---
title: with
description: Rebinds the context (`.`) within its scope and skips the block if the variable is absent or empty.
categories: [functions]
keywords: []
menu:
  docs:
    parent: functions
function:
  aliases: []
  returnType: any
  signatures: [with PIPELINE]
relatedFunctions:
  - with
  - range
aliases: [/functions/with]
---

{{% readfile file="/functions/_common/go-template-functions.md" %}}

An alternative way of writing an `if` statement and then referencing the same value is to use `with` instead. `with` rebinds the context (`.`) within its scope and skips the block if the variable is absent, unset or empty.

The set of *empty* values is defined by [the Go templates package](https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/). Empty values include `false`, the number zero, and the empty string.

If you want to render a block if an index or key is present in a slice, array, channel or map, regardless of whether the value is empty, you should use [`isset`](/functions/collections/isset) instead.

The following example checks for a [user-defined site variable](/variables/site/) called `twitteruser`. If the key-value is not set, the following will render nothing:

{{< code file="layouts/partials/twitter.html" >}}
{{ with .Site.Params.twitteruser }}<span class="twitter">
<a href="https://twitter.com/{{ . }}" rel="author">
<img src="/images/twitter.png" width="48" height="48" title="Twitter: {{ . }}"
 alt="Twitter"></a>
</span>{{ end }}
{{< /code >}}