Pipeline bitbucket-pipelines.yml file gives me an error when I use ":"

Summary

The YML file throws an error when I define a line in the script like this -

Cause

This issue occurs because of the way YAML syntax. When you use ":" and " $" consecutively with a space in between them.

The above screenshot shows that everything after the ":" is treated differently.

Solution

There are multiple ways to deal with solution:

• Remove the space after the colon

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 image: ubuntu:18.04 pipelines:   default:     - step:       script:         -  echo "Echo from pipelines :${MY_VAR}"

• Escape the space after the colon

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 image: ubuntu:18.04 pipelines: default: - step: script: - echo "Echo from pipelines :\ ${MY_VAR}"

• Quote the entire command line, which will indicate the line is a string.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 image: ubuntu:18.04 pipelines: default: - step: script: - 'echo "Echo from pipelines : ${MY_VAR}"'

• Quote the colon character

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 image: ubuntu:18.04 pipelines:   default:     - step:       script:       -  echo "Echo from pipelines ':' ${MY_VAR}"