--- title: Shortcodes linktitle: description: Shortcodes are simple snippets inside your content files calling built-in or custom templates. godocref: date: 2017-02-01 publishdate: 2017-02-01 lastmod: 2017-03-31 menu: docs: parent: "content-management" weight: 35 weight: 35 #rem categories: [content management] #tags: [markdown,content,shortcodes] draft: false aliases: [/extras/shortcodes/] toc: true --- ## What a Shortcode is Hugo loves Markdown because of its simple content format, but there are times when Markdown falls short. Often, content authors are forced to add raw HTML (e.g., video ``) to Markdown content. We think this contradicts the beautiful simplicity of Markdown's syntax. Hugo created **shortcodes** to circumvent these limitations. A shortcode is a simple snippet inside a content file that Hugo will render using a predefined template. Note that shortcodes will not work in template files. If you need the type of drop-in functionality that shortcodes provide but in a template, you most likely want a [partial template][partials] instead. In addition to cleaner Markdown, shortcodes can be updated any time to reflect new classes, techniques, or standards. At the point of site generation, Hugo shortcodes will easily merge in your changes. You avoid a possibly complicated search and replace operation. ## Use Shortcodes In your content files, a shortcode can be called by calling `{{%/* shortcodename parameters */%}}`. Shortcode parameters are space delimited, and parameters with internal spaces can be quoted. The first word in the shortcode declaration is always the name of the shortcode. Parameters follow the name. Depending upon how the shortcode is defined, the parameters may be named, positional, or both, although you can't mix parameter types in a single call. The format for named parameters models that of HTML with the format `name="value"`. Some shortcodes use or require closing shortcodes. Again like HTML, the opening and closing shortcodes match (name only) with the closing declaration, which is prepended with a slash. Here are two examples of paired shortcodes: ``` {{%/* mdshortcode */%}}Stuff to `process` in the *center*.{{%/* /mdshortcode */%}} ``` ``` {{}} A bunch of code here {{}} ``` The examples above use two different delimiters, the difference being the `%` character in the first and the `<>` characters in the second. ### Shortcodes with Markdown The `%` character indicates that the shortcode's inner content---called in the [shortcode template][sctemps] with the [`.Inner` variable][scvars]---needs further processing by the page's rendering processor (i.e. markdown via Blackfriday). In the following example, Blackfriday would convert `**World**` to `World`: ``` {{%/* myshortcode */%}}Hello **World!**{{%/* /myshortcode */%}} ``` ### Shortcodes Without Markdown The `<` character indicates that the shortcode's inner content does *not* need further rendering. Often shortcodes without markdown include internal HTML: ``` {{}}

Hello World!

{{}} ``` ### Nested Shortcodes You can call shortcodes within other shortcodes by creating your own templates that leverage the `.Parent` variable. `.Parent` allows you to check the context in which the shortcode is being called. See [Shortcode templates][sctemps]. ## Use Hugo's Built-in Shortcodes Hugo ships with a set of predefined shortcodes that represent very common usage. These shortcodes are provided for author convenience and to keep your markdown content clean. ### `figure` `figure` is an extension of the image syntax in markdown, which does not provide a shorthand for the more semantic [HTML5 `

Steve Francia

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