# The menu generated by \`sectionPagesMenu\` is not detecting Children items and does not seem to be Recursive in nature

**URL:** <https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572>\
**Category:** support\
**Tags:** menu\
**Created:** [February 29, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572 "2024-02-29T04:01:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/1 "2024-02-29T04:01:42Z")

</div>

Hi everyone! Hugo noob here, this is my first post so a few words first… Loving the system and finding the documentation to be REALLY robust - so, to all maintainers/advanced users, THANK YOU!

Second thing before I dive into details… This is a LONG post - I tried to make my question as clear and well illustrated as possible. If you’re looking for a **TL;DR** of this post, scroll to the bottom of the post and read the **Conclusion** section which outlines a summarised list of the actual questions I’m asking.

Third/last before continuing: THANKS IN ADVANCE!!! to whomever can help me figure things out here! 😄

Alrighty… I’ve read over the [Menu documentation](https://gohugo.io/content-management/menus/#define-automatically). My question is either straight forward and simple OR, I may be encountering a bug with the latest version of Hugo… 🤷‍♂️

**What I was hoping:** I was hoping that `sectionPagesMenu` would (with the “default” recursive template provided in the documentation) automatically generate nested menus.

**What is happening:** Only top level items are being rendered/picked up. When I dump `site.Menus.main` (using a `<script>` tag to view JSON rendering of `site.Menus.main`) I can see that top (top section) Menu objects that **should** have child items (site structure follows below), **don’t**.

**Site/Content Structure**

```auto
content/
├── _index.md
├── about.md
├── privacy-policy.md
├── terms-and-conditions.md
├── artwork
│ ├── _index.md
│ └── art-piece-00
│ ├── img
│ │ ├── primary
│ │ │ └── primary_768x1024_00.jpg
│ │ └── secondary
│ │ │ └── secondary_768x1024_00.jpg
│ │ │ └── secondary_768x1024_01.jpg
│ └── index.md
└── updates
    ├── _index.md
    ├── event1
    │ └── index.md
    ├── event2
    │ └── index.md
    └── event3
        ├── _index.md
        └── subevent1
            ├── event4.md
            └── event5.md

```

**JSON Dump of `site.Menus.main`**

```auto
  [
    {
      'Identifier': '',
      'Parent': '',
      'Name': 'About',
      'Pre': '',
      'Post': '',
      'URL': '',
      'PageRef': '',
      'Weight': 0,
      'Title': 'About',
      'Params': null,
      'Menu': '',
      'ConfiguredURL': '',
      'Page': {
        'Date': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'Lastmod': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'PublishDate': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'ExpiryDate': '0001-01-01T00:00:00Z',
        'Aliases': null,
        'BundleType': '',
        'Description': '',
        'Draft': false,
        'IsHome': false,
        'Keywords': null,
        'Kind': 'page',
        'Layout': '',
        'LinkTitle': 'About',
        'IsNode': false,
        'IsPage': true,
        'Path': '/about',
        'Pathc': '/about',
        'Slug': '',
        'Lang': 'en',
        'IsSection': false,
        'Section': '',
        'Sitemap': {'ChangeFreq': '', 'Priority': -1, 'Filename': 'sitemap.xml'},
        'Type': 'page',
        'Weight': 0,
      },
      'Children': null,
    },
    {
      'Identifier': 'artwork',
      'Parent': '',
      'Name': 'Artwork',
      'Pre': '',
      'Post': '',
      'URL': '',
      'PageRef': '',
      'Weight': 0,
      'Title': 'Artwork',
      'Params': null,
      'Menu': '',
      'ConfiguredURL': '',
      'Page': {
        'Date': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'Lastmod': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'PublishDate': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'ExpiryDate': '0001-01-01T00:00:00Z',
        'Aliases': null,
        'BundleType': 'branch',
        'Description': '',
        'Draft': false,
        'IsHome': false,
        'Keywords': null,
        'Kind': 'section',
        'Layout': '',
        'LinkTitle': 'Artwork',
        'IsNode': true,
        'IsPage': false,
        'Path': '/artwork',
        'Pathc': '/artwork',
        'Slug': '',
        'Lang': 'en',
        'IsSection': true,
        'Section': 'artwork',
        'Sitemap': {'ChangeFreq': '', 'Priority': -1, 'Filename': 'sitemap.xml'},
        'Type': 'artwork',
        'Weight': 0,
      },
      'Children': null,
    },
    {
      'Identifier': '',
      'Parent': '',
      'Name': 'Privacy Policy',
      'Pre': '',
      'Post': '',
      'URL': '',
      'PageRef': '',
      'Weight': 0,
      'Title': 'Privacy Policy',
      'Params': null,
      'Menu': '',
      'ConfiguredURL': '',
      'Page': {
        'Date': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'Lastmod': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'PublishDate': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'ExpiryDate': '0001-01-01T00:00:00Z',
        'Aliases': null,
        'BundleType': '',
        'Description': '',
        'Draft': false,
        'IsHome': false,
        'Keywords': null,
        'Kind': 'page',
        'Layout': '',
        'LinkTitle': 'Privacy Policy',
        'IsNode': false,
        'IsPage': true,
        'Path': '/privacy-policy',
        'Pathc': '/privacy-policy',
        'Slug': '',
        'Lang': 'en',
        'IsSection': false,
        'Section': '',
        'Sitemap': {'ChangeFreq': '', 'Priority': -1, 'Filename': 'sitemap.xml'},
        'Type': 'page',
        'Weight': 0,
      },
      'Children': null,
    },
    {
      'Identifier': '',
      'Parent': '',
      'Name': 'Terms & Conditions',
      'Pre': '',
      'Post': '',
      'URL': '',
      'PageRef': '',
      'Weight': 0,
      'Title': 'Terms & Conditions',
      'Params': null,
      'Menu': '',
      'ConfiguredURL': '',
      'Page': {
        'Date': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'Lastmod': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'PublishDate': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'ExpiryDate': '0001-01-01T00:00:00Z',
        'Aliases': null,
        'BundleType': '',
        'Description': '',
        'Draft': false,
        'IsHome': false,
        'Keywords': null,
        'Kind': 'page',
        'Layout': '',
        'LinkTitle': 'Terms & Conditions',
        'IsNode': false,
        'IsPage': true,
        'Path': '/terms-and-conditions',
        'Pathc': '/terms-and-conditions',
        'Slug': '',
        'Lang': 'en',
        'IsSection': false,
        'Section': '',
        'Sitemap': {'ChangeFreq': '', 'Priority': -1, 'Filename': 'sitemap.xml'},
        'Type': 'page',
        'Weight': 0,
      },
      'Children': null,
    },
    {
      'Identifier': 'updates',
      'Parent': '',
      'Name': 'Updates',
      'Pre': '',
      'Post': '',
      'URL': '',
      'PageRef': '',
      'Weight': 0,
      'Title': 'Updates',
      'Params': null,
      'Menu': '',
      'ConfiguredURL': '',
      'Page': {
        'Date': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'Lastmod': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'PublishDate': '2024-02-27T22:46:56-05:00',
        'ExpiryDate': '0001-01-01T00:00:00Z',
        'Aliases': null,
        'BundleType': 'branch',
        'Description': '',
        'Draft': false,
        'IsHome': false,
        'Keywords': null,
        'Kind': 'section',
        'Layout': '',
        'LinkTitle': 'Updates',
        'IsNode': true,
        'IsPage': false,
        'Path': '/updates',
        'Pathc': '/updates',
        'Slug': '',
        'Lang': 'en',
        'IsSection': true,
        'Section': 'updates',
        'Sitemap': {'ChangeFreq': '', 'Priority': -1, 'Filename': 'sitemap.xml'},
        'Type': 'updates',
        'Weight': 0,
      },
      'Children': null,
    }]

```

After searching around in the documentation, this forum and the net in general, I can’t find anyone saying that they’ve faced a similar issue. At first, I thought that perhaps page items were not being picked up by Hugo because they had `draft: true` in them; I then set `draft: false` in all `*.md` files; that didn’t work so I then deleted `draft:...` entirely from all MD files.

After reading a few posts ([including this one](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/front-matter-for-nested-menu-does-not-work/32413/10)), I tweaked the `content` folder dir structure a few times thinking that the issue might be because I didn’t understand the diff between `Leaf` and `Branch` bundles correctly. To clarify, the `Updates``section/Branch Bundle` folder **originally** looked like this:

```auto
content/
└── updates
    ├── _index.md
    ├── event1.md
    ├── event2
    │ └── index.md
    └── event3
        ├── _index.md
        ├── event4.md
        └── event5.md

```

But changing from the above to what I have currently (illustrated in the “ **Site/Content Structure** ” code block) didn’t make any difference… and I get the feeling that both versions _should_ work correctly.

So… all said, I’m starting to suspect that the _auto-generated_ menu that Hugo provides as a value for `sectionPagesMenu` doesn’t run recursively… which is why I’m reaching out for help. If it **doesn’t** generate recursive menus, it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity.

**Conclusion**

To explain… the site I’m working on will have A LOT of “artwork” and “updates” pages, each living as a `Leaf Bundle` like so:

```auto
content/
├── _index.md # <-- This is the home page and is a Section/List Page, right?
├── artwork # <-- Branch Bundle?
│ ├── _index.md # <-- Section/List Page?
│ └── art-piece-00 # <-- Leaf Bundle?
│ ├── img # <-- All files within this directory are "Page Resources" right?
│ │ ├── primary
│ │ │ └── primary_768x1024_00.jpg
│ │ └── secondary
│ │ │ └── secondary_768x1024_00.jpg
│ │ │ └── secondary_768x1024_01.jpg
│ └── index.md # <-- This is a Single Page?
└── updates # <-- Another Branch Bundle?
    ├── _index.md # <-- List Page for the "Updates" Branch Bundle?
    ├── event1 # <-- Leaf Bundle
    │ └── index.md # <-- Single Page
    ├── event2
    │ └── index.md
    └── event3 # <-- Branch/Section Bundle
        ├── _index.md # <-- Branch/Section List Page
        └── subevent1 # <-- Leaf Bundle
            ├── event4.md # <-- Single Page (will this be rendered?)
            └── event5.md # <-- Single Page (will this be rendered?)

```

1. Could someone please confirm whether or not Hugo’s `sectionPagesMenu` / `site.Menus.main` value recurse through the site’s structure to generate a FULL and Children-Inclusive menu _automatically_?
2. If not, then, is there **an automated way WITHOUT adding “menu/parent” values in individual Page front matter** to “get” a fully recursive menu?
3. If there isn’t currently an “out-of-the-box” solution for a fully-recursive menu, then is there a way to use the existing Hugo API to generate this structure **without** having to define menu structures in `YAML/TOML/JSON` data (be it in Site Config or within Page Front Matter)? PS: I know I could update various `archetype` templates to automatically set the `menu: parent...` values but am really hoping this isn’t necessary as it “feels” messy and prone to potential error - esp. because I’m developing this site for use by non-technical/non-coder users.
4. **To whomever can help me out here** - please let me know if I’ve understood the nature of each directory/file’s role in the code block above? Esp. with regards to `event4.md` and `event5.md`? From some of the discussion threads I’ve read here, it looks like `Leaf Bundles` EXPECT a `index.md` file and ONLY THAT will be rendered as a valid, auto-indexed page. If this is the case, does that mean that `event[4|5].md` will not be rendered at all? OR, would they be considered `headless` pages?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 4:15am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/2 "2024-02-29T04:15:06Z")

</div>

[https://gohugo.io/content-management/menus/#define-automatically](https://gohugo.io/content-management/menus/#define-automatically)

> To automatically define a menu entry for each top-level [section](https://gohugo.io/getting-started/glossary/#section) of your site, enable the section pages menu in your site configuration.

If you have two top-level sections there will be two menu entries. There’s nothing recursive about this.

* * *

[https://gohugo.io/templates/menu-templates/#example](https://gohugo.io/templates/menu-templates/#example)

> This partial template recursively “walks” a menu structure, rendering a localized, accessible nested list.

But you need to create the menu structure before you can walk it.

* * *

You can also create a navigation panel by recursively walking your content structure.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/3 "2024-02-29T18:54:56Z")

</div>

Hi @jmooring, thank you very much for your assistance!

I think I understand your answers. I was hoping you could help out a bit more as follows:

## (Part 1 of 3)

I asked:

> [@anandkp](#):
>
> 1. Could someone please confirm whether or not Hugo’s `sectionPagesMenu` / `site.Menus.main` value recurse through the site’s structure to generate a FULL and Children-Inclusive menu _automatically_?

You responded:

> [@jmooring](#):
>
> To automatically define a menu entry for each top-level [section](https://gohugo.io/getting-started/glossary/#section) of your site, enable the section pages menu in your site configuration.

I’ve read that para several times and it never occurred to me that in it, “ **a menu entry** ” was literally referring to a **single** menu entry, as I believe you are indicating in your response. As mentioned in my OP, I’d thought that the `sites.Menu.main` “auto-generated” menu would be a fully recursively built menu and thus, in the para you quoted, where it says, “a menu entry for each top-level section”, I thought that, since Menu entities have a `Children` property in them, that the `Children` item would be a `slice` of next-depth Menu entries. I see now that the documentation is very literal in how it’s stated I think it may be helpful if the phrasing there was adjusted to clarify that `section pages menu` will not recurse and its automation is the creation of the “top-most level pages - i.e. only pages/sections in the root of the `content` folder”.

## (Part 2 of 3)

I asked:

> [@anandkp](#):
>
> 1. If not, then, is there **an automated way WITHOUT adding “menu/parent” values in individual Page front matter** to “get” a fully recursive menu?
> 2. If there isn’t currently an “out-of-the-box” solution for a fully-recursive menu, then is there a way to use the existing Hugo API to generate this structure **without** having to define menu structures in `YAML/TOML/JSON` data (be it in Site Config or within Page Front Matter)? PS: I know I could update various `archetype` templates to automatically set the `menu: parent...` values but am really hoping this isn’t necessary as it “feels” messy and prone to potential error - esp. because I’m developing this site for use by non-technical/non-coder users.

You responded:

> [@jmooring](#):
>
> You can also create a navigation panel by recursively walking your content structure.

Could you please point me in the right direction with regards to which part of the Hugo API and/or documentation would allow the recursive construction of a Menu object? I’ve come across the [RegularPagesRecursive](https://gohugo.io/methods/page/regularpagesrecursive/) Method which seems likely to do the trick… I’ve also re-read the documentation on [Page Kinds](https://gohugo.io/templates/section-templates/#page-kinds) in the context of `RegularPagesRecursive`:

**Two questions here:**

1. Is this the sort of way in which you’re suggesting I can “create a navigation panel…recursively”?
2. It appears that `List` pages (section landing pages defined for e.g.: `updates/_index.md`) **would not** be part of the return value of `RegularPagesRecursive` nor [.Site.GetPage](https://gohugo.io/templates/section-templates/#sitegetpage-with-sections) (e.g. `.Site.GetPage "section" "/updates"`). **Granted, I’ve yet to test this** (I’m just starting my work day here) but I thought I’d ask this up front in hopes of hearing back from you over the course of the day today.

## (Part 3 of 3)

I asked:

> [@anandkp](#):
>
> 1. **To whomever can help me out here** - please let me know if I’ve understood the nature of each directory/file’s role in the code block above? Esp. with regards to `event4.md` and `event5.md`? From some of the discussion threads I’ve read here, it looks like `Leaf Bundles` expect a `index.md` file and **only that** will be rendered as a valid, auto-indexed page. If this is the case, does that mean that `event[4|5].md` will not be rendered at all? **OR** , would they be considered `headless` pages?

Given the site file/folder structure I originally provided (snippet follows for convenience):

```auto
content/
└── updates
    ├── _index.md
    ├── event7.md
    ├── event8.md
    ├── event1
    │ └── index.md
    ├── event2
    │ └── index.md
    └── event3
        ├── _index.md
        └── subevent1
            ├── event4.md
            └── event5.md

```

Could you (or someone else) please answer this question as well? I.e., in the structure above:

1. Will the following pages be rendered?: `[event7.md, event8.md]`
2. When generating a Recursive Section Menu using `RegularPagesRecursive` or `.Site.GetPage`, will the following **List** pages be in the returned data structure?: `[updates/_index.md, event3/_index.md]`?

As always, many thanks!

Anand 😄

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/4 "2024-02-29T19:02:33Z")

</div>

Here’s an example site that includes a side bar menu generated by walking the content.

```plaintext
git clone --single-branch -b hugo-forum-topic-42835 https://github.com/jmooring/hugo-testing hugo-forum-topic-42835
cd hugo-forum-topic-42835
hugo server

```

Files of interest:

- layouts/partials/render-section-menu.html
- layouts/\_default/baseof.html (lines 40-46; calls the partial)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/5 "2024-02-29T20:15:30Z")

</div>

Hey @jmooring - am going through the code you provided - thank you!

Quick Q: in `{{ partial "render-section-menu.html" (dict "currentPage" $ "nodes" .) }}`, what does the `$` between currentPage and nodes mean?

Full code block is:

```auto
{{ if eq .Section "documentation" }}
  {{ with (site.GetPage "/documentation").Pages }}
    {{ partial "render-section-menu.html" (dict "currentPage" $ "nodes" .) }}
  {{ end }}
{{ end }}

```

Am I correct in understanding that, within the `{{with ...}}` opening template tag, a variable is being set `(site.GetPage ...).Pages` and that, within the inner template tag, `{{partial ... (dict "currentPage" $ "nodes" . ) }}` the `$` is referencing the dynamically set variable in the `with` tag?

So, in other words, `{{with ...}}` could have been:

```auto
  {{ $documentationPages := (site.GetPage "/documentation").Pages}}
  {{ with $documentationPages }}
      {{ partial "render-section-menu.html" (dict "currentPage" $documentationPages "nodes" .) }}

```

?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/6 "2024-02-29T21:07:51Z")

</div>

> [@anandkp](#):
>
> the `$` is referencing the dynamically set variable in the `with` tag

No. Please see docs.  
[https://gohugo.io/functions/go-template/with/#understanding-context](https://gohugo.io/functions/go-template/with/#understanding-context)

> Use the `$` to get the context passed into the template.

And please experiment with templating code yourself. It’s a great way to learn.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/7 "2024-02-29T21:13:57Z")

</div>

Thanks for that! I’ve been struggling with understanding which parts of code I see in templates are part of the Hugo framework vs. parts that are coming from Golang. I didn’t realise that `with` (and perhaps other Functions/Methods) are acting as parts of a DSL with their own idiosyncracies… as in this case, I thought that the `$` was a keyword/symbol similar to `:=`.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jmooring](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/jmooring/32/4214_2.png) [@jmooring](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/jmooring)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/8 "2024-02-29T21:17:03Z")

</div>

> [@anandkp](#):
>
> which parts of code I see in templates are part of the Hugo framework vs. parts that are coming from Golang.

The only parts “coming from Golang” are the functions, operators, and statements provided by Go’s [text/template](https://pkg.go.dev/text/template) package. Again, see docs:  
[https://gohugo.io/functions/go-template/](https://gohugo.io/functions/go-template/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/9 "2024-02-29T21:22:33Z")

</div>

Thanks again, you rock! Am a visual learner so, having found the following URLs:

- [Templating | Hugo](https://gohugo.io/templates/introduction/) and
- [Go Template Actions: An excellent place to start as it lists the basic structure and functionality of the Golang “Text Template” library that is used by Hugo.](https://pkg.go.dev/text/template#hdr-Actions)

I’m taking the time to watch over the following YT vid (and others I may come across like it if need be - sharing here for posterity’s sake in case other newbies like me need a rapid and quick way to wrap their heads around this subject matter):

- [A Crash Course on Go Templates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5wJv4XO7a0)
- [Youtube Search: “golang templates”](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=golang+templates)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/10 "2024-02-29T22:47:15Z")

</div>

Again, for posterity’s sake…

In the video I’m watching, “A Crash Course on Go Templates”, the presenter has a very good explanation of the **difference between the “.” (“dot”) and “$” (“dollar”) symbols as used within Hugo/Go Templates**:

[A Crash Course on Go Templates: time code = 13min/10sec.](https://youtu.be/k5wJv4XO7a0?t=790): the gist of it is:

**BOTH** `.` and `$` (NOTE: **just** `$`, the dollar sign on its own and not `$someVar`) refer to the **context variable** that is passed into a given template. **The difference is** , the `.` **can change what it’s pointing/referring to within a template** based upon whether it is being used in **EITHER** a `with` or `range` “action”. For example, the value that `.` is pointing to can change within `with` and `range` template actions. On the other hand, the `$` symbol ALWAYS refers to the ORIGINAL context that was passed into a template and it never changes.

Examples:

**file:** `layouts/_default/baseof.html` has calls a “partial” with the file name, “partials/some-partial.html” like so:

```auto
{{- /* file: layouts/_default/baseof.html */ -}}
{{ $myFullName := slice "Abraa" "Cadabra" "Dobrinda" }}
{{ partial "some-partial.html" $myFullName }}

```

then, within `partials/some-partial.html`

```auto
{{- /* `.` refers to the slice, `$myFullName` that was passed into the partial template. */ -}}
{{ delimit . " " }}<br>{{- /* Outputs "Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda" */ -}}

<!-- `$` ALSO refers to the slice, `$myFullName` that was passed into the partial template. */ -}}
{{ delimit $ " " }}<br>{{- /* Outputs the same as `.` "Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda" */ -}}

{{ range . }}
  {{- /*
    In here, the `.` is referring to each individual element that the slice $myFullName has in it.
    Thus, it will render "Abraa" then "Cadabra" then "Dobrinda" individually. NOTE: here, the `.` "dot"
    context IS NO LONGER A SLICE and thus, cannot be used with the "collections.Delimit" function.
  */ -}}
  {{ . }}<br>
  {{- /*
    Conversely, the `$` STILL refers to the original/"root level context" that was passed in, namely:
    $myFullName. Thus, it will render "Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda" as a full string for every iteration
    of the range's loop.
  */ -}}
  {{ delimit $ " " }}<br>
{{ end}}

```

So the total output of of `layouts/some-partial.html` should look something like this:

```auto
Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda<br>

Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda<br>

Abraa<br>
Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda<br>
Cadabra<br>
Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda<br>
Dobrinda<br>
Abraa Cadabra Dobrinda<br>

```

I hope this helps someone else… I think it would be helpful to move this reply into it’s own thread but am unsure of how or whether to do that.

Cheers!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Arif](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/arif/32/20931_2.png) [@Arif](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/Arif)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 9:57am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/11 "2024-03-01T09:57:34Z")

</div>

Copy paste into a new tips and tricks post.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anandkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@anandkp](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anandkp)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/12 "2024-03-01T19:35:32Z")

</div>

Thanks for that @Arif - DONE!: [Hugo Templates, their nature and accessing the data (“Context”) injected into them: A detailed explanation of the “.” (dot) and “$” (dollar) symbols as used in Hugo Templates - i.e. their purpose and the difference between them](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/hugo-templates-their-nature-and-accessing-the-data-context-injected-into-them-a-detailed-explanation-of-the-dot-and-dollar-symbols-as-used-in-hugo-templates-i-e-their-purpose-and-the-difference-between-them/48604)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/system/32/1_2.png) [@system](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/the-menu-generated-by-sectionpagesmenu-is-not-detecting-children-items-and-does-not-seem-to-be-recursive-in-nature/48572/13 "2024-03-03T19:36:26Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 2 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.