Haml (HTML Abstraction Markup Language)

Haml is a markup language that's used to cleanly and simply describe the HTML of any web document, without the use of inline code. Haml functions as a replacement for inline page templating systems such as PHP, ERB, and ASP. However, Haml avoids the need for explicitly coding HTML into the template, because it is actually an abstract description of the HTML, with some code to generate dynamic content.

Features

Whitespace active
Well-formatted markup
DRY
Follows CSS conventions
Integrates Ruby code
Implements Rails templates with the .haml extension

Using Haml

Haml can be used in three ways:

as a command-line tool,
as a plugin for Ruby on Rails,
and as a standalone Ruby module.

The first step for all of these is to install the Haml gem:

gem install haml

To run Haml from the command line, just use

haml render input.haml > output.html

Use haml --help for full documentation.

To use Haml with Rails, add the following line to the Gemfile:

gem "haml"

Once it's installed, all view files with the ".html.haml" extension will be compiled using Haml.

You can access instance variables in Haml templates the same way you do in ERB templates. Helper methods are also available in Haml templates. For example:

# file: app/controllers/movies_controller.rb

class MoviesController < ApplicationController
  def index
    @title = "Teen Wolf"
  end
end

-# file: app/views/movies/index.html.haml

#content
 .title
   %h1= @title
   = link_to 'Home', home_url

may be compiled to:

<div id='content'>
  <div class='title'>
    <h1>Teen Wolf</h1>
    <a href='/'>Home</a>
  </div>
</div>

Ruby Module

Haml can also be used completely separately from Rails and ActionView. To do this, install the gem with RubyGems:

gem install haml

You can then use it by including the haml gem in Ruby code, and using Haml::Template like so:

engine = Haml::Template.new { "%p Haml code!" }
engine.render #=> "<p>Haml code!</p>\n"

Options

Haml understands various configuration options that affect its performance and output.

In Rails, options can be set by using Haml::RailsTemplate.set_options in an initializer:

# config/initializers/haml.rb
Haml::RailsTemplate.set_options(escape_html: false)

Outside Rails, you can set them by configuring them globally in Haml::Template.options:

Haml::Template.options[:escape_html] = false

In sinatra specifically, you can set them in global config with:

set :haml, { escape_html: false }

Finally, you can also set them by passing an options hash to Haml::Engine.new or Haml::Template.new. For the complete list of available options, please see Haml::Engine.

Plain Text

A substantial portion of any HTML document is its content, which is plain old text. Any Haml line that's not interpreted as something else is taken to be plain text, and passed through unmodified. For example:

%gee
  %whiz
    Wow this is cool!

is compiled to:

<gee>
  <whiz>
    Wow this is cool!
  </whiz>
</gee>

Note that HTML tags are passed through unmodified as well. If you have some HTML you don't want to convert to Haml, or you're converting a file line-by-line, you can just include it as-is. For example:

%p
  <div id="blah">Blah!</div>

is compiled to:

<p>
  <div id="blah">Blah!</div>
</p>

Escaping: `\`

The backslash character escapes the first character of a line, allowing use of otherwise interpreted characters as plain text. For example:

%title
  = @title
  \= @title

is compiled to:

<title>
  MyPage
  = @title
</title>

HTML Elements

Element Name: `%`

The percent character is placed at the beginning of a line. It's followed immediately by the name of an element, then optionally by modifiers (see below), a space, and text to be rendered inside the element. It creates an element in the form of <element></element>. For example:

%one
  %two
    %three Hey there

is compiled to:

<one>
  <two>
    <three>Hey there</three>
  </two>
</one>

Any string is a valid element name; Haml will automatically generate opening and closing tags for any element.

Attributes: `{}` or `()` #attributes

Braces represent a Ruby hash that is used for specifying the attributes of an element. It is literally evaluated as a Ruby hash, so logic will work in it and local variables may be used. Quote characters within the attribute will be replaced with appropriate escape sequences. The hash is placed after the tag is defined. For example:

%html{:xmlns => "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml", "xml:lang" => "en", :lang => "en"}

is compiled to:

<html xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' xml:lang='en' lang='en'></html>

Attribute hashes can also be stretched out over multiple lines to accommodate many attributes.

%script{
  "type": text/javascript",
  "src": javascripts/script_#{2 + 7}",
  "data": {
    "controller": "reporter",
  },
}

is compiled to:

<script src='javascripts/script_9' type='text/javascript' data-controller='reporter'></script>

`:class` and `:id` Attributes #class-and-id-attributes

The :class and :id attributes can also be specified as a Ruby array whose elements will be joined together. A :class array is joined with " " and an :id array is joined with "_". For example:

%div{:id => [@item.type, @item.number], :class => [@item.type, @item.urgency]}

is equivalent to:

%div{:id => "#{@item.type}_#{@item.number}", :class => "#{@item.type} #{@item.urgency}"}

The array will first be flattened and any elements that do not test as true will be removed. The remaining elements will be converted to strings. For example:

%div{:class => [@item.type, @item == @sortcol && [:sort, @sortdir]] } Contents

could render as any of:

<div class="numeric sort ascending">Contents</div>
<div class="numeric">Contents</div>
<div class="sort descending">Contents</div>
<div>Contents</div>

depending on whether @item.type is "numeric" or nil, whether @item == @sortcol, and whether @sortdir is "ascending" or "descending".

If a single value is specified and it evaluates to false it is ignored; otherwise it gets converted to a string. For example:

.item{:class => @item.is_empty? && "empty"}

could render as either of:

class="item"
class="item empty"

HTML-style Attributes: `()`

Haml also supports a terser, less Ruby-specific attribute syntax based on HTML's attributes. These are used with parentheses instead of braces, like so:

%html(xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en")

Ruby variables can be used by omitting the quotes. Local variables or instance variables can be used. For example:

%a(title=@title href=href) Stuff

This is the same as:

%a{:title => @title, :href => href} Stuff

Because there are no commas separating attributes, though, more complicated expressions aren't allowed. For those you'll have to use the {} syntax. You can, however, use both syntaxes together:

%a(title=@title){:href => @link.href} Stuff

You can also use #{} interpolation to insert complicated expressions in a HTML-style attribute:

%span(class="widget_#{@widget.number}")

HTML-style attributes can be stretched across multiple lines just like hash-style attributes:

%script(type="text/javascript"
        src="javascripts/script_#{2 + 7}")

Ruby 1.9-style Hashes

Haml also supports Ruby's new hash syntax:

%a{title: @title, href: href} Stuff

Boolean Attributes

Some attributes, such as "checked" for input tags or "selected" for option tags, are "boolean" in the sense that their values don't matter - it only matters whether or not they're present. In HTML (but not XHTML), these attributes can be written as

<input selected>

To do this in Haml using hash-style attributes, just assign a Ruby true value to the attribute:

%input{:selected => true}

In XHTML, the only valid value for these attributes is the name of the attribute. Thus this will render in XHTML as

<input selected='selected'>

To set these attributes to false, simply assign them to a Ruby false value. In both XHTML and HTML,

%input{:selected => false}

will just render as:

<input>

HTML-style boolean attributes can be written just like HTML:

%input(selected)

or using true and false:

%input(selected=true)

This feature works only for attributes that are included in Haml::AttributeBuilder::BOOLEAN_ATTRIBUTES, as well as data- and aria- attributes.

%input{'data-hidden' => false}
%input{'aria-hidden' => false}
%input{'xyz-hidden' => false}

will render as:

<input>
<input>
<input xyz-hidden='false'>

Data Attributes

HTML5 allows for adding custom non-visible data attributes to elements using attribute names beginning with data-. The Accessible Rich Internet Applications specification makes use of attributes beginning with aria-.

Haml can help generate collections of attributes that share a prefix like these. Any entry in an data or aria attribute hash that has a Hash as its value is expanded into a series of attributes, one for each key/value pair in the hash, with the attribute name formed by joining the “parent” key name to the key name with a hyphen. This works only for data or aria.

For example:

%a{:href=>"/posts", :data => {:author_id => 123, :category => 7}} Posts By Author

will render as:

<a data-author-id='123' data-category='7' href='/posts'>Posts By Author</a>

Notice that the underscore in author_id was replaced with a hyphen. If you wish to suppress this behavior, you can set Haml's :hyphenate_data_attrs option to false, and the output will be rendered as:

<a data-author_id='123' data-category='7' href='/posts'>Posts By Author</a>

This expansion of hashes is recursive – any value of the child hash that is itself a hash will create an attribute for each entry, with the attribute name prefixed with all ancestor keys. For example:

.book-info{:data => {:book => {:id => 123, :genre => 'programming'}, :category => 7}}

will render as:

<div class='book-info' data-book-genre='programming' data-book-id='123' data-category='7'></div>

Class and ID: `.` and `#`

The period and pound sign are borrowed from CSS. They are used as shortcuts to specify the class and id attributes of an element, respectively. Multiple class names can be specified in a similar way to CSS, by chaining the class names together with periods. They are placed immediately after the tag and before an attributes hash. For example:

%div#things
  %span#rice Chicken Fried
  %p.beans{ :food => 'true' } The magical fruit
  %h1.class.otherclass#id La La La

is compiled to:

<div id='things'>
  <span id='rice'>Chicken Fried</span>
  <p class='beans' food='true'>The magical fruit</p>
  <h1 class='class otherclass' id='id'>La La La</h1>
</div>

And,

%div#content
  %div.articles
    %div.article.title Doogie Howser Comes Out
    %div.article.date 2006-11-05
    %div.article.entry
      Neil Patrick Harris would like to dispel any rumors that he is straight

is compiled to:

<div id='content'>
  <div class='articles'>
    <div class='article title'>Doogie Howser Comes Out</div>
    <div class='article date'>2006-11-05</div>
    <div class='article entry'>
      Neil Patrick Harris would like to dispel any rumors that he is straight
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

These shortcuts can be combined with long-hand attributes; the two values will be merged together as though they were all placed in an array (see the documentation on :class and :id attributes). For example:

%div#Article.article.entry{:id => @article.number, :class => @article.visibility}

is equivalent to

%div{:id => ['Article', @article.number], :class => ['article', 'entry', @article.visibility]} Gabba Hey

and could compile to:

<div class="article entry visible" id="Article_27">Gabba Hey</div>

Implicit Div Elements

Because divs are used so often, they're the default elements. If you only define a class and/or id using . or #, a div is automatically used. For example:

#collection
  .item
    .description What a cool item!

is the same as:

%div#collection
  %div.item
    %div.description What a cool item!

and is compiled to:

<div id='collection'>
  <div class='item'>
    <div class='description'>What a cool item!</div>
  </div>
</div>

Class Name Merging and Ordering

Class names are ordered in the following way:

1) Tag identifiers in order (aka, ".alert.me" => "alert me") 2) Classes appearing in HTML-style attributes 3) Classes appearing in Hash-style attributes

For instance, this is a complicated and unintuitive test case illustrating the ordering

.foo.moo{:class => ['bar', 'alpha']}(class='baz')

The resulting HTML would be as follows:

<div class='foo moo baz bar alpha'></div>

Versions of Haml prior to 5.0 would alphabetically sort class names.

Empty (void) Tags: `/`

The forward slash character, when placed at the end of a tag definition, causes Haml to treat it as being an empty (or void) element. Depending on the format, the tag will be rendered either without a closing tag (:html4 or :html5), or as a self-closing tag (:xhtml).

Taking the following as an example:

%br/
%meta{'http-equiv' => 'Content-Type', :content => 'text/html'}/

When the format is :html4 or :html5 this is compiled to:

<br>
<meta content='text/html' http-equiv='Content-Type'>

and when the format is :xhtml it is compiled to:

<br />
<meta content='text/html' http-equiv='Content-Type' />

Some tags are automatically treated as being empty, as long as they have no content in the Haml source. meta, img, link, br, hr, input, area, param, col and base tags are treated as empty by default. This list can be customized by setting the :autoclose option.

Whitespace Removal: `>` and `<`

> and < give you more control over the whitespace near a tag. > will remove all whitespace surrounding a tag, while < will remove all whitespace immediately within a tag. You can think of them as alligators eating the whitespace: > faces out of the tag and eats the whitespace on the outside, and < faces into the tag and eats the whitespace on the inside. They're placed at the end of a tag definition, after class, id, and attribute declarations but before / or =. For example:

%blockquote<
  %div
    Foo!

is compiled to:

<blockquote><div>
  Foo!
</div></blockquote>

And:

%img
%img>
%img

is compiled to:

<img /><img /><img />

And:

%p<= "Foo\nBar"

is compiled to:

<p>Foo
Bar</p>

And finally:

%img
%pre><
  foo
  bar
%img

is compiled to:

<img /><pre>foo
bar</pre><img />

Object Reference: `[]`

Square brackets follow a tag definition and contain a Ruby object that is used to set the class and id of that tag. The class is set to the object's class (transformed to use underlines rather than camel case) and the id is set to the object's class, followed by the value of its #to_key or #id method (in that order). This is most useful for elements that represent instances of Active Model models. Additionally, the second argument (if present) will be used as a prefix for both the id and class attributes. For example:

# file: app/controllers/users_controller.rb

def show
  @user = CrazyUser.find(15)
end

-# file: app/views/users/show.haml

%div[@user, :greeting]
  %bar[290]/
  Hello!

is compiled to:

<div class='greeting_crazy_user' id='greeting_crazy_user_15'>
  <bar class='fixnum' id='fixnum_581' />
  Hello!
</div>

If you require that the class be something other than the underscored object's class, you can implement the haml_object_ref method on the object.

# file: app/models/crazy_user.rb

class CrazyUser < ActiveRecord::Base
  def haml_object_ref
    "a_crazy_user"
  end
end

-# file: app/views/users/show.haml

%div[@user]
  Hello!

is compiled to:

<div class='a_crazy_user' id='a_crazy_user_15'>
  Hello!
</div>

The :class attribute may be used in conjunction with an object reference. The compiled element will have the union of all classes.

- user = User.find(1)
%p[user]{:class => 'alpha bravo'}
<p id="user_1" class="alpha bravo user"></p>

Doctype: `!!!`

When describing HTML documents with Haml, you can have a document type or XML prolog generated automatically by including the characters !!!. For example:

!!! XML
!!!
%html
  %head
    %title Myspace
  %body
    %h1 I am the international space station
    %p Sign my guestbook

is compiled to:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Myspace</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>I am the international space station</h1>
    <p>Sign my guestbook</p>
  </body>
</html>

You can also specify the specific doctype after the !!! When the :format is set to :xhtml. The following doctypes are supported:

!!! : XHTML 1.0 Transitional
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

!!! Strict : XHTML 1.0 Strict
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

!!! Frameset : XHTML 1.0 Frameset
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-frameset.dtd">

!!! 5 : XHTML 5
<!DOCTYPE html>

!!! 1.1 : XHTML 1.1
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

!!! Basic : XHTML Basic 1.1
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML Basic 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-basic/xhtml-basic11.dtd">

!!! Mobile : XHTML Mobile 1.2
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//WAPFORUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.2//EN" "http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/DTD/xhtml-mobile12.dtd">

!!! RDFa : XHTML+RDFa 1.0
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML+RDFa 1.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-rdfa-1.dtd">

When the :format option is set to :html4, the following doctypes are supported:

!!! : HTML 4.01 Transitional
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

!!! Strict : HTML 4.01 Strict
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

!!! Frameset : HTML 4.01 Frameset
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Frameset//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/frameset.dtd">

When the :format option is set to :html5, !!! is always <!DOCTYPE html>.

If you're not using the UTF-8 character set for your document, you can specify which encoding should appear in the XML prolog in a similar way. For example:

!!! XML iso-8859-1

is compiled to:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='iso-8859-1' ?>

If the mime_type of the template being rendered is text/xml then a format of :xhtml will be used even if the global output format is set to :html4 or :html5.

Comments

Haml supports two sorts of comments: those that show up in the HTML output and those that don't.

HTML Comments: `/`

The forward slash character, when placed at the beginning of a line, wraps all text after it in an HTML comment. For example:

%peanutbutterjelly
  / This is the peanutbutterjelly element
  I like sandwiches!

is compiled to:

<peanutbutterjelly>
  <!-- This is the peanutbutterjelly element -->
  I like sandwiches!
</peanutbutterjelly>

The forward slash can also wrap indented sections of code. For example:

/
  %p This doesn't render...
  %div
    %h1 Because it's commented out!

is compiled to:

<!--
  <p>This doesn't render...</p>
  <div>
    <h1>Because it's commented out!</h1>
  </div>
-->

Conditional Comments: `/[]`

You can also use Internet Explorer conditional comments by enclosing the condition in square brackets after the /. For example:

/[if IE]
  %a{ :href => 'http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/' }
    %h1 Get Firefox

is compiled to:

<!--[if IE]>
  <a href='http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/'>
    <h1>Get Firefox</h1>
  </a>
<![endif]-->

To generate “downlevel-revealed” conditional comments, where the content is hidden from IE but not other browsers, add a ! before the brackets: /![]. Haml will produce valid HTML when generating this kind of conditional comment.

For example:

/![if !IE]
  You are not using Internet Explorer, or are using version 10+.

is compiled to:

<!--[if !IE]><!-->
  You are not using Internet Explorer, or are using version 10+.
<!--<![endif]-->

Haml Comments: `-#`

The hyphen followed immediately by the pound sign signifies a silent comment. Any text following this isn't rendered in the resulting document at all.

For example:

%p foo
-# This is a comment
%p bar

is compiled to:

<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>

You can also nest text beneath a silent comment. None of this text will be rendered. For example:

%p foo
-#
  This won't be displayed
    Nor will this
                   Nor will this.
%p bar

is compiled to:

<p>foo</p>
<p>bar</p>

Ruby Evaluation

Inserting Ruby: `=` #inserting_ruby

The equals character is followed by Ruby code. This code is evaluated and the output is inserted into the document. For example:

%p
  = ['hi', 'there', 'reader!'].join " "
  = "yo"

is compiled to:

<p>
  hi there reader!
  yo
</p>

If the :escape_html option is set, = will sanitize any HTML-sensitive characters generated by the script. For example:

= '<script>alert("I\'m evil!");</script>'

would be compiled to

&lt;script&gt;alert(&quot;I'm evil!&quot;);&lt;/script&gt;

= can also be used at the end of a tag to insert Ruby code within that tag. For example:

%p= "hello"

would be compiled to:

<p>hello</p>

A line of Ruby code can be stretched over multiple lines as long as each line but the last ends with a comma. For example:

= link_to_remote "Add to cart",
    :url => { :action => "add", :id => product.id },
    :update => { :success => "cart", :failure => "error" }

Note that it's illegal to nest code within a tag that ends with =.

Running Ruby: `-`

The hyphen character is also followed by Ruby code. This code is evaluated but not inserted into the document.

It is not recommended that you use this widely; almost all processing code and logic should be restricted to Controllers, Helpers, or partials.

For example:

- foo = "hello"
- foo << " there"
- foo << " you!"
%p= foo

is compiled to:

<p>
  hello there you!
</p>

A line of Ruby code can be stretched over multiple lines as long as each line but the last ends with a comma. For example:

- links = {:home => "/",
    :docs => "/docs",
    :about => "/about"}

Ruby Blocks

Ruby blocks, like XHTML tags, don't need to be explicitly closed in Haml. Rather, they're automatically closed, based on indentation. A block begins whenever the indentation is increased after a Ruby evaluation command. It ends when the indentation decreases (as long as it's not an else clause or something similar). For example:

- (42...47).each do |i|
  %p= i
%p See, I can count!

is compiled to:

<p>42</p>
<p>43</p>
<p>44</p>
<p>45</p>
<p>46</p>
<p>See, I can count!</p>

Another example:

%p
  - case 2
  - when 1
    = "1!"
  - when 2
    = "2?"
  - when 3
    = "3."

is compiled to:

<p>
  2?
</p>

Whitespace Preservation: `~` #tilde

~ works just like =, except that it runs Haml::Helpers.preserve on its input. For example,

~ "Foo\n<pre>Bar\nBaz</pre>"

is the same as:

= find_and_preserve("Foo\n<pre>Bar\nBaz</pre>")

and is compiled to:

Foo
<pre>Bar&#x000A;Baz</pre>

Ruby Interpolation: `#{}`

Ruby code can also be interpolated within plain text using #{}, similarly to Ruby string interpolation. For example,

%p This is #{h quality} cake!

is the same as

%p= "This is #{h quality} cake!"

and might compile to:

<p>This is scrumptious cake!</p>

Backslashes can be used to escape #{} strings, but they don't act as escapes anywhere else in the string. For example:

%p
  Look at \\#{h word} lack of backslash: \#{foo}
  And yon presence thereof: \{foo}

might compile to:

<p>
  Look at \yon lack of backslash: #{foo}
  And yon presence thereof: \{foo}
</p>

Interpolation can also be used within filters. For example:

:javascript
  $(document).ready(function() {
    alert(#{@message.to_json});
  });

might compile to:

<script type='text/javascript'>
  //<![CDATA[
    $(document).ready(function() {
      alert("Hi there!");
    });
  //]]>
</script>

Gotchas

Haml uses an overly simplistic regular expression to identify string interpolation rather than a full-blown Ruby parser. This is fast and works for most code but you may have errors with code like the following:

%span #{'{'}

This code will generate a syntax error, complaining about unbalanced braces. In cases like this, the recommended workaround is output the code as a Ruby string to force Haml to parse the code with Ruby.

%span= "#{'{'}"

Escaping HTML: `&=` #escaping_html

An ampersand followed by one or two equals characters evaluates Ruby code just like the equals without the ampersand, but sanitizes any HTML-sensitive characters in the result of the code. For example:

&= "I like cheese & crackers"

compiles to

I like cheese &amp; crackers

If the :escape_html option is set, &= behaves identically to =.

& can also be used on its own so that #{} interpolation is escaped. For example,

& I like #{"cheese & crackers"}

compiles to:

I like cheese &amp; crackers

Unescaping HTML: `!=` #unescaping_html

An exclamation mark followed by one or two equals characters evaluates Ruby code just like the equals would, but never sanitizes the HTML.

By default, the single equals doesn't sanitize HTML either. However, if the :escape_html option is set, = will sanitize the HTML, but != still won't. For example, if :escape_html is set:

= "I feel <strong>!"
!= "I feel <strong>!"

compiles to

I feel &lt;strong&gt;!
I feel <strong>!

! can also be used on its own so that #{} interpolation is unescaped. For example,

! I feel #{"<strong>"}!

compiles to

I feel <strong>!

Filters #filters

The colon character designates a filter. This allows you to pass an indented block of text as input to another filtering program and add the result to the output of Haml. The syntax is simply a colon followed by the name of the filter. For example:

%p
  :markdown
    # Greetings

    Hello, *World*

is compiled to:

<p>
  <h1>Greetings</h1>

  <p>Hello, <em>World</em></p>
</p>

Filters can have Ruby code interpolated with #{}. For example:

- flavor = "raspberry"
#content
  :textile
    I *really* prefer _#{flavor}_ jam.

is compiled to

<div id='content'>
  <p>I <strong>really</strong> prefer <em>raspberry</em> jam.</p>
</div>

The functionality of some filters such as Markdown can be provided by many different libraries. Usually you don't have to worry about this - you can just load the gem of your choice and Haml will automatically use it.

However in some cases you may want to make Haml explicitly use a specific gem to be used by a filter. In these cases you can do this via Tilt, the library Haml uses to implement many of its filters:

Tilt.prefer Tilt::RedCarpetTemplate

See the Tilt documentation for more info.

Haml comes with the following filters defined:

`:cdata` #cdata-filter

Surrounds the filtered text with CDATA tags.

`:coffee` #coffee-filter

Compiles the filtered text to JavaScript in <script> tag using CoffeeScript. You can also reference this filter as :coffeescript. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:css` #css-filter

Surrounds the filtered text with <style> and (optionally) CDATA tags. Useful for including inline CSS. Use the :cdata option to control when CDATA tags are added.

`:erb` #erb-filter

Parses the filtered text with ERB, like an RHTML template. Not available if the :suppress_eval option is set to true. Embedded Ruby code is evaluated in the same context as the Haml template. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:escaped` #escaped-filter

Works the same as plain, but HTML-escapes the text before placing it in the document.

`:javascript` #javascript-filter

Surrounds the filtered text with <script> and (optionally) CDATA tags. Useful for including inline Javascript. Use the :cdata option to control when CDATA tags are added.

`:less` #less-filter

Parses the filtered text with Less to produce CSS output in <style> tag. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:markdown` #markdown-filter

Parses the filtered text with Markdown. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:maruku` #maruku-filter

Parses the filtered text with Maruku, which has some non-standard extensions to Markdown.

As of Haml 4.0, this filter is defined in Haml contrib but is loaded automatically for historical reasons. In future versions of Haml it will likely not be loaded by default. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:plain` #plain-filter

Does not parse the filtered text. This is useful for large blocks of text without HTML tags, when you don't want lines starting with . or - to be parsed.

`:preserve` #preserve-filter

Inserts the filtered text into the template with whitespace preserved. preserved blocks of text aren't indented, and newlines are replaced with the HTML escape code for newlines, to preserve nice-looking output. See also Whitespace Preservation.

`:ruby` #ruby-filter

Parses the filtered text with the normal Ruby interpreter. The Ruby code is evaluated in the same context as the Haml template.

`:sass` #sass-filter

Parses the filtered text with Sass to produce CSS output in <style> tag. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:scss` #scss-filter

Parses the filtered text with Sass like the :sass filter, but uses the newer SCSS syntax to produce CSS output in <style> tag. This filter is implemented using Tilt.

`:textile` #textile-filter

Parses the filtered text with Textile. Only works if RedCloth is installed.

Custom Filters

You can also define your own filters. Haml::Filters::YourCustomFilter#compile should return a Temple expression.

The simplest example of a filter might be something like:

class HelloFilter < Haml::Filters::Base
  def compile(_node)
    [:static, "hello world"]
  end
end

Haml::Filters.registered[:hello] ||= HelloFilter

A more complex example:

class BetterFilter < Haml::Filters::Base
  def compile(node)
    temple = [:multi]
    temple << [:static, "hello "]
    temple << compile_text(node.value[:text])
    temple << [:static, " world"]
    temple
  end

  private
  def compile_text(text)
    if ::Haml::Util.contains_interpolation?(text)
      [:dynamic, ::Haml::Util.unescape_interpolation(text)]
    else
      [:static, text]
    end
  end
end

Haml::Filters.registered[:better] ||= BetterFilter

See Haml::Filters for examples.

Multiline: `|` #multiline

The pipe character designates a multiline string. It's placed at the end of a line (after some whitespace) and means that all following lines that end with | will be evaluated as though they were on the same line. Note that even the last line in the multiline block should end with |. For example:

%whoo
  %hoo= h(                       |
    "I think this might get " +  |
    "pretty long so I should " + |
    "probably make it " +        |
    "multiline so it doesn't " + |
    "look awful.")               |
  %p This is short.

is compiled to:

<whoo>
  <hoo>I think this might get pretty long so I should probably make it multiline so it doesn't look awful.</hoo>
  <p>This is short</p>
</whoo>

Using multiline declarations in Haml is intentionally awkward. This is designed to discourage people from putting lots and lots of Ruby code in their Haml templates. If you find yourself using multiline declarations, stop and think: could I do this better with a helper?

Note that there are a few cases where it's useful to allow something to flow over onto multiple lines in a non-awkward manner. One of these is HTML attributes. Some elements just have lots of attributes, so you can wrap attributes without using | (see Attributes).

In addition, sometimes you need to call Ruby methods or declare data structures that just need a lot of template information. So data structures and functions that require lots of arguments can be wrapped over multiple lines, as long as each line but the last ends in a comma (see Inserting Ruby).

Whitespace Preservation #whitespace_preservation

Sometimes you don't want Haml to indent all your text. For example, tags like pre and textarea are whitespace-sensitive; indenting the text makes them render wrong.

Haml deals with this by "preserving" newlines before they're put into the document -- converting them to the HTML whitespace escape code, 
. Then Haml won't try to re-format the indentation.

Literal textarea and pre tags automatically preserve content given through =. Dynamically-generated textareas and pres can't be preserved automatically, and so should be passed through Haml::Helpers.preserve or the ~ command, which has the same effect.

Blocks of literal text can be preserved using the :preserve filter.

Turbo

For people using Turbo-rails and Haml 6+ need to either:

follow the naming convention with the html format (ie. ensure any .haml files end .html.haml), or
add a monkey patch as follows:

# config/initializers/haml.rb
require "haml/rails_template"

module Haml
  class RailsTemplate
    def default_format
      :html
    end
  end
end

Haml (HTML Abstraction Markup Language)

Features

Using Haml

Ruby Module

Options

Plain Text

Escaping: \

HTML Elements

Element Name: %

Attributes: {} or () #attributes

:class and :id Attributes #class-and-id-attributes

HTML-style Attributes: ()

Ruby 1.9-style Hashes

Boolean Attributes

Data Attributes

Class and ID: . and #

Implicit Div Elements

Class Name Merging and Ordering

Empty (void) Tags: /

Whitespace Removal: > and <

Object Reference: []

Doctype: !!!

Comments

HTML Comments: /

Conditional Comments: /[]

Haml Comments: -#

Ruby Evaluation

Inserting Ruby: = #inserting_ruby

Running Ruby: -

Ruby Blocks

Whitespace Preservation: ~ #tilde

Ruby Interpolation: #{}

Gotchas

Escaping HTML: &= #escaping_html

Unescaping HTML: != #unescaping_html

Filters #filters

:cdata #cdata-filter

:coffee #coffee-filter

:css #css-filter

:erb #erb-filter

:escaped #escaped-filter

:javascript #javascript-filter

:less #less-filter

:markdown #markdown-filter

:maruku #maruku-filter

:plain #plain-filter

:preserve #preserve-filter

:ruby #ruby-filter

:sass #sass-filter

:scss #scss-filter

:textile #textile-filter

Custom Filters

Multiline: | #multiline

Whitespace Preservation #whitespace_preservation

Turbo

Escaping: `\`

Element Name: `%`

Attributes: `{}` or `()` #attributes

`:class` and `:id` Attributes #class-and-id-attributes

HTML-style Attributes: `()`

Class and ID: `.` and `#`

Empty (void) Tags: `/`

Whitespace Removal: `>` and `<`

Object Reference: `[]`

Doctype: `!!!`

HTML Comments: `/`

Conditional Comments: `/[]`

Haml Comments: `-#`

Inserting Ruby: `=` #inserting_ruby

Running Ruby: `-`

Whitespace Preservation: `~` #tilde

Ruby Interpolation: `#{}`

Escaping HTML: `&=` #escaping_html

Unescaping HTML: `!=` #unescaping_html

`:cdata` #cdata-filter

`:coffee` #coffee-filter

`:css` #css-filter

`:erb` #erb-filter

`:escaped` #escaped-filter

`:javascript` #javascript-filter

`:less` #less-filter

`:markdown` #markdown-filter

`:maruku` #maruku-filter

`:plain` #plain-filter

`:preserve` #preserve-filter

`:ruby` #ruby-filter

`:sass` #sass-filter

`:scss` #scss-filter

`:textile` #textile-filter

Multiline: `|` #multiline