---
title: ref
linktitle: ref
description: Looks up a content page by logical name.
godocref:
date: 2017-02-01
publishdate: 2017-02-01
lastmod: 2017-02-01
categories: [functions]
menu:
  docs:
    parent: "functions"
#tags: [cross references, anchors]
signature: ["ref PAGE CONTENT"]
workson: []
hugoversion:
relatedfuncs: [relref]
deprecated: false
aliases: []
---

`ref` and `relRef` look up a content page by relative path (`relref`) or logical name (`ref`) to return the permalink. Both functions require a `Page` object (usually satisfied with a "`.`"):

```
{{ relref . "about.md" }}
```

These functions are used in two of Hugo's built-in shortcodes. You can see basic usage examples of both `ref` and `relref` in the [shortcode documentation](/content-management/shortcodes/#ref-and-relref).

For an extensive explanation of how to leverage `ref` and `relref` for content management, see [Cross References](/content-management/cross-references/).
