{extends}
Frames the page with a layout instead of its directories' wrappers.
Syntax
{extends 'layout'}
{extends $layout}Parameters
-
layout -
The layout template, named from the application root like a
{page}(.pad, else.html). May be an expression the page's PHP set.
Description
{extends 'layout'} makes a page use a layout as its frame. It is not a tag that runs while the page renders: it is resolved in the text while the page is assembled, after the PHP and before anything renders, and taken out. The layout then replaces the frame the page would otherwise get - the _inits.pad and _exits.pad of its directories, and the _common wrapper.
The layout is a template named from the application root, like a {page}; keeping layouts in a directory that starts with an underscore (_layouts/) keeps them from being pages of their own. What the page holds outside its {block} pairs goes where the layout writes @page@ - in front of the layout when it has none. The page's top-level blocks override the layout's blocks of the same name, and {parent} inside one of them brings back the content it overrides. A layout may extend a layout of its own; the chain is followed up to the outermost.
The tag must stand directly in the page's own template, outside any other tag; one found anywhere else - in a snippet, a custom tag, inside an {if} - is an error under the strict check. Under the strict check a block of an extending page that overrides nothing is reported as well. {meta layout='...'} does the same as {extends}.
Because the frame is replaced, a page that extends a layout and is opened on its own shows the layout and nothing of the application's wrapper. Inside a {page}, as in the examples here, the included page is assembled the same way and brings its layout along.
Examples
A page in a layout
The page extends a layout of the application and overrides one of its blocks.
{extends '_layouts/extendsCard'}
{block 'title'}Monthly report{/block}
<p>Sales rose by 4% in September.</p>Monthly report
Sales rose by 4% in September.
The layout from PHP
The layout's name is an expression - a variable the page's PHP set - and the page overrides two blocks.
{extends $layout}
{block 'title'}Order 10417{/block}
{block 'footer'}Shipped on 1 October 2026{/block}
<p>Two kettles and a teapot.</p><?php
$layout = '_layouts/extendsCard';
?>Order 10417
Two kettles and a teapot.
See also
- {block} A named region of a layout or wrapper - and a page's override of it.
- {parent} Inside an overriding block: the content of the block it overrides.
- {meta} The page's metadata - a title, a layout, a cache time or any value - read while the page is assembled.
- {page} Renders another page of the application - its PHP and its template - in place of the tag.