from __future__ import print_function import ruamel.yaml inp = """\ # example name: # details family: Smith # very common given: Alice # one of the siblings """ code = ruamel.yaml.load(inp, ruamel.yaml.RoundTripLoader) code['name']['given'] = 'Bob' print(ruamel.yaml.dump(code, Dumper=ruamel.yaml.RoundTripDumper), end='')