Recent changes
Wednesday November 04 2026
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Sections versus foreach Updated Markdown page
The section function in full - loop over arrays, numbers and strings, name and the namespace it creates, var and the iterator with last-value, sequence, offset, max, reverse, show with section-else, the section-exclude…
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Smarty and the template language: the differences in depth Updated Markdown page
The differences that trip up Smarty users, each shown on a development installation - no infix arithmetic or comparison, no PHP in templates, no automatic escaping, unknown operators that pass their input through…
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Smarty and the template language side by side Updated Markdown page
A side-by-side table of Smarty syntax and the Exponential template language - output, modifiers and operators, assignment, defaults, conditions, loops, cycling, include, literal, delimiters, comments, capture, escaping…
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Template caches Updated Markdown page
Every cache a template touches - compiled templates, the template-block cache of cache-block (keys, expiry, subtree_expiry, ignore_content_expiry and how the cache file name is built), the content view cache and its…
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The template compiler Updated Markdown page
How eZTemplateCompiler turns a parsed template into PHP - the pipeline (node transformation, static optimizations, combining, PHP generation), the compiled file name and folder, the operator and function hints that let…
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Templates side by side - Exponential templates, Twig and Smarty Updated Markdown page
A cheat sheet that puts the same template in the three engines Exponential renders - Exponential templates (.tpl), Twig (.twig) and Smarty (.stpl) - for output, attributes, variables, loops, conditions, cache blocks…
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Values and literals Updated Markdown page
The values a template can write down - strings in single or double quotes (no variable interpolation, the escapes the parser knows), integers and floats, true() and false(), arrays and hashes built with array() and…
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Variables in depth Updated Markdown page
The exact rules of def, undef, set, let and default from eZTemplateDefFunction and eZTemplateSetFunction - the warnings for defining twice, setting an unknown variable and undefining one that def did not make, undef…
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View parameters Updated Markdown page
The /(name)/value part of a URL - how eZURI parses it, how eZModule::run() maps it to a view's unordered parameters and UserParameters, what content/view turns it into ($view_parameters, one variable per name…
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What the template language is Updated Markdown page
The Exponential template language (eZ TPL, ezpl) in one page - a Smarty-like language for .tpl files, where it is used (designs, module views, mail, PDF), the parts of the engine in lib/eztemplate, and what it does…
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Template operators Updated Markdown page
Every template operator registered on a development installation, grouped by family with parameters, input, return value and examples rendered on a development installation, plus how operators are registered, written…
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Arithmetic operators Updated Markdown page
The 18 operators of eZTemplateArithmeticOperator (sum, sub, mul, div, mod, inc, dec, min, max, abs, ceil, floor, round, int, float, count, roman, rand) with their parameters, input, return value and examples rendered on…
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Array operators Updated Markdown page
The 24 operators of eZTemplateArrayOperator (array, hash, append, prepend, merge, contains, compare, extract, extract_left, extract_right, begins_with, ends_with, implode, explode, repeat, reverse, insert, remove…
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Attribute and dump operators Updated Markdown page
attribute and dump from eZTemplateAttributeOperator - listing what an object, a hash or an array offers to templates, with or without values, to a depth, as an HTML table or as text, and why their output must never…
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Control operators Updated Markdown page
cond and first_set from eZTemplateControlOperator - inline conditions and fallbacks that evaluate only what they need, how the interpreter and the compiled template differ for a false default, with examples rendered on…
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Creating an operator, step by step Updated Markdown page
The whole path from an idea to a working template operator in an extension - choose a free name, write the class, register it, clear caches, try it interpreted and compiled, deploy - or let the template extension wizard…
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Digest operators Updated Markdown page
crc32, md5 and rot13 from eZTemplateDigestOperator, plus sha1, which the class offers but which only works after another digest operator has loaded it; what they are for in templates and what not, with examples rendered…
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The fetch and fetch_alias operators Updated Markdown page
fetch and fetch_alias from eZTemplateExecuteOperator - how a template reaches a module's function_definition.php through eZFunctionHandler and eZModuleFunctionInfo, parameters, results and failures, what the compiler…
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The expinfo operator Updated Markdown page
expinfo from eZTemplateExpInfoOperator - the active extensions, all available extensions, one extension's metadata from extension.xml and ezinfo.php, and the kernel information, which keys each mode returns, and which…
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Installation, environment, audit and CSP operators Updated Markdown page
Seven operators the Exponential kernel added - installation_name, is_production_system, exp_environment, exp_environment_badge, audit_label, csp_nonce and view_parameter - with the settings they read, what they return…