hugo/docs/content/en/functions/ref.md

---
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"
keywords: [cross references, anchors]
signature: ["ref . CONTENT"]
workson: []
hugoversion:
relatedfuncs: [relref]
deprecated: false
aliases: []
---

`ref` and `relref` look up a content page by logical name (`ref`) or relative path (`relref`) to return the permalink:

```
{{ ref . "about.md" }}
```

{{% note "Usage Note" %}}
`ref` looks up Hugo "Regular Pages" only. It can't be used for the homepage, section pages, etc.
{{% /note %}}

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/).
Squashed 'docs/' content from commit f887bd7b git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: f887bd7b4e3e7c7e76cd63951e5b0d37d8fe0ac7 2017-08-10 15:18:22 +00:00			`---`
			`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"`
Squashed 'docs/' changes from 44fe0285..32356e4e 32356e4e Fix typo in header of shortcode-templates.md c8f1a2d2 Correct code example for index template function bfa6a55d Escape code fencing ff8b2f99 Fix typos in deployment with wercker tutorial 557c36e8 theme: Merge commit '7fbb4bed25001182bfeb91f79db0f0c1936582ee' 7fbb4bed Squashed 'themes/gohugoioTheme/' changes from 7dd8a302..ca53082d ce31cee0 Add "See Also" config 158cee1b Make the tags into keywords 61600be6 Add a note to the related section 49edb5a2 Relase 0.27.1 c9bbc001 releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.27.1 213c6c3b Add bugs poster 8b4590cd Add KeyCDN integration tutorial 2b277859 Add tutorial videos to several docs pages 950fef1f Update roadmap to link to the correct milestones page 496f5bf6 Rename relnotes d6f9378d Bump Netlify versions to 0.27 087fde7f Update 0.27 release notes 603f94ae docs: Document Related Content 3790f6a3 releaser: Bump versions for release of 0.27 0948868c releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.27 git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: 32356e4eabe357ae914f4d1d59e8ae31ce936723 2017-09-21 17:03:00 +00:00			`keywords: [cross references, anchors]`
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Squashed 'docs/' content from commit f887bd7b git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: f887bd7b4e3e7c7e76cd63951e5b0d37d8fe0ac7 2017-08-10 15:18:22 +00:00			`workson: []`
			`hugoversion:`
			`relatedfuncs: [relref]`
			`deprecated: false`
			`aliases: []`
			`---`

Squashed 'docs/' changes from 3e663efb2..fc61378a3 fc61378a3 Add Hugo 0.32 related docs 77edf7fd7 commands: Regenerate af9d25458 Fix Blackfriday's Markdown extension name 1223dd63a Remove roadmap b8bcb2fb8 Include note to allow hugo write permissions outside home dir 7dbccb936 Fix typo in roadmap 3a38da6f5 Fix spelling 94ebe50ff Merge branch 'master' of github.com:gohugoio/hugoDocs 89376e21d Clarify Hugo Roadmap 03d191fec Mention Reverse function in taxonomy tpl page. a4ea3402d Fix ref and relref function pages. b36632b31 Remove non-existing source variable a638160dc Update Content Organization to match the world 47eb431ca Correct one link in templates/output-formats.md 8bf933629 Spell fix ce2d48728 Add docs for .AllTranslations de94b4942 Move sponsor data to theme data 41fe75254 Merge commit 'f463ef99ed2862e4042557e28aece7ca858e1d0a' f463ef99e Squashed 'themes/gohugoioTheme/' changes from bc851da9..75da2f6b 532c65f2a Move sponsor logo to theme 899e2defe Add sponsor logos to home page and footer 3ca53db97 Release 0.31.1 bb9876ce2 Merge branch 'temp0311' c7c3ee7e5 releaser: Prepare repository for 0.32-DEV 4ac554792 releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.31.1 52bfb5c15 releaser: Bump versions for release of 0.31.1 cfdc2e4ea Fix output formats example 5746c10c2 More on output format de2ee0fe0 Improve suffix redefinition example c9997839e Update gitlab CI submodule management 82d74e306 Add Bootstrap styling to breadcrumb example c8c9601a8 Use the code shortcode for the breadcrumb example 16be43e7d Clean up formatting in variable definition lists 149c2c157 Add nested section docs 783c3d636 Sync theme 60a220bbd Squashed 'themes/gohugoioTheme/' changes from 6b632895..bc851da9 4b33a04d0 Fix typo 94cffc43c Fix little typo a5d4f762f Fix typo 36c5a0b43 Add a note about the 2 in staticDir2 087bd9a9f Add KeyCDN to menu 4ac8aae38 Hugo 0.31 Released 8fdd995e7 releaser: Prepare repository for 0.32-DEV eb0f38fbb releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.31 60efdfff7 releaser: Bump versions for release of 0.31 44dafb10b Merge commit '30c0d485eaff6d70df1be0353911ddca485d52bf' e6b847b95 Merge commit '05e42bc643f1840ed2ad9c2eff82a269d1381683' 15d86a525 Handle Taxonomy permalinks 5c3c18d7f Add support for height argument to figure shortcode git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: fc61378a3227c14883a2942d67c806014e7bb6cb 2017-12-30 08:15:31 +00:00			`ref` and `relref` look up a content page by logical name (`ref`) or relative path (`relref`) to return the permalink:
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			```
Squashed 'docs/' changes from 3e663efb2..fc61378a3 fc61378a3 Add Hugo 0.32 related docs 77edf7fd7 commands: Regenerate af9d25458 Fix Blackfriday's Markdown extension name 1223dd63a Remove roadmap b8bcb2fb8 Include note to allow hugo write permissions outside home dir 7dbccb936 Fix typo in roadmap 3a38da6f5 Fix spelling 94ebe50ff Merge branch 'master' of github.com:gohugoio/hugoDocs 89376e21d Clarify Hugo Roadmap 03d191fec Mention Reverse function in taxonomy tpl page. a4ea3402d Fix ref and relref function pages. b36632b31 Remove non-existing source variable a638160dc Update Content Organization to match the world 47eb431ca Correct one link in templates/output-formats.md 8bf933629 Spell fix ce2d48728 Add docs for .AllTranslations de94b4942 Move sponsor data to theme data 41fe75254 Merge commit 'f463ef99ed2862e4042557e28aece7ca858e1d0a' f463ef99e Squashed 'themes/gohugoioTheme/' changes from bc851da9..75da2f6b 532c65f2a Move sponsor logo to theme 899e2defe Add sponsor logos to home page and footer 3ca53db97 Release 0.31.1 bb9876ce2 Merge branch 'temp0311' c7c3ee7e5 releaser: Prepare repository for 0.32-DEV 4ac554792 releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.31.1 52bfb5c15 releaser: Bump versions for release of 0.31.1 cfdc2e4ea Fix output formats example 5746c10c2 More on output format de2ee0fe0 Improve suffix redefinition example c9997839e Update gitlab CI submodule management 82d74e306 Add Bootstrap styling to breadcrumb example c8c9601a8 Use the code shortcode for the breadcrumb example 16be43e7d Clean up formatting in variable definition lists 149c2c157 Add nested section docs 783c3d636 Sync theme 60a220bbd Squashed 'themes/gohugoioTheme/' changes from 6b632895..bc851da9 4b33a04d0 Fix typo 94cffc43c Fix little typo a5d4f762f Fix typo 36c5a0b43 Add a note about the 2 in staticDir2 087bd9a9f Add KeyCDN to menu 4ac8aae38 Hugo 0.31 Released 8fdd995e7 releaser: Prepare repository for 0.32-DEV eb0f38fbb releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.31 60efdfff7 releaser: Bump versions for release of 0.31 44dafb10b Merge commit '30c0d485eaff6d70df1be0353911ddca485d52bf' e6b847b95 Merge commit '05e42bc643f1840ed2ad9c2eff82a269d1381683' 15d86a525 Handle Taxonomy permalinks 5c3c18d7f Add support for height argument to figure shortcode git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: fc61378a3227c14883a2942d67c806014e7bb6cb 2017-12-30 08:15:31 +00:00			`{{ ref . "about.md" }}`
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			`ref` looks up Hugo "Regular Pages" only. It can't be used for the homepage, section pages, etc.
			`{{% /note %}}`

Squashed 'docs/' content from commit f887bd7b git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: f887bd7b4e3e7c7e76cd63951e5b0d37d8fe0ac7 2017-08-10 15:18:22 +00:00			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/).