What would be the proper syntax to include a file with custom variables?

[Andre601]

From my research so far have I found out that I could use the {% include <file> %} syntax to include a separate file from the defined includes directory.

My question now is, if I can provide values to said syntax which would replace specific values within the targeted file.

I'll give a quick example of what my goal is:
I have a file called img_table.md which contains the following markdown (Note that I'm not sure about the syntax here regarding the values I want to have replaced)

| Image | Description |
| --- | --- |
| ![{{ image }}]({{ image }}) | {{ description }} |

I would now like to use this file in {% include img_table.md %} and have the {{ image }} and {{ description }} syntaxes replaced with whatever values I provide in the include.

Is this doable? I'm fairly new to jinja2, macros and python in general and I'm not confident enough to try it completely on my own...

[fralau]

I would say in principle: yes, the include directive imports the context.

See the relevant paragraph in the official Jinja2 documentation

[fralau]

Yes, if image and description are variable in the included file, that would work?

[Andre601]

Still wondering about the actual syntax of include tho. Like is it something like {% include 'img_table.md' image='/assets/example.jph' description='An example image' %}?

I would like to avoid working with YAML frontmatter in the files for multiple reasons.

[fralau]

I'm not sure I fully understand what you want to achieve. Why are you trying to define the variables in the include directive? What does the included file contain?

The way you do an assignment (see the doc) is as follows:

{% set image='/assets/example.jph' %}
{% set description='An example image' %}

[fralau]

@Andre601 Was this discussion point solved for you?

[Andre601]

Not quite.

Right now do I have a {% include 'tables/table.md' %} which pulls in a file containing a table and I set certain values to insert into the frontmatter.

As an example:

---
table:
  title: Some title
  description: Some description
  other: Another value
---

# File

{% include 'tables/table.md' %}

What I would like to do is include/add the table into the file and have the values set in that placeholder... But I lack the jinja2 knowledge to really understand how I would achieve this...

[fralau]

@Andre601 The documentation on {% include ...} is contained in that paragraph of the Jinja2 documentation.

[Andre601]

So essentially, the include would not be what I'm looking for here...

Because I want to implement a template where I define values in the pattern ({% <something> <options and values...> %} and it would return the Markdown file with the provided values inserted... See previous comments for all the context...

[fralau]

@Andre601 How did things go? Did you solve this issue to your satisfaction?

[Andre601]

I've stopped working on my project, so I no longer use this anymore.

[fralau]

OK and all the best on your endeavors 👍

[redtide]

If could be useful for someone else reading this: since using Jekyll (and now porting the project(s) to MKDocs) I use(d) to include HTML tables mixed with Liquid/Jinja template, loading variables from YAML/JSON files.