How to use shortcodes?

Shortcodes can inject arbitrary and configurable HTML (or automated Markdown) in Markdown content — Hugo offers them as “Markdown’s hidden superpower”.

Syntax

A shortcode without variables looks like {{< simple >}} or {{% simple %}}. Both shortcodes would call a file in the folder layout/shortcodes/simple.html of our project root or the theme directory and execute their template code.

Shortcodes with angled brackets < > directly generate HTML and the ones with percentage signs % % generate Markdown which is then processed as usual.

There are two options to pass parameters: positional or named. Both options may exist for the same shortcode, but they can’t be mixed in one call.

Shortcodes may also process Markdown content which is enclosed by the first shortcode and its closing counterpart.

Positional

The shortcode {{% pangram %}} is often used on this site to generate placeholder text. It expects only one unnamed parameter and returns the specified amount of pangram sentences.

{{% pangram 3 %}}

Go, lazy fat vixen; be shrewd, jump quick. Jim quickly realized that the beautiful gowns are expensive. A quivering Texas zombie fought republic linked jewelry.

Named

More parameters are usually named to avoid confusion about their order and function. An example is the shortcode mnote for marginal notes:

{{< mnote up=11 dagger=2 >}}
This note gets placed in the marginal column.
{{< /mnote >}}

Shortcodes with content

The last example is also meant to demonstrate the usage of a closing shortcode.

Notice the slash / in the closing shortcode repetition!

See Also