---
id: yamlordereddictloader
version: "0.4.2"
license: MIT License
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# yamlordereddictloader — YAML loader and dumper for PyYAML allowing to keep keys order.

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 429.5K/mo

## What it is and what it does

yamlordereddictloader extends pyyaml with custom loaders and dumpers that preserve the order of keys when reading and writing YAML files by storing them in OrderedDict objects. It provides both standard and safe variants—the safe versions work with standard YAML tags and do not construct arbitrary Python objects, while the standard versions offer full Python object support.

The package is a thin wrapper around pyyaml's loader and dumper infrastructure, designed for use cases where maintaining key order through serialization matters. However, the maintainer explicitly marks this project as deprecated and directs users to an improved alternative with unit tests, performance improvements, and more active development.

Use it for:

- Load YAML configuration files while preserving the order of keys for display in help text or command-line interfaces.
- Serialize OrderedDict objects back to YAML files with key order intact for human-readable configuration output.
- Round-trip YAML data (load and dump) in applications where key sequence matters for documentation or UI generation.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides YAML loaders and dumpers for PyYAML that preserve key order by using OrderedDict, allowing round-trip serialization of ordered YAML data.

No. The package is explicitly deprecated by its own maintainer, who recommends an improved alternative. The last release was 1057 days ago, and the project is dormant. Install the recommended replacement instead.

## Install

pip install yamlordereddictloader
uv add yamlordereddictloader
poetry add yamlordereddictloader

## Installing yamlordereddictloader

Before you install: Low install friction with a single runtime dependency on pyyaml. Maintenance is dormant—last release was 1057 days ago—and the project's own documentation explicitly recommends switching to an improved alternative instead.

License in practice: MIT License (permissive) places no restrictions on use, modification, or distribution in commercial or private projects.

Quickstart:

pip install yamlordereddictloader

import yamlordereddictloader

data = yamlordereddictloader.Loader
# or for safe loading:
data = yamlordereddictloader.SafeLoader

Requires pyyaml to be installed; the package itself is deprecated and its maintainer recommends using an alternative instead.

Verify before relying:

- Whether OrderedDict behavior is still necessary given Python 3.7+ dicts maintain insertion order by default
- Compatibility with recent pyyaml versions and whether the recommended alternative is a drop-in replacement
- Performance characteristics compared to the recommended alternative

## Package facts

- License: MIT License (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 429.5K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

yaml ordered dict loader, preserve yaml key order, pyyaml ordereddict, yaml loader keep order, ordered yaml parsing, yaml-parsing, deprecated

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/yamlordereddictloader) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/yamlordereddictloader/)