---

layout: docs
title: Data Files
prev_section: collections
next_section: assets

permalink: /docs/datafiles/

In addition to the built-in variables available from Jekyll,
you can specify your own custom data that can be accessed via the Liquid
templating system.

Jekyll supports loading data from YAML and JSON files located in the
_data directory.

This powerful feature allows you to avoid repetition in your templates and to
set site specific options without changing _config.yml.

Plugins/themes can also leverage Data Files to set configuration variables.

The Data Folder

As explained on the directory structure page, the _data
folder is where you can store additional data for Jekyll to use when generating
your site. These files must be YAML files (using either the .yml, .yaml or .json
extension) and they will be accessible via site.data.

Example: List of members

Here is a basic example of using Data Files to avoid copy-pasting large chunks of
code in your Jekyll templates:

In _data/members.yml:

{% highlight yaml %}

• name: Tom Preston-Werner
  github: mojombo

• name: Parker Moore
  github: parkr

• name: Liu Fengyun
  github: liufengyun
  {% endhighlight %}

This data can be accessed via site.data.members (notice that the filename
determines the variable name).

You can now render the list of members in a template:

{% highlight html %}
{% raw %}

{% for member in site.data.members %}
• {{ member.name }}
{% endfor %}

{% endraw %}
{% endhighlight %}

Example: Organizations

Data files can also be placed in sub-folders of the _data folder. Each folder level will be added to a variable’s namespace. The example bellow shows how GitHub organizations could be defined separately in a file under the orgs folder:

In _data/orgs/jekyll.yml:

{% highlight yaml %}
username: jekyll
name: Jekyll
members:

• name: Tom Preston-Werner
  github: mojombo

• name: Parker Moore
  github: parkr
  {% endhighlight %}

In _data/orgs/doeorg.yml:

{% highlight yaml %}
username: doeorg
name: Doe Org
members:

• name: John Doe github: jdoe {% endhighlight %}

The organizations can then be accessed via site.data.orgs, followed by the file name:

{% highlight html %}
{% raw %}

{% for org_hash in site.data.orgs %} {% assign org = org_hash[1] %}
• {{ org.name }} ({{ org.members | size }} members)
{% endfor %}

{% endraw %}
{% endhighlight %}