# Create Multi-Line Strings Without The Line Breaks

There are [many ways](https://stackoverflow.com/a/21699210/535590) to add multi-line strings to a YAML document. Most of them preserve the literal newlines present in the multi-line string. And generally that is what you want in a multi-line string.

Sometimes, however, you want a multi-line string just for its readability in the file. The literal representation of the string should exclude the newlines. To achieve this, you can use either `>-` or `|-`.

```yaml
run: >-
  echo "::set-output name=NODE_VERSION::$(
    cat .tool-versions
    | grep nodejs
    | sed 's/nodejs \(.*\)$/\1/'
  )"
```

This creates a readable key-value pair without introducing newline characters into the string that represents a shell command.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://ploegert.gitbook.io/til/tools/yaml/create-multi-line-strings-without-the-line-breaks.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.