Eta Basics

First, review the Eta Syntax and related documentation and examples for a complete overview of the Eta format.

Let's go over some details about how this process works. We will refer to the text sent to Eta as the input. The input is transformed into a JS function and executed, returning the string object tR, which is the output. Essentially, that is the core mechanism of Eta.

In the input, untagged text will be output as text (in the JS function, it becomes an addition assignment to tR). Text inside of Eta tags is evaluated as depending on the tag type:

• <% %> is the evaluation tag, where javascript is executed. To add text to the output, assign to tR. The addition assignment operator is useful in this context: tR += 'text to be appended. In this way, even a single eval tag can create an output.

• <%= %> is the interpolation tag - the value of its contents is coerced to a string and appended to tR. For example, <%= foo %> is equivalent to <% tR += (foo) %>. However, the contents are XML-escaped.

• <%~ %> is the raw interpolation tag - equivalent to interpolation, but the contents are not XML-escaped.

After interpretation is complete, tR is rendered as Obsidian Markdown, creating HTML elements, which are then appended to the skribi element, which is then attached to the document.

Examples of Eta Compilation

The output functions in these examples are simplified for clarity (the actual functions have a bunch of extra stuff we don't need to think about right now).

A very simple input, containing only A line of text. would be compiled to function () {tR += 'A line of text.'; return tR;}.

Something more complicated, multiline code:

<% let bool = true %>
<% if (bool) { %>
True
<% } else { %>
False
<% } %>

Compiles to:

function() {
  let bool = true
  if (bool) {
    tR+='True\n'
  } else {
    tR+='False\n'
  }
  return tR;
}

In this way, hopefully the nature of Eta is a bit clearer.