---
title: Ordinal
description: Returns the zero-based ordinal of the shortcode in relation to its parent.
categories: []
keywords: []
action:
  related: []
  returnType: int
  signatures: [SHORTCODE.Ordinal]
---

The `Ordinal` method returns the zero-based ordinal of the shortcode in relation to its parent. If the parent is the page itself, the ordinal represents the position of this shortcode in the page content.

This method is useful for, among other things, assigning unique element IDs when a shortcode is called two or more times from the same page. For example:

{{< code file=content/about.md lang=md >}}
{{</* img src="images/a.jpg" */>}}

{{</* img src="images/b.jpg" */>}}
{{< /code >}}

This shortcode performs error checking, then renders an HTML `img` element with a unique `id` attribute:

{{< code file=layouts/shortcodes/img.html  >}}
{{ $src := "" }}
{{ with .Get "src" }}
  {{ $src = . }}
  {{ with resources.Get $src }}
    {{ $id := printf "img-%03d" $.Ordinal }}
    <img id="{{ $id }}" src="{{ .RelPermalink }}" width="{{ .Width }}" height="{{ .Height }}" alt="">
  {{ else }}
    {{ errorf "The %q shortcode was unable to find %s. See %s" $.Name $src $.Position }}
  {{ end }}
{{ else }}
  {{ errorf "The %q shortcode requires a 'src' parameter. See %s" .Name .Position }}
{{ end }}
{{< /code >}}

Hugo renders the page to:

```html
<img id="img-000" src="/images/a.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="">
<img id="img-001" src="/images/b.jpg" width="600" height="400" alt="">
```

{{% note %}}
In the shortcode template above, the [`with`] statement is used to create conditional blocks. Remember that the `with` statement binds context (the dot) to its expression. Inside of a `with` block, preface shortcode method calls with a `$` to access the top level context passed into the template.

[`with`]: /functions/go-template/with
{{% /note %}}