Template Literals

Template literals use backticks and embed normal Vex expressions with {{ ... }}. They are useful for HTML, config files, text reports, prompts, and generated source.

let name = "Vex Developer";
let basic = `Hello {{ name }}`;
println(basic);

Basic interpolation

Anything inside {{ ... }} is evaluated as Vex code:

let name = "Vex Developer";
let active = true;

let html = `
        <h1>Hello World</h1>
        <p>Welcome, {{ name }}!</p>
        <div>
        Status: {{ if active { "Active!" } else { "Inactive." } }}
        </div>
`;

If an interpolated value is not already text, the compiler uses the normal string conversion path, so .toString() remains the mental model to keep in mind.

Control flow blocks

Template literals also support block-style control flow with {{ if ... }}, {{ else }}, {{ for ... in ... }}, and {{ end }}.

struct User {
        public:
        name: string,
        age: i32,
        admin: bool,
}

let users = [
        User { name: "Alice", age: 30, admin: true },
        User { name: "Bob", age: 25, admin: false }
];

let page = `
<ul>
    {{ for u in users }}
        {{ if u.admin }}
            <li><strong>Admin: {{ u.name }}</strong></li>
        {{ else }}
            <li>User: {{ u.name }}</li>
        {{ end }}
    {{ end }}
</ul>
`;

This is the syntax used by the current repository examples.

What templates are good for

• HTML fragments
• CLI reports and status pages
• Generated config or source text
• Structured logs with readable formatting

Compile-time checking

Template literals are parsed by the compiler, not by a separate runtime template engine. That means unknown names or invalid expressions fail like normal Vex code during compilation.

Escaping

To output a literal {{, escape it with a backslash:

let example = `Escaped example: \{{ not_parsed \}}`;

Notes

• Backticks preserve multi-line layout.
• You can mix plain text, inline expressions, loops, and branches in one template.
• Template literals are a text-construction feature, not a replacement for module-level code generation or macros.