{include}

{include} tags are used for including other templates in the current template. Any variables available in the current template are also available within the included template.

Attributes

Attribute Name	Required	Description
file	Yes	The name of the template file to include
assign	No	The name of the variable that the output of include will be assigned to
cache_lifetime	No	Enable caching of this subtemplate with an individual cache lifetime
compile_id	No	Compile this subtemplate with an individual compile_id
cache_id	No	Enable caching of this subtemplate with an individual cache_id
scope	No	Define the scope of all in the subtemplate assigned variables: 'parent','root' or 'global'
[var ...]	No	variable to pass local to template

The {include} tag must have the file attribute which contains the template resource path.
Setting the optional assign attribute specifies the template variable that the output of {include} is assigned to, instead of being displayed. Similar to {assign}.
Variables can be passed to included templates as attributes. Any variables explicitly passed to an included template are only available within the scope of the included file. Attribute variables override current template variables, in the case when they are named the same.
You can use all variables from the including template inside the included template. But changes to variables or new created variables inside the included template have local scope and are not visible inside the including template after the {include} statement. This default behaviour can be changed for all variables assigned in the included template by using the scope attribute at the {include} statement or for individual variables by using the scope attribute at the {assign} statement. The later is useful to return values from the included template to the including template.
Use the syntax for template resources to {include} files outside of the $template_dir directory.

Option Flags

Name	Description
nocache	Disables caching of this subtemplate
caching	Enable caching of this subtemplate
inline	If set, merge the compile-code of the subtemplate into the compiled calling template

Examples

<html>
    <head>
      <title>{$title}</title>
    </head>
    <body>
    {include file='page_header.tpl'}

    {* body of template goes here, the $tpl_name variable
       is replaced with a value eg 'contact.tpl'
    *}
    {include file="$tpl_name.tpl"}

    {* using shortform file attribute *}
    {include 'page_footer.tpl'}
    </body>
</html>

{include 'links.tpl' title='Newest links' links=$link_array}
{* body of template goes here *}
{include 'footer.tpl' foo='bar'}

The template above includes the example links.tpl below

<div id="box">
    <h3>{$title}</h3>
    <ul>
        {foreach from=$links item=l}
            .. do stuff  ...
        {/foreach}
    </ul>
</div>

Variables assigned in the included template will be seen in the including template.

{include 'sub_template.tpl' scope=parent}
...
{* display variables assigned in sub_template *}
{$foo}<br>
{$bar}<br>
...

The template above includes the example sub_template.tpl below

...
{assign var=foo value='something'}
{assign var=bar value='value'}
...

The included template will not be cached.

{include 'sub_template.tpl' nocache}
...

In this example included template will be cached with an individual cache lifetime of 500 seconds.

{include 'sub_template.tpl' cache_lifetime=500}
...

In this example included template will be cached independent of the global caching setting.

{include 'sub_template.tpl' caching}
...

This example assigns the contents of nav.tpl to the $navbar variable, which is then output at both the top and bottom of the page.

<body>
  {include 'nav.tpl' assign=navbar}
  {include 'header.tpl' title='Smarty is cool'}
    {$navbar}
    {* body of template goes here *}
    {$navbar}
  {include 'footer.tpl'}
</body>

This example includes another template relative to the directory of the current template.

{include 'template-in-a-template_dir-directory.tpl'}
{include './template-in-same-directory.tpl'}
{include '../template-in-parent-directory.tpl'}

{* absolute filepath *}
{include file='/usr/local/include/templates/header.tpl'}

{* absolute filepath (same thing) *}
{include file='file:/usr/local/include/templates/header.tpl'}

{* windows absolute filepath (MUST use "file:" prefix) *}
{include file='file:C:/www/pub/templates/header.tpl'}

{* include from template resource named "db" *}
{include file='db:header.tpl'}

{* include a $variable template - eg $module = 'contacts' *}
{include file="$module.tpl"}

{* wont work as its single quotes ie no variable substitution *}
{include file='$module.tpl'}

{* include a multi $variable template - eg amber/links.view.tpl *}
{include file="$style_dir/$module.$view.tpl"}