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: 2019-12-28
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 %}}

It is also possible to pass additional arguments to link to another language or an alternative output format. Therefore, pass a map of arguments instead of just the path.

``` 
{{ ref . (dict "path" "about.md" "lang" "ja" "outputFormat" "rss") }} 
```

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 fdea5430f git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: fdea5430f89dfd849d39212abdf5ace0a4763e5a 2019-10-21 04:22:28 -04:00			`---`
			`title: ref`
			`linktitle: ref`
			`description: Looks up a content page by logical name.`
			`godocref:`
			`date: 2017-02-01`
			`publishdate: 2017-02-01`
Squashed 'docs/' changes from 54f0e8776..bd0e15bb6 bd0e15bb6 Optimised images with calibre/image-actions 59830ea44 Remove comments from quickstart code samples 348821b5d Remove image-actions 1cbbd26a9 Update index.md bcf3de764 Update index.md fcf17e6ef Release 0.62.1 0956bde21 Merge branch 'temp621' 28d604756 releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.62.1 c895f12e7 Fix statement about version installed with apt-get (#854) e96928e38 Updated quickstart to split theme download and theme config add into separate blocks (#967) e099c1ad6 changed ".Title" to ".URL" (#972) bea71280d Fix small typing error (#1001) 9c28c422e Correct hyperlink for 'markdownify' function cf3844a06 Corrected small conjugation mistake (#996) 8b9c1d4f2 Added remarks about additional parameters in ref/relref (#995) ca06c9a56 Fix illegal character in render-link.html example 7a85c789b Update RenderString.md 69df3b17e Update configuration-markup.md 43e9222a2 Revert "Add shortcodes to note comparing with `markdownify`" 2bd5bc2d7 Add shortcodes to note comparing with `markdownify` ddfee60b7 Update configuration-markup.md f87c35fe2 docs: Remove extra double quotation 5ca5cc15f Update index.md 6e457f5ec Update configuration-markup.md 12df3c0fc Update configuration-markup.md 91977fd96 Update configuration-markup.md 377b8954a Update configuration-markup.md 99d691b5e Update hosting-on-render.md ccf855b22 Update index.md a945acc42 Update index.md 7d4f308d6 Fix Netlify config f4caa07f5 Release 0.62.0 79d18276f releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.62.0 9db1a08d1 Merge commit '8a4005cf2b0ef34265ff8051a6b76226685fc226' 79e556223 docs: More on hooks 5088c54df tpl: Do not return any value in errorf 98c8c8638 tpl: Add a warnf template func 4a9d76cea docs: Regen docshelper 626e53b55 Fix incorrect MIME type from image/jpg to image/jpeg f92f77c5d Preserve HTML Text for link render hooks 6db9c52b1 docs: Footnote 16801db3b Add render template hooks for links and images 0facb823c Merge commit '2e711a28c71e8667258e5ab824f9b9a71c261b0a' 79bf8ed4c markup/tableofcontents: Add config option for ordered list git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: bd0e15bb6063f7ad4f0c47eb33c8c0c23c962d13 2020-01-05 05:13:09 -05:00			`lastmod: 2019-12-28`
Squashed 'docs/' content from commit fdea5430f git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: fdea5430f89dfd849d39212abdf5ace0a4763e5a 2019-10-21 04:22:28 -04:00			`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 %}}`

Squashed 'docs/' changes from 54f0e8776..bd0e15bb6 bd0e15bb6 Optimised images with calibre/image-actions 59830ea44 Remove comments from quickstart code samples 348821b5d Remove image-actions 1cbbd26a9 Update index.md bcf3de764 Update index.md fcf17e6ef Release 0.62.1 0956bde21 Merge branch 'temp621' 28d604756 releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.62.1 c895f12e7 Fix statement about version installed with apt-get (#854) e96928e38 Updated quickstart to split theme download and theme config add into separate blocks (#967) e099c1ad6 changed ".Title" to ".URL" (#972) bea71280d Fix small typing error (#1001) 9c28c422e Correct hyperlink for 'markdownify' function cf3844a06 Corrected small conjugation mistake (#996) 8b9c1d4f2 Added remarks about additional parameters in ref/relref (#995) ca06c9a56 Fix illegal character in render-link.html example 7a85c789b Update RenderString.md 69df3b17e Update configuration-markup.md 43e9222a2 Revert "Add shortcodes to note comparing with `markdownify`" 2bd5bc2d7 Add shortcodes to note comparing with `markdownify` ddfee60b7 Update configuration-markup.md f87c35fe2 docs: Remove extra double quotation 5ca5cc15f Update index.md 6e457f5ec Update configuration-markup.md 12df3c0fc Update configuration-markup.md 91977fd96 Update configuration-markup.md 377b8954a Update configuration-markup.md 99d691b5e Update hosting-on-render.md ccf855b22 Update index.md a945acc42 Update index.md 7d4f308d6 Fix Netlify config f4caa07f5 Release 0.62.0 79d18276f releaser: Add release notes to /docs for release of 0.62.0 9db1a08d1 Merge commit '8a4005cf2b0ef34265ff8051a6b76226685fc226' 79e556223 docs: More on hooks 5088c54df tpl: Do not return any value in errorf 98c8c8638 tpl: Add a warnf template func 4a9d76cea docs: Regen docshelper 626e53b55 Fix incorrect MIME type from image/jpg to image/jpeg f92f77c5d Preserve HTML Text for link render hooks 6db9c52b1 docs: Footnote 16801db3b Add render template hooks for links and images 0facb823c Merge commit '2e711a28c71e8667258e5ab824f9b9a71c261b0a' 79bf8ed4c markup/tableofcontents: Add config option for ordered list git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: bd0e15bb6063f7ad4f0c47eb33c8c0c23c962d13 2020-01-05 05:13:09 -05:00			`It is also possible to pass additional arguments to link to another language or an alternative output format. Therefore, pass a map of arguments instead of just the path.`

			```
			`{{ ref . (dict "path" "about.md" "lang" "ja" "outputFormat" "rss") }}`
			```

Squashed 'docs/' content from commit fdea5430f git-subtree-dir: docs git-subtree-split: fdea5430f89dfd849d39212abdf5ace0a4763e5a 2019-10-21 04:22:28 -04:00			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/).