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Text helper operators of the kernel

Five small kernel operators - alphabet, autolink, simpletags, eztoc and month_overview - with their parameters, the settings they read, what they escape and what they do not, and examples rendered on a development…

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Category: Development
Source file: doc/eng-us/help/template-operators/kernel-text-helper-operators.md
Last changed 11/04/2026
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Address: https://doc.exponential.earth/exphelp/viewer/help/template-operators/kernel-text-helper-operators.md

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Text helper operators of the kernel

Five operators in kernel/common/, each in its own class and registered in kernel/common/eztemplateautoload.php.

Operator	Class and file
`alphabet`	`eZAlphabetOperator`, `kernel/common/ezalphabetoperator.php`
`autolink`	`eZAutoLinkOperator`, `kernel/common/ezautolinkoperator.php`
`simpletags`	`eZSimpleTagsOperator`, `kernel/common/ezsimpletagsoperator.php`
`eztoc`	`eZTOCOperator`, `kernel/common/eztocoperator.php`
`month_overview`	`eZDateOperatorCollection`, `kernel/common/ezdateoperatorcollection.php`

The operators: alphabet, autolink, simpletags, eztoc, month_overview
Escaping summary

The operators

alphabet

Generated page: alphabet.

Input: none. Parameters: none.
Returns: the list of letters for alphabetical navigation, or false when it is switched off.

eZAlphabetOperator::fetchAlphabet() reads content.ini [AlphabeticalFilterSettings]: for each name in ContentFilterList[] it takes the ranges of AlphabetList[<name>] (Unicode code points such as 97-122, or single letters, separated by commas), builds the letters and converts them to the charset of i18n.ini. An empty ContentFilterList[] returns false; a list whose names have no ranges falls back to a to z. On a development installation the list is empty:

{def $letters = alphabet()}
ContentFilterList: {ezini( 'AlphabeticalFilterSettings', 'ContentFilterList', 'content.ini' )|count} entries
alphabet() gives {$letters|get_type}

Output:

ContentFilterList: 0 entries
alphabet() gives boolean[false]

autolink

Generated page: autolink.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default
`max_chars`	integer	no	`template.ini` `[AutoLinkOperator] MaxCharacters` (72)

Input: a text. Returns: the text with links.

It first turns every e-mail address into <a href='mailto:...'>, then every address of the schemes in [AutoLinkOperator] Methods[] into <a href="..." title="...">. A link text longer than max_chars is shortened in the middle with .... Addresses already inside href=, src= or value= attributes are skipped. The text is not escaped: wash user input first (|wash|autolink), otherwise markup in it passes through.

{def $text = 'Mail [email protected] or read https://doc.exponential.earth/en/latest/guide/templates/operators/index.html today.'}
{$text|autolink}

{$text|autolink( 30 )}

Output:

Mail <a href='mailto:[email protected]'>[email protected]</a> or read <a href="https://doc.exponential.earth/en/latest/guide/templates/operators/index.html" title="https://doc.exponential.earth/en/latest/guide/templates/operators/index.html">https://doc.exponential.earth/en/...guide/templates/operators/index.html</a> today.

Mail <a href='mailto:[email protected]'>[email protected]</a> or read <a href="https://doc.exponential.earth/en/latest/guide/templates/operators/index.html" title="https://doc.exponential.earth/en/latest/guide/templates/operators/index.html">https://doc....tors/index.html</a> today.

simpletags

Generated page: simpletags.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default
`listname`	string	no	`false`: use `TagList[]`; a name uses `TagList_<name>[]`

Input: a text with simple tags such as <strong>. Returns: HTML.

The tag list lives in template.ini [SimpleTagsOperator]. Each entry is TagList[<tag>]=<before>;<after>;<php functions>: the text between the start and end tag is passed through the listed PHP functions and wrapped in <before> and <after>. The entry text handles everything outside known tags; without it, plain text is passed through htmlspecialchars. Unknown tags are treated as text, so they are escaped. The shipped list:

TagList[text]=;;htmlspecialchars,nl2br
TagList[literal]=<pre>;</pre>;htmlspecialchars
TagList[code]=<pre class="code">;</pre>;htmlspecialchars
TagList[strong]=<b>;</b>;htmlspecialchars,nl2br
TagList[emphasize]=<i>;</i>;htmlspecialchars,nl2br

IncludeList[] names PHP files to include before the first use (looked up in the simpletags/ folder of the extensions in Extensions[]), so a tag can use a PHP function of your own. Any function name that exists is called, so only trusted settings belong there.

{def $text = "Plain <b>&</b> text\n<strong>bold</strong> and <emphasize>italic</emphasize>\n<literal><a href=\"x\"></literal>"}
{$text|simpletags}

Output:

Plain &lt;b&gt;&amp;&lt;/b&gt; text<br />
<b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i><br />
<pre>&lt;a href=&quot;x&quot;&gt;</pre>

eztoc

Generated page: eztoc.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default
`dom`	object	yes	0

Input: none. Parameter: an ezxmltext content object attribute (anything else gives an empty string).
Returns: nested <ul><li><a href="#eztoc<attribute id>_<n>"> lists of the headings of the rich text, with the heading text HTML-escaped.

The anchor names follow the section numbering: eztoc498_3_1 is the first heading in the third top-level section of attribute 498. The counter of a level is not reset under a new parent, so the second level keeps counting across parents (3_3 is followed by 5_4 below). The rich text output of the same attribute must contain matching anchors for the links to work.

{def $node = fetch( 'content', 'node', hash( 'node_id', 90 ) )}
{eztoc( $node.data_map.body )}

Output:


<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_1">Summary</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_2">1. Who we are and what this policy covers</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_3">2. Information we collect</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_3_1">Information you provide to us</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_3_2">Information collected automatically</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_3_3">Information from third parties</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_4">3. How we use your information, our legal bases and how long we keep it</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_5">4. Cookies and similar technologies</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_5_4">Embedded content from other websites</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_6">5. How we disclose your information</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_6_5">Service providers and processors</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_6_6">Other disclosures</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_6_7">&quot;Sale&quot; and &quot;sharing&quot; under US state laws</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_7">6. International data transfers</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_8">7. Retention</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_9">8. Security</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10">9. Your privacy rights</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_10_8">9.1 Rights we offer everyone</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9">9.2 United States</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9_1">Federal laws</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9_2">California: CCPA as amended by the CPRA, CalOPPA and &quot;Shine the Light&quot;</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9_3">Other US states with comprehensive privacy laws</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9_4">Nevada</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_9_5">Washington: My Health My Data Act</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_10">9.3 European Union and European Economic Area</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_11">9.4 United Kingdom</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_12">9.5 Switzerland</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_13">9.6 Canada</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_14">9.7 Brazil</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_15">9.8 China</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_16">9.9 Japan</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_17">9.10 South Korea</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_18">9.11 India</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_19">9.12 Singapore, Thailand and the wider Asia-Pacific region</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_20">9.13 Australia and New Zealand</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_21">9.14 Africa</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_22">9.15 Middle East and Turkey</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_23">9.16 Latin America</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_10_24">9.17 Other jurisdictions</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_11">10. Children&#039;s privacy</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_12">11. Do Not Track, Global Privacy Control and third-party tracking</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_13">12. Changes to this policy</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_14">13. How to contact us and exercise your rights</a>
<ul><li><a href="#eztoc498_14_25">Verifying your identity</a></li>
<li><a href="#eztoc498_14_26">Response times</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

month_overview

Generated page: month_overview.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default
`field`	string	yes	`false` (missing: warning "Missing parameter field")
`date`	integer (timestamp)	yes	`false` (missing: warning "Missing parameter date")
`optional`	array (hash)	no	`false`

Input: a list of objects (anything with hasAttribute()/attribute()) or hashes. The value of field in each item is a timestamp; the days of the month of date that have an item get a link.
Returns: a hash with year, month (localized name), weekdays (list of day short name and class sun..sat, in the locale's week order), weeks (week number => seven slots, false or a hash with day, link, class, highlight), current, next and previous (each month, year, link, or false). Every month is the name a month has on its own (eZLocale::longMonthNameStandalone()), not the form used inside a date: październik in Polish, октябрь in Russian, where a date reads 15 października, 15 октября.
optional keys: link (base of the day links, which get /(year)/Y/(month)/M/(day)/D appended), current (timestamp of a day to highlight) and current_class, day_class, today_class, next and previous (hashes with a link; the month links get /(year)/Y/(month)/M). year_link, month_link and day_link are read but not used.

The field must be an attribute of the items themselves: published is an attribute of the content object, not of the node, so the example collects the objects first.

{def $recipes = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash( 'parent_node_id', 144, 'limit', 50, 'sort_by', array( 'published', false() ) ) )
     $objects = array()}
{foreach $recipes as $r}{set $objects = $objects|append( $r.object )}{/foreach}
{def $first = $objects[0].published
     $month = $objects|month_overview( 'published', $first, hash( 'link', '/content/view/archive/144', 'current', $first, 'current_class', 'is-current', 'day_class', 'day', 'previous', hash( 'link', '/content/view/archive/144' ) ) )}
{$month.current.month} {$month.current.year} (previous: {$month.previous.month} {$month.previous.link}; next: {$month.next|choose( 'false', 'set' )})

{foreach $month.weekdays as $wd}{$wd.day} {/foreach}


{foreach $month.weeks as $number => $week}
week {$number}: {foreach $week as $d}{if $d}{$d.day}{if $d.link}*{/if}{if $d.highlight}!{/if} {else}- {/if}{/foreach}


{/foreach}

a day with content links to {foreach $month.weeks as $week}{foreach $week as $d}{if and( $d, $d.link )}{$d.link} {/if}{/foreach}{/foreach}

Output:

August 2018 (previous: July /content/view/archive/144/(year)/2018/(month)/7; next: false)
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 
week 31: - - - 1 2 3 4 
week 32: 5 6 7 8* 9 10 11 
week 33: 12 13*! 14 15 16 17 18 
week 34: 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 
week 35: 26 27 28 29 30 31 - 

a day with content links to /content/view/archive/144/(year)/2018/(month)/8/(day)/8 /content/view/archive/144/(year)/2018/(month)/8/(day)/13

* marks the two days with a recipe (they got a link), ! the highlighted current day.

Escaping summary

Operator	Escapes its input?
`autolink`	no: wash first
`simpletags`	yes, through the PHP functions of each tag (`htmlspecialchars` in the shipped list)
`eztoc`	heading texts are escaped
`month_overview`, `alphabet`	return data; escape when printing

String operators for designers
Wash and escaping
Rich text templates
All template operators (generated)
Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.

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Documentation license

This documentation is free documentation, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later.

Text helper operators of the kernel

Text helper operators of the kernel

Contents

The operators

alphabet

autolink

simpletags

eztoc

month_overview

Escaping summary

Become an Exponential Partner

Documentation license

Cookies on this website

Text helper operators of the kernel #

Contents #

The operators #

alphabet #

autolink #

simpletags #

eztoc #

month_overview #

Escaping summary #

Related pages #

Become an Exponential Partner

Documentation license

Text helper operators of the kernel

Contents

The operators

alphabet

autolink

simpletags

eztoc

month_overview

Escaping summary

Related pages