Template function reference

The functions a template can call. Two groups: the Scriban built-ins we make available, and the heavendata functions we add for product data. The heavendata functions for assets, translatable attributes and custom entities are documented on those pages, next to the data they read; the index below lists all of them.

Templates cannot read files

There is no file system access from a template, and no template loader — so {{ include }} always fails, and include_join is not available at all. Anything in Scriban’s documentation that loads a file or another template will not work here. The complete list of what is available is below.

Two places a template runs

This page describes a template used as a channel’s whole output — a template channel.

A template can also be used on a single field, through the Text template node in a field processing pipeline. There the channel context does not exist and most export.* functions return nothing — see A Text template node has no channel context.

Scriban built-ins

These namespaces are available in every template. They behave exactly as Scriban documents them, so we link out for the individual functions rather than restating them.

Namespace	What it does	Reference
array	Sort, filter, join, take, and other list operations	array functions
date	Format and calculate with dates	date functions
html	Escape, strip and encode HTML	html functions
math	Round, format, and arithmetic helpers	math functions
object	Inspect and convert values	object functions
regex	Match, replace and split with regular expressions	regex functions
string	Trim, pad, case, truncate, split, replace	string functions
timespan	Durations	timespan functions

The ones that come up constantly in product templates:

{{ record.description | html.escape }}
{{ record.product_name | string.truncate 60 }}
{{ record.price | math.format '0.00' }}
{{ record.release_date | date.to_string '%F' }}

date.to_string takes the same format strings as Scriban’s date.to_string — %F gives 2026-09-03.

heavendata functions

Four namespaces we add. These are specific to product data and are not in Scriban’s documentation.

Every heavendata function

Function	What it does	Documented
asset.url	The public URL of an asset, optionally for an image variant	Assets
asset.updated	When an asset’s file last changed	Assets
asset.metadata_updated	When an asset’s name or file name last changed	Assets
i18n.t	A translatable attribute’s value in one language, with a fallback	Translatable attributes
i18n.has	Whether a translatable attribute has an entry for exactly that language	Translatable attributes
export.culture_codes · export.language_codes	The languages in this channel	Translatable attributes
export.culture_code_uc	A language code with an underscore: en-US → en_US	Translatable attributes
export.attr_label	An attribute’s label in one language	Translatable attributes
export.xml_attr_labels	An attribute’s label in every channel language, as XML attributes	Translatable attributes
export.load_custom_entities	Every custom entity record a reference attribute links to	Custom entities
export.custom_entity	Look custom entity records up by any attribute — .get, .find, .key	Custom entities
export.attribute	Every configured attribute’s metadata	Data
export.variants_by	Group the product’s variants by an attribute	below
export.collect_attribute_values	Every distinct value of an attribute across variants	below
export.convert_unit	Convert a number from one unit to another	below
export.account_id	Your account’s internal id	below
export.xmlize	Escape a value for XML	below
export.sanitize_filename	Make a string safe as a file name	below
export.to_sorting_number	Turn a string into a sortable integer	below
export.sv_additional_information	SmartView additionalInformation elements	below
debug.dump	Print every value the template can reach	below

Variants

export.variants_by

Group the current product’s variants by an attribute, and reach each group’s variants through _variants. Written for the common case of grouping by color and listing sizes underneath.

{{ for color in export.variants_by 'color_code' }}
  <color code="{{ color.color_code }}">
    {{ for v in color._variants }}
      <size>{{ v.size }}</size>
    {{ end }}
  </color>
{{ end }}

Each group also carries the values of its first variant, so color.color_name works without reaching into _variants. Variants that have no color_code are not dropped — they form one group whose key is empty, so the template above emits <color code=""> around them.

export.collect_attribute_values

Every distinct value of an attribute across a list of variants — for a summary line such as all sizes a product comes in.

{{ variants | export.collect_attribute_values 'size' | array.join ', ' }}

Pass true as a second argument to flatten values that are themselves lists.

Units

export.convert_unit

Converts a number from one unit to another — a measurement of a measurement set, or a number attribute that has a unit — for a receiving system that wants a different unit than your attributes use.

{{ export.convert_unit(record.package_size.height, 'cm', 'in') }}
{{ export.convert_unit(record.package_size.height, export.attribute.package_size.configuration.unit, 'in') }}
{{ export.convert_unit(record.weight, 'kg', 'lb') }}

With a height of 5.5 cm and a weight of 1.25 kg, these give 2.1654, 2.1654 and 2.7558. The first line is right only while the attribute’s unit is cm; the second reads the unit from the attribute, so it follows a change of that unit. Changing an attribute’s unit converts none of its stored values, so the numbers must be in the new unit for either line to be right.

Argument	Description
value	One number: a measurement such as record.package_size.height, a number attribute, or a text that is a number written with a decimal point ('5.5', not '5,5'). Empty gives nothing, so a measurement left empty stays empty. A whole measurement set is not a number — convert each measurement.
from	The unit the number is in: a unit symbol such as cm, in, kg, lb or fl oz, or an attribute’s configuration.unit, which is always the unit its values are in
to	The unit to convert to, written the same way

Between two different units the result is rounded to four decimals, and trailing zeros are dropped; a number converted to the unit it is already in comes back as it is. The two units must measure the same thing — two lengths, two weights; export.convert_unit(record.weight, 'kg', 'cm') stops the run with export.convert_unit can’t convert from kg to cm. A value that is not a number, or a unit it cannot read, also stops the run — and the unit is checked even on a product whose value is empty, so a misspelled unit stops every run. For a fixed number of decimals, pass the result to Scriban’s math.format:

{{ export.convert_unit(record.package_size.height, export.attribute.package_size.configuration.unit, 'in') | math.format '0.00' }}

That gives 2.17, and still nothing for an empty measurement.

The channel run

export.account_id

Your account’s internal id — useful as a stable identifier in each record. Like every heavendata function, it is not available in a header or footer template.

<product account="{{ export.account_id }}">

Escaping and strings

export.xmlize

Escapes &, <, >, ' and " so a value is safe inside an XML document. Use it on every value you place in XML — a single ampersand in a product name produces an invalid file.

<name>{{ record.product_name | export.xmlize }}</name>

For HTML, use Scriban’s html.escape.

export.sanitize_filename

Replaces characters that are not valid in a file name with underscores.

<file>{{ record.product_name | export.sanitize_filename }}.pdf</file>

export.to_sorting_number

Turns a string into an integer usable as a sort key. Empty values give 0.

<sort>{{ record.sku | export.to_sorting_number }}</sort>

export.sv_additional_information

Builds SmartView additionalInformation XML elements for an attribute, one per channel language. Specific to SmartView output — ignore it unless you are building that format.

{{ export.sv_additional_information 'color' 1 }}

Debugging

debug.dump

Prints all available template data as formatted JSON. The fastest way to find out what you can actually reach. See testing and debugging.

Limits

Loop iterations	100,000 per top-level loop, counted afresh per record
File system access	None — see the caution at the top of this page