YAML configuration file syntax

The MongoDB configuration file is an American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text file using the YAML Ain't Markup Language (YAML) style of formatting, with the following features:

• Key-value pairs are specified as follows:

key : value

• Section headings are followed by a colon and a line feed, as follows:

heading:

• Key-value pairs that are subsets of a section are indented by two spaces, as follows:

heading:
  key1: value1
  key2: value2

• Comments can be added by starting the line with a # symbol, as follows:

# This is a comment

IMPORTANT: YAML does not support tabs. Be sure to use spaces when indenting.

We will now examine some of the more important configuration options.