README

Brace

Brace is a lightweight templating syntax for PHP that uses a familiar {{ double-brace }} syntax. It shares similarities with popular templating engines such as Mustache, Twig, Smarty, and Latte.

Designed to be simple and easy to adopt, Brace focuses on a low learning curve while remaining flexible enough for most templating needs. It provides essential functionality out of the box without requiring additional dependencies.

Key Features:

Syntax

By default, Brace loads .tpl files from the current directory. The following example loads multiple templates, document-header.tpl, template.tpl, and document-footer.tpl, and outputs them as a single HTML file.

<?php

use Brace\Parser;

$brace = new Parser();

// Register filters
$brace->registerFilter('int', fn($content) => (int) $content);
$brace->registerFilter('decimal', fn($number) => number_format($number, 2));
$brace->registerFilter('uppercase', fn($content) => strtoupper($content));
$brace->registerFilter('titlecase', fn($content) => ucwords($content));
$brace->registerFilter('striptags', fn($content) => strip_tags($content));

// Register shortcode
$brace->regShortcode('add_to_basket_button', fn($attrs) => sprintf(
    '<button id="%d">Add to basket</button>',
    $attrs['product_id'],
));

$brace->parse('template, document-footer', [
    'name' => 'Jane Doe',
    'products' => [
        0 => [
            'id' => 1154,
            'price' => 22.66,
            'title' => 'Product Number One',
            'description' => 'This is a product description',
        ],
        1 => [
            'id' => 1156,
            'price' => 16,
            'title' => 'Product Number Two',
            'description' => 'This is another product description',
        ],
    ],
]);

Template:

<!-- Simple HTML template -->
[@include document-header]

<main>
    <p>Hello World. My name is {{ name|titlecase || "John Doe" }}</p>

    <h1>Product List:</h1>
    {{ if products }}
    <p>Showing {{ COUNT(products) }} item(s)</p>
    <ul>
        {{ each products as product }}
        <li>
            <span>{{ product->title|uppercase }}</span>
            <span> {{ product->currancy_symbol || "&pound;" }}{{ product->price|decimal }} </span>
            <p>{{ product->description|striptags }}</p>

            [add_to_basket_button product_id="{{ product->id|int }}"]
        </li>
        {{ end }}
    </ul>
    {{ else }}
    <p>No products to list</p>
    {{ end }}
</main>

Result:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8" />
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
        <title>Brace Examples</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <main>
            <p>Hello World. My name is Jane Doe</p>

            <h1>Product List:</h1>
            <p>Showing 2 item(s)</p>
            <ul>
                <li>
                    <span>PRODUCT NUMBER ONE</span>
                    <span> &pound;22.66 </span>
                    <p>This is a product description</p>

                    <button id="1154">Add to basket</button>
                </li>
                <li>
                    <span>PRODUCT NUMBER TWO</span>
                    <span> &pound;16.00 </span>
                    <p>This is another product description</p>

                    <button id="1156">Add to basket</button>
                </li>
            </ul>
        </main>
    </body>
</html>

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Brace

Key Features:

Syntax

Next Steps