hugo/content/en/content-management/shortcodes.md

title	linktitle	description	godocref	date	publishdate	lastmod	menu	weight	categories	keywords	draft	aliases	toc
Shortcodes		Shortcodes are simple snippets inside your content files calling built-in or custom templates.		2017-02-01	2017-02-01	2017-03-31	docs parent weight content-management 35	35	content management	markdown content shortcodes	false	/extras/shortcodes/	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 <iframes>) 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 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

{{< youtube 2xkNJL4gJ9E >}}

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 */%}}

{{</* highlight go */>}} A bunch of code here {{</* /highlight */>}}

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 with the .Inner variable---needs further processing by the page's rendering processor (i.e. markdown via Blackfriday). In the following example, Blackfriday would convert **World** to <strong>World</strong>:

{{%/* 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:

{{</* myshortcode */>}}<p>Hello <strong>World!</strong></p>{{</* /myshortcode */>}}

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.

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 <figure> element.

The figure shortcode can use the following named parameters:

src

URL of the image to be displayed.

link

If the image needs to be hyperlinked, URL of the destination.

target

Optional target attribute for the URL if link parameter is set.

rel

Optional rel attribute for the URL if link parameter is set.

alt

Alternate text for the image if the image cannot be displayed.

title

Image title.

caption

Image caption.

class

class attribute of the HTML figure tag.

height

height attribute of the image.

width

width attribute of the image.

attr

Image attribution text.

attrlink

If the attribution text needs to be hyperlinked, URL of the destination.

Example figure Input

{{< code file="figure-input-example.md" >}} {{</* figure src="/media/spf13.jpg" title="Steve Francia" */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example figure Output

{{< output file="figure-output-example.html" >}}

Steve Francia

{{< /output >}}

gist

Bloggers often want to include GitHub gists when writing posts. Let's suppose we want to use the gist at the following url:

https://gist.github.com/spf13/7896402

We can embed the gist in our content via username and gist ID pulled from the URL:

{{</* gist spf13 7896402 */>}}

Example gist Input

If the gist contains several files and you want to quote just one of them, you can pass the filename (quoted) as an optional third argument:

{{< code file="gist-input.md" >}} {{</* gist spf13 7896402 "img.html" */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example gist Output

{{< output file="gist-output.html" >}} {{< gist spf13 7896402 >}} {{< /output >}}

Example gist Display

To demonstrate the remarkably efficiency of Hugo's shortcode feature, we have embedded the spf13 gist example in this page. The following simulates the experience for visitors to your website. Naturally, the final display will be contingent on your stylesheets and surrounding markup.

{{< gist spf13 7896402 >}}

highlight

This shortcode will convert the source code provided into syntax-highlighted HTML. Read more on highlighting. highlight takes exactly one required language parameter and requires a closing shortcode.

Example highlight Input

{{< code file="content/tutorials/learn-html.md" >}} {{</* highlight html */>}}

{{ .Title }}

{{ range .Pages }} {{ .Render "summary"}} {{ end }}

{{}} {{< /code >}}

Example highlight Output

The highlight shortcode example above would produce the following HTML when the site is rendered:

{{< output file="tutorials/learn-html/index.html" >}} <section id="main"> <div> <h1 id="title">{{ .Title }}</h1> {{ range .Pages }} {{ .Render "summary"}} {{ end }} </div> </section> {{< /output >}}

{{% note "More on Syntax Highlighting" %}} To see even more options for adding syntax-highlighted code blocks to your website, see Syntax Highlighting in Developer Tools. {{% /note %}}

instagram

If you'd like to embed a photo from Instagram, you only need the photo's ID. You can discern an Instagram photo ID from the URL:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWNjjyYFxVx/

Example instagram Input

{{< code file="instagram-input.md" >}} {{</* instagram BWNjjyYFxVx */>}} {{< /code >}}

You also have the option to hide the caption:

{{< code file="instagram-input-hide-caption.md" >}} {{</* instagram BWNjjyYFxVx hidecaption */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example instagram Output

By adding the preceding hidecaption example, the following HTML will be added to your rendered website's markup:

{{< output file="instagram-hide-caption-output.html" >}} {{< instagram BWNjjyYFxVx hidecaption >}} {{< /output >}}

Example instagram Display

Using the preceding instagram with hidecaption example above, the following simulates the displayed experience for visitors to your website. Naturally, the final display will be contingent on your stylesheets and surrounding markup.

{{< instagram BWNjjyYFxVx hidecaption >}}

ref and relref

These shortcodes will look up the pages by their relative path (e.g., blog/post.md) or their logical name (post.md) and return the permalink (ref) or relative permalink (relref) for the found page.

ref and relref also make it possible to make fragmentary links that work for the header links generated by Hugo.

{{% note "More on Cross References" %}} Read a more extensive description of ref and relref in the cross references documentation. {{% /note %}}

ref and relref take exactly one required parameter of reference, quoted and in position 0.

Example ref and relref Input

[Neat]({{</* ref "blog/neat.md" */>}})
[Who]({{</* relref "about.md#who" */>}})

Example ref and relref Output

Assuming that standard Hugo pretty URLs are turned on.

<a href="/blog/neat">Neat</a>
<a href="/about/#who:c28654c202e73453784cfd2c5ab356c0">Who</a>

tweet

You want to include a single tweet into your blog post? Everything you need is the URL of the tweet:

https://twitter.com/spf13/status/877500564405444608

Example tweet Input

Pass the tweet's ID from the URL as a parameter to the tweet shortcode:

{{< code file="example-tweet-input.md" >}} {{</* tweet 877500564405444608 */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example tweet Output

Using the preceding tweet example, the following HTML will be added to your rendered website's markup:

{{< output file="example-tweet-output.html" >}} {{< tweet 877500564405444608 >}} {{< /output >}}

Example tweet Display

Using the preceding tweet example, the following simulates the displayed experience for visitors to your website. Naturally, the final display will be contingent on your stylesheets and surrounding markup.

{{< tweet 877500564405444608 >}}

vimeo

Adding a video from Vimeo is equivalent to the YouTube shortcode above.

https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/146022717

Example vimeo Input

Extract the ID from the video's URL and pass it to the vimeo shortcode:

{{< code file="example-vimeo-input.md" >}} {{</* vimeo 146022717 */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example vimeo Output

Using the preceding vimeo example, the following HTML will be added to your rendered website's markup:

{{< output file="example-vimeo-output.html" >}} {{< vimeo 146022717 >}} {{< /output >}}

{{% tip %}} If you want to further customize the visual styling of the YouTube or Vimeo output, add a class named parameter when calling the shortcode. The new class will be added to the <div> that wraps the <iframe> and will remove the inline styles. Note that you will need to call the id as a named parameter as well.

{{</* vimeo id="146022717" class="my-vimeo-wrapper-class" */>}}

{{% /tip %}}

Example vimeo Display

Using the preceding vimeo example, the following simulates the displayed experience for visitors to your website. Naturally, the final display will be contingent on your stylesheets and surrounding markup.

{{< vimeo 146022717 >}}

youtube

The youtube shortcode embeds a responsive video player for YouTube videos. Only the ID of the video is required, e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Ft2ymGmfc

Example youtube Input

Copy the YouTube video ID that follows v= in the video's URL and pass it to the youtube shortcode:

{{< code file="example-youtube-input.md" >}} {{</* youtube w7Ft2ymGmfc */>}} {{< /code >}}

Furthermore, you can automatically start playback of the embedded video by setting the autoplay parameter to true. Remember that you can't mix named an unnamed parameters, so you'll need to assign the yet unnamed video id to the parameter id:

{{< code file="example-youtube-input-with-autoplay.md" >}} {{</* youtube id="w7Ft2ymGmfc" autoplay="true" */>}} {{< /code >}}

Example youtube Output

Using the preceding youtube example, the following HTML will be added to your rendered website's markup:

{{< code file="example-youtube-output.html" >}} {{< youtube id="w7Ft2ymGmfc" autoplay="true" >}} {{< /code >}}

Example youtube Display

Using the preceding youtube example (without autoplay="true"), the following simulates the displayed experience for visitors to your website. Naturally, the final display will be contingent on your stylesheets and surrounding markup. The video is also include in the Quick Start of the Hugo documentation.

{{< youtube w7Ft2ymGmfc >}}

Privacy Config

To learn how to configure your Hugo site to meet the new EU privacy regulation, see Hugo and the GDPR.

Create Custom Shortcodes

To learn more about creating custom shortcodes, see the shortcode template documentation.