handling
+YAML tries to provide ways to "naturally" embed multiline strings in the configuration files. This can sometimes lead to somewhat unexpected results. We recommend the "block scalar" style, introducing a multiline string by starting with a pipe (|) and using a constant indentation for each line of the string that follows. You might find [this site](https://yaml-multiline.info/) useful to demonstrate the various potential modes.
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