How do you increment an assigned variable in smarty without displaying it

So I have an assigned variable in smarty:

{assign var=number value=0}


Now I can increment it using

{$number++}


or

{++$number}


Which is exactly what I need, only problem is, it displays the value of $number on the page.
Is there a way I can increment the value but not display it?

This is not used inside of a loop otherwise I would use something like iteration or index.

4 Answers
4

You could do this:

{assign var=val value=1}
{assign var=val value=$val+1}
{$val} // displays 2


The above will be compiled to:

$this->assign('val', 1);
$this->assign('val', $this->_tpl_vars['val']+1);
echo $this->_tpl_vars['val'];


or

{assign var=var value=1}
{capture assign=var}{$var+1}{/capture}
{$var} // displays 2


Which in turn will be compiled as:

$this->assign('var', 1);
ob_start();
echo $this->_tpl_vars['var']+1;
$this->_smarty_vars['capture']['default'] = ob_get_contents();
$this->assign('var', ob_get_contents());
ob_end_clean();
echo $this->_tpl_vars['var'];


another approach would be to write a small plugin:

// plugins/function.inc.php
function smarty_function_inc($params, Smarty &$smarty)
{
$params['step'] = empty($params['step']) ? 1 : intval($params['step']);

if (empty($params['var'])) {
trigger_error("inc: missing 'var' parameter");
return;
}
if (!in_array($params['var'], array_keys($smarty->_tpl_vars))) {
trigger_error("inc: trying to increment unassigned variable ".$params['var']);
return;
}
if (isset($smarty->_tpl_vars[$params['var']])) {
$smarty->assign($params['var'],
$smarty->_tpl_vars[$params['var']] + $params['step']);
}
}


The function would then be called like this, notice that step is optional and if not given the variable will be incremented by one:

step

{assign var=var value=0}
{inc var=var step=2}
{$var} // displays 2


Reference
Smarty {assign}
Smarty {capture}
Extending Smarty With Plugins

Exactly what I was looking for. I prefer the 2nd one using capture. Thanks.
– Mr. Xymon
Apr 4 '12 at 7:37

It's cleaner just to do it like this...

{$number = $number +1}


True, but this will display it (which is not a intended outcome)
– donohoe
Jan 31 '17 at 18:52

It won't display it.
– trapper
Feb 1 '17 at 10:31

Better to use the built in Smarty "counter" >> {counter} element.

{counter}

So, in template you can use:

Some text, html code, whatever...


{* init the counter! *}
{counter start=0 print=false} {* now the tpl doesn't show the "0" number *}


{* 3x run :D *}
{some_cyclic_stuff_like_foreach_or_section}
Run the counter: {counter}
{/some_cyclic_stuff_like_foreach_or_section}


It will print for you:

Run the counter: 1
Run the counter: 2
Run the counter: 3


So, at least, you can use it with the print=false option, and you have the counter but it's hidden.

print=false

If you use it the "variable way" (like the upper section write) you also can hide it with html/css or just simply don't let it print :)

The original post states "This is not used inside of a loop". You appear to be using a loop.
– maidbloke
Jan 17 at 14:26

If I had to do this I would do something like the following: {php}$number++{/php} but it is very ugly to have to use php in a smarty template. This might suggest that there is a better way of doing what you planned to do.

{php}$number++{/php}

I thought of this as well and got it working very nicely with PHP, but I wasn't sure how to increment a variable assigned through smarty, so I ended up using php in several places throughout the template to assign the variable, then increment it as needed, then later on to actually use it - it got kind of ugly, although I'll drop back to that if I don't have any better solutions.
– Francis Lewis
Dec 29 '11 at 23:58

Is there a reason that you couldn't do all the legwork in the php and assign a load of variables/arrays? What you want to do is a lot of work for the template and completely defeats the purpose of using smarty.
– ridecar2
Dec 29 '11 at 23:59

One bit of information I forgot to put in here is that I'm using a while loop in the template. After your latest comment, I came to the realization that I could increment the number in the {while} tag {while $number++ < 3} - headpalm moment. Thanks!
– Francis Lewis
Dec 30 '11 at 0:45

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