Why is YAML.load returning the wrong numeric value?

Why is YAML.load returning the wrong value?

ruby-1.9.2-p0 :006 > a = YAML.load开发者_如何学Go('merchant_id: 014213245611111')
 => {"merchant_id"=>843333440073} 
ruby-1.9.2-p0 :007 > a["merchant_id"]
 => 843333440073 

I'm on ruby 1.9.2-p0, rvm, ubuntu10.10, 64bit.

The YAML parser is treating "014213245611111" as an octal (base-8) number, rather than a string. Wrap it in quotes to preserve the leading 0.

A leading 0 signifies an octal number — 14213245611111 octal == 843333440073 decimal. If you need to have leading zeroes, you should use a string value instead of numeric.