Language

This document describes the syntax of the scriban templating language.

NOTE: This document does not describe the liquid language. Check the liquid website directly.

Table of Contents

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1. Blocks

There are 3 types of block of text in a template:

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1.1 Code block

A text enclosed by {{ and }} is a scriban code block that will be evaluated by the scriban templating engine.

A scriban code block may contain:

Inside a code block, except for the EOL after each statement, white spaces characters are not affecting the parsing. There is only one case where whitespace is used to disambiguate between an array indexer and an array initializer.

Also, if a statement is an expression (but not an assignment expression), the result of the expression will be output to the rendering output of the template:

input

{{
  x = "5"   # This assignment will not output anything
  x         # This expression will print 5
  x + 1     # This expression will print 6
}}

output

56

Note that in the previous example, there is no EOL between 5 and 6 because we are inside a code block. You can still use a plain string with an EOL inside a code block "\n" or you could use mixed code and text blocks:

input

{{ x = "5" }}
{{ x }}
{{ x + 1 }}

output

5
6

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1.2 Text block

Otherwise, any text is considered as a text block and simply output as is

Hello this is {{ name }}, welcome to scriban!
______________          _____________________
^ text block            ^ text block

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1.3 Escape block{13-escape-block}

Any code and text block can be escaped to produce a text block by enclosing it with {%{ and }%}

For example the following escape:

input: {%{Hello this is {{ name }}}%}
output: Hello this is {{ name }}

Any escape block can be also escaped by increasing the number of % in the starting and ending block:

input: {%%{This is an escaped block: }%} here}%%} output: This is an escaped block: }%} here

This allow effectively to nest escape blocks and still be able to escape them.

Hence a starting escape block {%%%%{ will required an ending }%%%%}

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1.4 Whitespace control

By default, any whitespace (including new lines) before or after a code/escape block are copied as-is to the output.

Scriban provides two modes for controlling whitespace:

Both mode ~ and '-' can also be used with escape blocks {%%{~ or ~}%%} or {%%{- or -}%%}

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2 Comments{2-comments}

Within a code block, scriban supports single line comments # and multi-line comments ##:

{{ name # this is a single line comment }}

input

{{ ## This 
is a multi
line
comment ## }}

output

As you can notice, both single line and multi-line comments can be closed by the presence of a code block exit tag }}

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3 Literals{3-literals}

3.1 Strings

Scriban supports two types of strings:

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3.2 Numbers

A number in scriban {{ 100 }} is similar to a javascript number:

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3.3 Boolean

The boolean value {{ true }} or {{ false }}

input

{{ true }}
{{ false }}

output

true
false

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3.4 null

The null value {{ null }}

When resolving to a string output, the null value will output an empty string:

input

{{ null }}

output

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4 Variables

Scriban supports the concept of global and local variables

A global/property variable like {{ name }} is a liquid like handle, starting by a letter or underscore _ and following by a letter A-Z a-z, a digit 0-9, an underscore _

The following text are valid variable names:

NOTE: In liquid, the character - is allowed in a variable name, but when translating it to a scriban, you will have to enclose it into a quoted string

A local variable like {{ $name }} is an identifier starting with $. A local variable is only accessible within the same include page or function body.

The special local variable $ alone is an array containing the arguments passed to the current function or include page.

The special local variables $0 $1 ... $n is a shorthand of $[0], $[1] ... $[n]. e.g Using $0 returns the first argument of the current function or including page.

4.1 The special variable this

The this variable gives you access to the current object bound where you have access to all local variables for the current scope.

Thus the following variable access are equivalent:

input

{{
a = 5
a    # output 5
this.a = 6
a    # output 6
this["a"] = 7
a    # output 7
}}

output

567

In the case of the with statement, the this operator refers to the object passed to with:

input

{{
a = {x: 1, y: 2}
with a
    b = this
end
b.x
}}

output

1

4.2 The special variable empty

The empty variable represents simply an empty object. It is mainly relevant to be compatible with liquid, by providing a way to compare an object with the empty object to check if it is empty or not:

input

{{
a = {}
b = [1, 2]~}}
{{a == empty}}
{{b == empty}}

output

true
false

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5 Objects

Scriban supports javascript like objects {...}

An object can be initialized empty :

{{ myobject = {} }}

An object can be initialized with some members:

{{ myobject = { member1: "yes", member2: "no" } }}

or use a json syntax:

{{ myobject = { "member1": "yes", "member2": "no" } }}

An object can be initialized with some members over multiple lines:

{{
  myobject = { 
      member1: "yes", 
      member2: "no" 
  } 
}}

Members of an object can be accessed:

{{ myobject.member1 }} also equivalent to {{ myobject["member1"] }}

If the object is a "pure" scriban objects (created with a {...} or instantiated by the runtime as a ScriptObject), you can also add members to it with a simple assignment:

input

{{
  myobject = {} 
  myobject.member3 = "may be" 
  myobject.member3
}}

output

may be

NOTICE

By default, Properties and methods of .NET objects are automatically exposed with lowercase and _ names. It means that a property like MyMethodIsNice will be exposed as my_method_is_nice. This is the default convention, originally to match the behavior of liquid templates. If you want to change this behavior, you need to use a MemberRenamer delegate

5.1 The special property empty?

Any object can respond the the property .empty? to check if it is empty or not:

input

{{
a = {}
b = [1, 2]~}}
{{a.empty?}}
{{b.empty?}}

output

true
false

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6 Arrays

An array can be initialized empty :

{{ myarray = [] }}

An array can be initialized with some items:

{{ myarray = [1, 2, 3, 4] }}

An array can be initialized with some items over multiple lines:

{{
  myarray = [ 
    1,
    2,
    3,
    4,
  ] 
}}

Items of an array can be zero-based indexed:

{{ myarray[0] }}

If the array is a "pure" scriban array (created with a [...] or instantiated by the runtime as a ScriptArray), you can also add items to it with a simple assignment that will expand automatically the array depending on the index:

{{
  myarray = [] 
  myarray[0] = 1 
  myarray[1] = 2 
  myarray[2] = 3 
  myarray[3] = 4 
}}

You can also manipulate arrays with the array builtin object.

Important notice

While whitespace characters are mostly not relevant while parsing in scriban, there is a case where a whitespace helps to disambiguate between an array indexer and an array initializer.

For instance, if a whitespace is found before a [ and the previous expression was a variable path expressions (see later), the following expression [...] will be considered as an array initializer instead of an array indexer:

{{
myfunction [1]  # There is a whitespace after myfunction. 
                # It will result in a call to myfunction passing an array as an argument

myvariable[1]   # Without a whitespace, this is accessing 
                # an element in the array provided by myvariable
}}

6.1 Array with properties

An array can also contains attached properties:

input

{{
a = [5, 6, 7]
a.x = "yes"
a.x + a[0]
}}

output

yes5

6.2 The special size property

Arrays have a size property that can be used to query the number of elements in the array:

input

{{
a = [1, 2, 3]
a.size
}}

output

3

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7 Functions

Scriban allows to define functions:

The following declares a function sub that uses its first argument and subtract from it the second argument:

{{func sub
   ret $0 - $1
end}}

All argument are passed to the special variable $ that will contain the list of direct arguments and named arguments:

This function can then be used:

input

{{sub 5 1}}
{{5 | sub 1}}

output

4
4

As you can notice from the example above, when using the pipe, the result of the pipe is pushed as the first argument of the pipe receiver.

Note that a function can have mixed text statements as well:

{{func inc}}
   This is a text with the following argument {{ $0 + 1 }}
{{end}}

Because functions are object, they can be stored into a property of an object by using the alias @ operator:

{{
myobject.myinc = @inc  # Use the @ alias operator to allow to 
                       # use a function without evaluating it
x = 1 | myobject.myinc # x = x + 1
}}

The function aliasing operator @ allows to pass a function as a parameter to another function, enabling powerful function compositions.

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8 Expressions

Scriban supports conventional unary and binary expressions.

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8.1 Variable path expressions

A variable path expression contains the path to a variable:

Note that a variable path can either point to a simple variable or can result into calling a parameter less function.

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8.2 Assign expression

A value can be assigned to a top level variable or to the member of an object/array:

An assign expression must be a top level expression statement and cannot be used within a sub-expression.

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8.3 Nested expression

An expression enclosed by ( and )

{{ name = ('foo' + 'bar') }}

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8.4 Arithmetic expressions

On numbers

The following binary operators are supported for numbers:

Operator Description
<left> + <right> add left to right number
<left> - <right> substract right number from left
<left> * <right> multiply left by right number
<left> / <right> divide left by right number
<left> // <right> divide left by right number and round to an integer
<left> % <right> calculates the modulus of left by right

If left or right is a float and the other is an integer, the result of the operation will be a float.

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On strings

The following binary operators are supported for strings:

Operator Description
'left' + <right> concatenates left to right string: "ab" + "c" -> "abc"
'left' * <right> concatenates the left string right times: 'a' * 5 -> aaaaa. left and right and be swapped as long as there is one string and one number.

As long as there is a string in a binary operation, the other part will be automatically converted to a string.

The following literals are converted to plain strings:

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8.5 Conditional expressions

A conditional expression produces a boolean by comparing a left and right value.

Operator Description
<left> == <right> Is left equal to right?
<left> != <right> Is left not equal to right?
<left> > <right> Is left greater than right?
<left> >= <right> Is left greater or equal to right?
<left> < <right> Is left less than right?
<left> <= <right> Is left less or equal to right?

They work with both numbers, strings and datetimes.

You can combine conditionnal expressions with && (and operator) and || (or operator)

Operator Description
<left> && <right> Is left true and right true?
<left> || <right> Is left true or right true?

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8.6 Unary expressions

Operator Description
! <expression> Boolean negate an expression. e.g if ![page_32x32.png](/help/_images/page_32x32.png)
+ <expression> Arithmetic positive an expression. e.g +1.5
- <expression> Arithmetic negate an expression
^ <expression> Expand an array passed to arguments of a function call (see function call)
@ <expression> Alias the result of an expression that would be evaluated if it was a function call

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8.7 Range expressions

They are special binary expressions that provides an iterator (used usually with the for statement)

The evaluated left and right expressions must resolve to an integer at runtime.

Operator Description
left..right Returns an iterator between left and right with a step of 1, including right. e.g: 1..5 iterates from 1 to 5
left..<right Returns an iterator between left and right with a step of 1, excluding right. e.g: 1..<5 iterates from 1 to 4

8.8 The null-coalescing operator ??

The operator left ?? right can be used to return the right value if left is null.

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8.9 Function call expression

A function can be called by passing parameters separated by a whitespace:

{{ myfunction arg1 "arg2" (1+5) }}

The pipe operator | can also be used to pipe the result of an expression to a function:

{{ date.parse '2016/01/05' | date.to_string '%g' }} will output 06 Jan 2016

Notice that when a function receives the result of a pipe call (e.g date.to_string in the example above), it is passed as the first argument of the call. This is valid for both .NET custom functions as well as for Scriban integrated functions.

Named arguments

When passing multiple arguments to an existing .NET function, you may want to use named arguments.

Suppose you have declared a .NET function like this:

public static string MyProcessor(string left, string right, int count, string options = null)
{
    // ...
}

You can call this function from scriban with the following syntax:

{{ my_processor "Hello" "World" count: 15 options: "optimized" }}

with a pipe we could rewrite this to:

{{ "Hello" | my_processor "World" count: 15 options: "optimized" }}

Note that once arguments are named, the following arguments must be all named.

In a custom function declared with func named arguments are accessible through the variable arguments variable $, but as properties (and not as part of the default array arguments):

input

{{
    func my_processor
        "Argument count:" + $.count
        "Argument options:" + $["options"]
        for $x in $
            "arg[" + $x + "]: " + $x
        end
    end

    my_processor "Hello" "World" count: 15 options: "optimized"
}}

output

Argument count: 15
Argument options: optimized
arg[0]: Hello
arg[1]: World

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9 Statements

Each statement must be terminated by a code block }} or an EOL within a code block, or a semicolon to separate multiple statements on a single line within a code block.

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9.1 Single expression

An expression statement:

{{ value + 1 }} e.g Evaluates value + 1 and output the result

{{
value + 1       # This is a single line expression statement followed by this comment
}}

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9.2 if <expression>, else, else if <expression>

The general syntax is:

{{
if <expression>
  ...
else if <expression>
  ...
else 
  ...
end
}}

An if statement must be closed by an end or followed by a else or else if statement. An else or else if statement must be followed by a else, else if or closed by an end statement.

An expression evaluated for a if or else if will be converted to a boolean.

Truthy and Falsy

By default, only the null and boolean false are considered as false when evaluated as booleans.

The following values are used for converting literals to boolean:

Example testing a page object:

{{ if ![page_32x32.png](/help/_images/page_32x32.png) }}Page is not null{{ else }}Page is null!{{ end }}

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9.3 case and when

This is the equivalent of switch statement in C#, a selection statement that chooses a single switch section to execute from a list of candidates based on a value matching.

input

{{
    x = 5
    case x
      when 1, 2, 3
          "Value is 1 or 2 or 3
      when 5
          "Value is 5"
      else
          "Value is " + x
    end
}}

output

Value is 5

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9.3 Loops

for <variable> in <expression> ... end

{{for <variable> in <expression>}} 
  ... 
{{end}}

The expression can be an array or a range iterator:

The for loop (along with the tablerow statement below) supports additional parameters, offset, limit and reversed that can also be used togethers:

The offset parameter

Allows to start the iteration of the loop at the specified zero-based index:

input

{{~ for $i in 4..9 offset:2 ~}}
 {{ $i }}
{{~ endfor ~}}

output

6
7
8
9
The limit parameter

Allows to limit the iteration of the loop for the specified count

input

{{~ for $i in 4..9 limit:2 ~}}
 {{ $i }}
{{~ endfor ~}}

output

4
5
The reversed parameter

Allows to reverse the iteration on the elements

input

{{~ for $i in 1..3 reversed ~}}
 {{ $i }}
{{~ endfor ~}}

output

3
2
1

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while <expression> ... end

{{while <expression>}}
  ...
{{end}}

Like the if statement, the expression is evaluated to a boolean.

tablerow <variable> in <expression> ... end

This function generates HTML rows compatible with an HTML table. Must be wrapped in an opening

and closing
HTML tags.

This statement is mainly for compatibility reason with the liquid tablerow tag. It has overall the same syntax as a for statement (supporting the same parameters).

{{tablerow <variable> in <expression>}} 
  ... 
{{end}}

input

<table>
  {{~ tablerow $p in products | array.sort "title" -}}
    {{ $p.title -}}
  {{ end ~}}
</table>

output

<table>
<tr class="row1"><td class="col1">Apple</td></tr>
<tr class="row2"><td class="col1">Banana</td></tr>
<tr class="row3"><td class="col1">Computer</td></tr>
<tr class="row4"><td class="col1">Mobile Phone</td></tr>
<tr class="row5"><td class="col1">Orange</td></tr>
<tr class="row6"><td class="col1">Sofa</td></tr>
<tr class="row7"><td class="col1">Table</td></tr>
</table>
The cols parameter

Defines the number of columns to output:

input

<table>
  {{~ tablerow $p in (products | array.sort "title") limit: 4 cols: 2 -}}
    {{ $p.title -}}
  {{ end ~}}
</table>

output

<table>
<tr class="row1"><td class="col1">Apple</td><td class="col2">Banana</td></tr>
<tr class="row2"><td class="col1">Computer</td><td class="col2">Mobile Phone</td></tr>
</table>

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Special loop variables

The following variables are accessible within a for block:

Name Description
{{for.index}} The current index of the for loop
{{for.rindex}} The current index of the for loop starting from the end of the list
{{for.first}} A boolean indicating whether this is the first step in the loop
{{for.last}} A boolean indicating whether this is the last step in the loop
{{for.even}} A boolean indicating whether this is an even row in the loop
{{for.odd}} A boolean indicating whether this is an odd row in the loop
{{for.changed}} A boolean indicating whether a current value of this iteration changed from previous step

Within a while statement, the following variables can be used:

Name Description
{{while.index}} The current index of the while loop
{{while.first}} A boolean indicating whether this is the first step in the loop
{{while.even}} A boolean indicating whether this is an even row in the loop
{{while.odd}} A boolean indicating whether this is an odd row in the loop

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break and continue

The break statement allows to early exit a loop

{{ for i in 1..5
  if i > 2
    break
  end
end }}

The continue statement allows to skip the rest of a loop and continue on the next step

{{ for i in 1..5
  if i == 2
    continue
  end
}}
[{{i}}]] step 
{{ end }}

Will output:

[1] step
[3] step
[4] step
[5] step

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9.4 capture <variable> ... end

The capture <variable> ... end statement allows to capture the template output to a variable:

For example the following code:

{{ capture myvariable }}
This is the result of a capture {{ date.now }} 
{{ end }}

will set myvariable = "This is the result of a capture 06 Jan 2016\n"

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9.5 readonly <variable>

The readonly statement prevents a variable for subsequent assignments:

{{ x = 1 }}
{{ readonly x }}
{{ x = 2 }} <- this will result in a runtime error

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9.6 import <variable_path>

The import <variable_path> statement allows to import the members of an object as variables of the current bound:

{{ 
  myobject = { member1: "yes" }
  import myobject
  member1  # will print the "yes" string to the output
}}

Note that readonly variables won't be override.

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9.7 with <variable> ... end

The with <variable> ... end statement will open a new object context with the passed variable, all assignment will result in setting the members of the passed object.

myobject = {}
with myobject
  member1 = "yes"
end

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9.8 wrap <function> <arg1...argn> ... end

Pass a block of statements to a function that will be able to evaluate it using the special variable $$

{{
func wrapped
	for $i in 1..<$0
		$$   # This special variable evaluates the block pass 
             # to the wrap statement
	end
end

wrap wrapped 5
	$i + " -> This is inside the wrap!\r\n"
end
}}

will output:

1 -> This is inside the wrap!
2 -> This is inside the wrap!
3 -> This is inside the wrap!
4 -> This is inside the wrap!

Note that variables declared outside the with block are accessible within.

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9.9 include <name> arg1?...argn?

The include is not a statement but actually a function that allows to parse and render the specified template name. In order to use this function, a delegate to an template loader must be setup on the TemplateOptions.TemplateLoader property passed to the Template.Parse method.

include 'myinclude.html'
x = include 'myinclude.html'
x + " modified"

assuming that myinclude.html is

{{ y = y + 1 ~}}
This is a string with the value {{ y }}

will output:

This is a string with the value 1
This is a string with the value 2 modified

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9.10 ret <expression>?

The return statement is used to early exit from a top-level/include page or a function.

This is a text
{{~  ret ~}}
This text will not appear

will output:

This is a text

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Updated on : 2021-08-11 00:58:11. by : . at T470-01.

*Topic : *