Partial templates---like [single page templates][singletemps] and [list page templates][listtemps]---have a specific [lookup order][]. However, partials are simpler in that Hugo will only check in two places:
This allows a theme's end user to copy a partial's contents into a file of the same name for [further customization][customize].
## Use Partials in your Templates
All partials for your Hugo project are located in a single `layouts/partials` directory. For better organization, you can create multiple subdirectories within `partials` as well:
```
.
└── layouts
└── partials
├── footer
│ ├── scripts.html
│ └── site-footer.html
├── head
│ ├── favicons.html
│ ├── metadata.html
│ ├── prerender.html
│ └── twitter.html
└── header
├── site-header.html
└── site-nav.html
```
All partials are called within your templates using the following pattern:
```
{{ partial "<PATH>/<PARTIAL>.html" . }}
```
{{% note %}}
One of the most common mistakes with new Hugo users is failing to pass a context to the partial call. In the pattern above, note how "the dot" (`.`) is required as the second argument to give the partial context. You can read more about "the dot" in the [Hugo templating introduction](/templates/introduction/).
{{% /note %}}
{{% note %}}
`<PARTIAL>` including `baseof` is reserved. ([#5373](https://github.com/gohugoio/hugo/issues/5373))
{{% /note %}}
As shown in the above example directory structure, you can nest your directories within `partials` for better source organization. You only need to call the nested partial's path relative to the `partials` directory:
```
{{ partial "header/site-header.html" . }}
{{ partial "footer/scripts.html" . }}
```
### Variable Scoping
The second argument in a partial call is the variable being passed down. The above examples are passing the `.`, which tells the template receiving the partial to apply the current [context][context].
This means the partial will *only* be able to access those variables. The partial is isolated and *has no access to the outer scope*. From within the partial, `$.Var` is equivalent to `.Var`.
## Returning a value from a Partial
In addition to outputting markup, partials can be used to return a value of any type. In order to return a value, a partial must include a lone `return` statement.
You can also define partials inline in the template. But remember that template namespace is global, so you need to make sure that the names are unique to avoid conflicts.
Only one `return` statement is allowed per partial file.
{{% /note %}}
## Cached Partials
The [`partialCached` template function][partialcached] can offer significant performance gains for complex templates that don't need to be re-rendered on every invocation. The simplest usage is as follows:
```
{{ partialCached "footer.html" . }}
```
You can also pass additional parameters to `partialCached` to create *variants* of the cached partial.
For example, you can tell Hugo to only render the partial `footer.html` once per section:
```
{{ partialCached "footer.html" . .Section }}
```
If you need to pass additional parameters to create unique variants, you can pass as many variant parameters as you need:
{{ if .RSSLink }}<linkhref="{{ .RSSLink }}"rel="alternate"type="application/rss+xml"title="{{ .Title }}"/>{{ end }}
{{ partial "head_includes.html" . }}
</head>
{{</code>}}
{{% note %}}
The `header.html` example partial was built before the introduction of block templates to Hugo. Read more on [base templates and blocks](/templates/base/) for defining the outer chrome or shell of your master templates (i.e., your site's head, header, and footer). You can even combine blocks and partials for added flexibility.
{{% /note %}}
### Example `footer.html`
The following `footer.html` partial template is used for [spf13.com](https://spf13.com/):
[context]: /templates/introduction/ "The most easily overlooked concept to understand about Go templating is how the dot always refers to the current context."
[customize]: /themes/customizing/ "Hugo provides easy means to customize themes as long as users are familiar with Hugo's template lookup order."
[listtemps]: /templates/lists/ "To effectively leverage Hugo's system, see how Hugo handles list pages, where content for sections, taxonomies, and the homepage are listed and ordered."
[lookup order]: /templates/lookup-order/ "To keep your templating dry, read the documentation on Hugo's lookup order."
[partialcached]: /functions/partialcached/ "Use the partial cached function to improve build times in cases where Hugo can cache partials that don't need to be rendered with every page."
[singletemps]: /templates/single-page-templates/ "The most common form of template in Hugo is the single content template. Read the docs on how to create templates for individual pages."
