template.sh

Is a shell script to build files using handlebars, it runs and injects shell commands directly into the input file, so you can use any installed program to help creating the content.

Installation

Clone and run make, the default install location is ~/.local/bin, you can pass a PREFIX to the make command to override it:

PREFIX=/usr/local make

will install the script in /usr/local/bin.

Using

Running template will read from standard input and print to standard output, passing a file as argument will process that file, e.g

template index.tpl

The result is printed to standard output, to write it to a file you should use a redirection:

template index.tpl > index.html

Note: only files with .tpl are interpreted, all other extensions are simply printed verbatim.

For more information run template -h for help.

Handlebars

To use command substitution write {{some command}} in a .tpl file, this file will be processed and the line containing the command will be replaced by the command output, e.g.:

banner.txt.tpl:

this is some text.
{{echo cowsay Hi!}}

And some more text.

Running template banner.txt.tpl on the folder will output the content:

this is some text.
 _____ 
< Hi! >
 ----- 
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)\_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||


And some more text.

If you have cowsay installed on your system.

Calling other templates

Using {{template file}} on a template will make this line be replaced by the contents of file. For example:

greet.txt:

Hi, nice to meet you!

body.txt.tpl:

{{template greet.txt}}

This is the body.

Bye.

Will generate:

Hi, nice to meet you!

This is the body.

Bye.

Passing arguments

You can also pass arguments to template, and that is added to commands:

main.tpl:

{{template name.tpl John}}

This is the body.

Bye.

name.tpl:

Hello {{echo $1}}.

Bye.

Should output:

Hello John.

This is the body.

Bye.

Multiline commands

Commands that span multiple lines are also supported, good for writting for loops.

Take a look at this for a complete example: index.html.tpl.

Notes

This is a work in progress and some things will change, for the better I hope.