**Front matter** allows you to keep metadata attached to an instance of a [content type]---i.e., embedded inside a content file---and is one of the many features that gives Hugo its strength.
There are a few predefined variables that Hugo is aware of. See [Page Variables][pagevars] for how to call many of these predefined variables in your templates.
: An array of one or more aliases (e.g., old published paths of renamed content) that will be created in the output directory structure . See [Aliases][aliases] for details.
: A map of front matter keys whose values are passed down to the page's descendants unless overwritten by self or a closer ancestor's cascade. See [Front Matter Cascade](#front-matter-cascade) for details.
: The datetime at which the content should no longer be published by Hugo; expired content will not be rendered unless the `--buildExpired` flag is passed to the `hugo` command.
: The layout Hugo should select from the [lookup order][lookup] when rendering the content. If a `type` is not specified in the front matter, Hugo will look for the layout of the same name in the layout directory that corresponds with a content's section. See [Content Types][content type].
: Used for creating links to content; if set, Hugo defaults to using the `linktitle` before the `title`. Hugo can also [order lists of content by `linktitle`][bylinktitle].
: An array of series this page belongs to, as a subset of the `series` [taxonomy](/content-management/taxonomies/); used by the `opengraph` [internal template](/templates/internal) to populate `og:see_also`.
: Text used when providing a summary of the article in the `.Summary` page variable; details available in the [content-summaries](/content-management/summaries/) section.
: used for [ordering your content in lists][ordering]. Lower weight gets higher precedence. So content with lower weight will come first. If set, weights should be non-zero, as 0 is interpreted as an *unset* weight.
: Field name of the *plural* form of the index. See `tags` and `categories` in the above front matter examples. *Note that the plural form of user-defined taxonomies cannot be the same as any of the predefined front matter variables.*
If neither `slug` nor `url` is present and [permalinks are not configured otherwise in your site configuration file](/content-management/urls/#permalinks), Hugo will use the filename of your content to create the output URL. See [Content Organization](/content-management/organization) for an explanation of paths in Hugo and [URL Management](/content-management/urls/) for ways to customize Hugo's default behaviors.
You can add fields to your front matter arbitrarily to meet your needs. These user-defined key-values are placed into a single `.Params` variable for use in your templates.
The following fields can be accessed via `.Params.include_toc` and `.Params.show_comments`, respectively. The [Variables] section provides more information on using Hugo's page- and site-level variables in your templates.
: A [Glob](https://github.com/gobwas/glob) pattern matching the content path below /content. Expects Unix-styled slashes. Note that this is the virtual path, so it starts at the mount root. The matching supports double-asterisks so you can match for patterns like `/blog/*/**` to match anything from the third level and down.
- Or a closer ancestor node has its own `cascade.banner` value set.
## Order Content Through Front Matter
You can assign content-specific `weight` in the front matter of your content. These values are especially useful for [ordering][ordering] in list views. You can use `weight` for ordering of content and the convention of [`<TAXONOMY>_weight`][taxweight] for ordering content within a taxonomy. See [Ordering and Grouping Hugo Lists][lists] to see how `weight` can be used to organize your content in list views.
It's possible to set some options for Markdown rendering in a content's front matter as an override to the [Rendering options set in your project configuration][config].
[lists]: /templates/lists/#order-content "See how to order content in list pages; for example, templates that look to specific _index.md for content and front matter."
