Hugo function to obtain OutputFormat of current page context

Hugo does not currently provide a function to obtain the current OutputFormat — this partial¹ provides a simple solution.

Hugo allows adding custom output formats — yet, up to and including version 0.111.0, it does not offer a function to provide the OutputFormat of the current page context. As Hugo provides two functions to list available OutputFormats and those differ in whether they include the current OutputFormat, a simple call to complement provides the answer.

1notAlternative = false

You can add the below snippet to layouts/partials/_functions to use it in your templates.

 1{{- /* partial output-format
 2Returns the [OutputFormat](https://gohugo.io/templates/output-formats/)
 3of the page passed as argument in the current context.
 4USAGE: use as a function in the context of a page, as follows:
 5  {{- outputFormat := partial "partials/_functions/output-format" . }}
 6*/ -}}
 7{{- $outputFormat := false }}
 8{{- with (complement $.AlternativeOutputFormats $.OutputFormats) }}
 9  {{- $outputFormat = index . 0 }}
10{{- end }}
11{{- return $outputFormat }}

In this post, we have seen how we can obtain the current OutputFormat with a simple partial in Hugo, even though Hugo itself does not yet offer a function for this purpose. It is important to note that this solution works under the condition that all declared OutputFormats have the parameter notAlternative = false declared in the config.toml file.

By adding the snippet mentioned above to layouts/partials/_functions, you can use the OutputFormat in your templates and dynamically adjust the output of the pages, depending on which format is currently being used.

Please remember that this is a temporary solution until Hugo possibly provides an integrated function for retrieving the current OutputFormat. It is best to subscribe to the open issue on GitHub to stay informed about future updates.

Photo by Keith Misner on Unsplash.