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:
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:
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:
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`.
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 *at the end of the partial*.
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.
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:
{{ 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/):
