SilverBullet uses a template language for Templates that is partially inspired by Handlebars, however adds some powerful new features — primarily a much more expressive Expression Language.

The template language is a superset of Markdown text a new directive syntax added, using {{ and }}.

Examples on this page will use the Live Templates#Template feature. To see the underlying code, move your cursor inside the block or click the edit button that will appear when you hover over the block.

Expressions

Expression Language expressions can be inject in a template using the {{expression}} syntax.

There’s some “smarts” built into this:

• When the expression evaluates to a scalar value, such as a string, number or boolean, this value will just be presented as is.
• When the expression evaluates to an array of objects (such as the result of a query), they will be rendered as a markdown table.
• When the expression evaluates to a single simple object, this value will be rendered in a single-row markdown table.
• Any other complex value will be rendered as JSON.

Examples

A simple value: {{20 * 3}}

A list of objects:
{{{page limit 2}}}

Note that if we include a `render` clause in a query, it will evaluate to a string and therefore also render properly:
{{{page limit 2 render [[Library/Core/Query/Page]]}}}

A single object:
{{at({page limit 1}, 0)}}

Any other random value:
{{[1, 2, 3]}}

let directive

To define (scoped) variables, you can you use a #let directive. The variable will be scoped to the directive. Variables in Expression Language use the @variable syntax:

{{#let @myVar = 3 * 3}}
3 * 3 from a variable: {{@myVar}}
{{/let}}
And here it is {{@myVar}} again

if directive

To conditionally render a part of a template use an #if directive:

{{#if 8 > 3}}
8 is larger than 3
{{/if}}

You can also add an optional else clause:

{{#if 8 > 3}}
8 is larger than 3
{{else}}
8 is smaller than 3
{{/if}}

each directive

To iterate over a collection use an #each directive. There are two variants of #each, one with and one without variable assignment:

• #each @varname in expression repeats the body of this directive assigning every value to @varname one by one
• #each expression repeats the body of this directive assigning every value to . one by one.

Counting to 3 with a variable name:
{{#each [1, 2, 3]}}
* {{.}}
{{/each}}

And using a variable name iterator:
{{#each @v in [1, 2, 3]}}
* {{@v}}
{{/each}}

Iterating over the three last modified pages:
{{#each {page order by lastModified desc limit 3}}}
* {{name}}
{{/each}}