Blank Variable Handling

There may be times when you want to print a default value for an empty variable instead of printing nothing, such as printing " " so that table backgrounds work properly. Many would use an {if} statement to handle this, but there is a shorthand way with Smarty, using the default variable modifier.

{* the long way *}

{if $title eq ""}
    
{else}
   {$title}
{/if}


{* the short way *}

{$title|default:" "}

See also default and Default Variable Handling.