diff --git a/yaml.go b/yaml.go
index f008ef2..18ed68f 100644
--- a/yaml.go
+++ b/yaml.go
@@ -19,29 +19,16 @@ func main() {
       Name:      "read",
       Aliases:     []string{"r"},
       Usage:     "read <filename> <path>\n\te.g.: yaml read sample.json a.b.c\n\t(default) reads a property from a given yaml file",
-      Action:   read_file,
+      Action:   read_property,
     },
   }
-  app.Action = read_file
+  app.Action = read_property
   app.Run(os.Args)
 }
 
-func read_file(c *cli.Context) {
-  if len(c.Args()) == 0 {
-    log.Fatalf("Must provide filename")
-  }
-  var filename = c.Args()[0]
-  var raw_data, read_error = ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
-  if read_error != nil {
-    log.Fatalf("error: %v", read_error)
-  }
-
+func read_property(c *cli.Context) {
   var parsed_data map[interface{}]interface{}
-
-  err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(raw_data), &parsed_data)
-  if err != nil {
-    log.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
-  }
+  read_yaml(c, &parsed_data)
 
   var path = c.Args()[1]
   var paths = strings.Split(path, ".")
@@ -49,14 +36,36 @@ func read_file(c *cli.Context) {
   fmt.Println(read(parsed_data, paths[0], paths[1:len(paths)]))
 }
 
-func read(context map[interface{}]interface{}, head string, tail []string) interface{} {
-  value := context[head]
-  // fmt.Println("read called")
+func read_yaml(c *cli.Context, parsed_data *map[interface{}]interface{}) {
+  if len(c.Args()) == 0 {
+    log.Fatalf("Must provide filename")
+  }
+  var raw_data = read_file(c.Args()[0])
 
-  switch value.(type) {
-    case bool, int, string, []interface{}:
-      return value
-    default: // recurse into map
-      return read(value.(map[interface{}]interface{}), tail[0], tail[1:len(tail)])
+  if len(c.Args()) == 1 {
+    fmt.Println(string(raw_data[:]))
+    os.Exit(0)
+  }
+
+  err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(raw_data), &parsed_data)
+  if err != nil {
+    log.Fatalf("error: %v", err)
+  }
+}
+
+func read_file(filename string) []byte {
+  var raw_data, read_error = ioutil.ReadFile(filename)
+  if read_error != nil {
+    log.Fatalf("error: %v", read_error)
+  }
+  return raw_data
+}
+
+func read(context map[interface{}]interface{}, head string, tail []string) interface{} {
+  value := context[head]
+  if (len(tail) > 0) {
+    return read(value.(map[interface{}]interface{}), tail[0], tail[1:len(tail)])
+  } else {
+    return value
   }
 }