> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://daseldocs.tomwright.me/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://daseldocs.tomwright.me/v1/usage/flags/merge-input-documents.md).

# Merge Input Documents

## Description

This flag tells dasel to merge input documents into an array.

Note that when `--merge-input-documents` is passed, even a single document will be converted to an array.

## Usage

Pass the `--merge-input-documents` to [select](/v1/usage/select.md) or [put](/v1/usage/put.md) commands.

## Example

With the flag:

```shell
$ echo 'foo: bar
---
baz: biz' | dasel -r yaml -w json --merge-input-documents .
[
  {
    "foo": "bar"
  },
  {
    "baz": "biz"
  }
]
```

Without the flag:

```shell
$ echo 'foo: bar
---
baz: biz' | dasel -r yaml -w json .
{
  "foo": "bar"
}
{
  "baz": "biz"
}
```

## Notes

Take note that merge in this context means taking all of the input documents and adding them to a single array of those documents.

Input: `a`, `b`, `c`\
Output: `[a, b, c]`

Where:\
a: `{"number": 1}`\
b: `{"number": 2}`\
c: `{"number": 3}`

Becomes:

```json
[{ "number": 1 }, { "number": 2 }, { "number": 3 }]
```

The use of "merge" here could be mistaken in that you may expect the following output:

```json
{
  "number": 3
}
```

If you are looking for the 2nd output above, see the [merge feature request](https://github.com/TomWright/dasel/issues/133).