V allows for easily using text templates, expanded at compile time to V functions, that efficiently produce text output. This is especially useful for templated HTML views, but the mechanism is general enough to be used for other kinds of text output also.

Template directives

Each template directive begins with an @ sign. Block directives are line-based: start with @if, @for, or @else on their own line, then close the block with @end, @endif, or @endfor. HTML templates also support brace-delimited control blocks, so @if cond { ... }, @else { ... }, and @for item in items { ... } can be closed with } instead. Inline one-line bodies like @if cond { <span>shown</span> } are supported too. Other directives only have '' (string) parameters.

For example:

@if bool_val
    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>
@end

... renders as:

    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>

... which is less readable.

if

The if directive consists of the @if tag, the condition (using the same syntax as in V), and a block of template content. Close the block with @end or @endif. In HTML templates, you can also use a brace-delimited block and close it with }.

@if <condition>
    ...
@end

Example

@if bool_val
    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>
@end

@if bool_val {
    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>
}

You can also use @else:

@if bool_val
    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>
@else
    <span>This is shown if bool_val is false</span>
@endif

The first example would result in:

    <span>This is shown if bool_val is true</span>

for

The for directive consists of three parts, the @for tag, the condition (same syntax like in V) and the template block, where you can write text, rendered for each iteration of the loop:

@for <condition>
    ...
@end

In HTML templates, you can also use @for <condition> { ... } and close it with }.

Example for @for

@for i, val in my_vals
    <span>${i} - ${val}</span>
@end

The first example would result in:

    <span>0 - "First"</span>
    <span>1 - "Second"</span>
    <span>2 - "Third"</span>
    ...

You can also write (and all other for condition syntaxes that are allowed in V):

@for i = 0; i < 5; i++
    <span>${i}</span>
@end

include

The include directive is for including other html files (which will be processed as well) and consists of two parts, the @include tag and a following '<path>' string. The path parameter is relative to the template file being called.

Example for the folder structure of a project using templates:

Project root
/templates
    - index.html
    /headers
        - base.html

index.html

<div>@include 'header/base'</div>

Note that there shouldn't be a file suffix, it is automatically appended and only allows html files.

js

The js directive consists of two parts, the @js tag and '<path>' string, where you can insert your src

@js '<url>'

Example for the @js directive:

@js 'myscripts.js'

Variables

All variables, which are declared before the $tmpl can be used through the @{my_var} syntax. It's also possible to use properties of structs here like @{my_struct.prop}.

Escaping

The @ symbol starts a template directive. If you need to use @ as a regular character within a template, escape it by using a double @ like this: @@.