cTemplate Expressions

A number of cTemplate Statements, including #ASSIGN, #CALC and #IF, take an expression parameter. An expression can be a simple value or variable, but it can also include text, math, logic and functions to produce the ultimate value that will be passed as the parameter value. The following are supported in cTemplate expressions.

Constants

Keyword	Meaning
true	Boolean TRUE
false	Boolean FALSE
null	NULL
undefined	Not set or invalid result (divide by zero)

Text

Text is represented by a single or double-quoted string of characters.

#ECHO("This is a string of double-quoted text.")
#ECHO('This is a string of single-quoted text.')

Escape Sequences

Certain characters, such as the surrounding quote character, new lines, tabs are preceded by a backslash.

#ECHO("This is a string with \"quoted text\" and a trailing new line.\n")

UTF8 character codes are also preceded by a backslash to specify any UTF8 character.

#ECHO("This is a utf8 character: \u263a")

Appending Strings

Multiple strings and variables can be appended together with the plus sign (+).

#ECHO("Hello" + ' World.')

Variables

#ASSIGN($a, ${b.Field})
#CSCRIPT
    $a = ${b.Field};
    $a = $b.Field;  // {} notation not required in #CSCRIPT
#ENDCSCRIPT

Arrays and Collections

#/ initialize arrays
#ASSIGN($array1, [])
#ASSIGN($array2, [1,2,3])

#/ output array2's 3rd element: 3
${array2[2]}
#CSCRIPT
    $array1 = [];
    $array2 = [1,2,3];
    $array2 []= 4;
#ENDCSCRIPT

Associative Arrays

#ASSIGN($array1, [])
#ASSIGN($array2, ['a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3])
${array2['b']}
#CSCRIPT
    $array2 = [];
    $array3 = ['a': 1, 'b': 2, 'c': 3];
    $array3['a'] = 1;
    $array3['b'] = 2;
    $array3['c'] = 3;
#ENDCSCRIPT

Objects

#ASSIGN($object, {})
#{$object.Property = 'value';}
${object.Property}
#{
    $object = {}; // initial properties can not be set yet
    $object.Property = 'value';
}

Assignment

Operator	Description
=	Equal
+=	Add (numbers) or append (string)
-=	Subtract (numbers)
*=	Multiply (numbers)
/=	Divide (numbers)

Comparison Operators

Operator	Description
== or eq	Equal
!= or ne	Not Equal
===	Exactly Equal (same type and value)
!==	Not Exactly Equal (same type and value)
<=>	Sort comparison: -1, 0 or 1
< or lt	Less than
> or gt	Greater than
<= or le	Less than or Equal
>= or ge	Greater than or Equal

Logic

Operator	Description
\|\|	Logical OR
&&	Logical AND

Math

Operator	Description
+, -, *, /, %	Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Modulo (divide and return remainder)
++	Increment
--	Decrement
=~	Regular expression match or substitution, formatted like Perl, except uses PHP's preg_match() and preg_replace() internally.

Ternary Operator (?:)

Provides a shorthand #IF/#ELSE.

#ASSIGN($y, $x == 5 ? 5 : 0)

Undefined Coalescing Operator (??)

Provides a shorthand #IF($x !== UNDEFINED) $x #ELSE default #ENDIF. This is the same as the Null Coalescing Operator in PHP.

#ASSIGN($y, $x ?? 'default')

Directives and Functions

All cTemplate Directives and cScript Functions are allowed, as if already in #CSCRIPT. In other words, #COUNT($list) can appear in an expression as well as count($list).

Example

#ASSIGN($array, [1, 2, 3])
#IF(#COUNT($array) < 3)
There are less than 3 items.
#ELSEIF(count($array) >= 3)
There are 3 or more items.
#ENDIF