# SLS Template Variable Reference

Warning

In the 3005 release `sls_path`, `tplfile`, and `tpldir` have had some significant improvements which have the potential to break states that rely on old and broken functionality.

The template engines available to sls files and file templates come loaded with a number of context variables. These variables contain information and functions to assist in the generation of templates. See each variable below for its availability -- not all variables are available in all templating contexts.

## Salt

The salt variable is available to abstract the salt library functions. This variable is a python dictionary containing all of the functions available to the running salt minion. It is available in all salt templates.

    {% for file in salt['cmd.run']('ls -1 /opt/to_remove').splitlines() %}
    /opt/to_remove/{{ file }}:
      file.absent
    {% endfor %}

## Opts

The opts variable abstracts the contents of the minion's configuration file directly to the template. The opts variable is a dictionary. It is available in all templates.

    {{ opts['cachedir'] }}

The `config.get` function also searches for values in the opts dictionary.

## Pillar

The pillar dictionary can be referenced directly, and is available in all templates:

    {{ pillar['key'] }}

Using the `pillar.get` function via the salt variable is generally recommended since a default can be safely set in the event that the value is not available in pillar and dictionaries can be traversed directly:

    {{ salt['pillar.get']('key', 'failover_value') }}
    {{ salt['pillar.get']('stuff:more:deeper') }}

## Grains

The grains dictionary makes the minion's grains directly available, and is available in all templates:

    {{ grains['os'] }}

The `grains.get` function can be used to traverse deeper grains and set defaults:

    {{ salt['grains.get']('os') }}

## saltenv

The saltenv variable is available in only in sls files when gathering the sls from an environment.

    {{ saltenv }}

## SLS Only Variables

The following are only available when processing sls files. If you need these in other templates, you can usually pass them in as template context.

### sls

The sls variable contains the sls reference value, and is only available in the actual SLS file (not in any files referenced in that SLS). The sls reference value is the value used to include the sls in top files or via the include option.

    {{ sls }}

### slspath

The slspath variable contains the path to the directory of the current sls file. The value of slspath in files referenced in the current sls depends on the reference method. For jinja includes slspath is the path to the current directory of the file. For salt includes slspath is the path to the directory of the included file. If current sls file is in root of the file roots, this will return ""

    {{ slspath }}

### sls_path

A version of slspath with underscores as path separators instead of slashes. So, if slspath is path/to/state then sls_path is path_to_state

    {{ sls_path }}

### slsdotpath

A version of slspath with dots as path separators instead of slashes. So, if slspath is path/to/state then slsdotpath is path.to.state. This is same as sls if sls points to a directory instead if a file.

    {{ slsdotpath }}

### slscolonpath

A version of slspath with colons (:) as path separators instead of slashes. So, if slspath is path/to/state then slscolonpath is path:to:state.

    {{ slscolonpath }}

### tplpath

Full path to sls template file being process on local disk. This is usually pointing to a copy of the sls file in a cache directory. This will be in OS specific format (Windows vs POSIX). (It is probably best not to use this.)

    {{ tplpath }}

### tplfile

Relative path to exact sls template file being processed relative to file roots.

    {{ tplfile }}

### tpldir

Directory, relative to file roots, of the current sls file. If current sls file is in root of the file roots, this will return ".". This is usually identical to slspath except in case of root-level sls, where this will return a ".".

A Common use case for this variable is to generate relative salt urls like:

    my-file:
      file.managed:
        source: salt://{{ tpldir }}/files/my-template

### tpldot

A version of tpldir with dots as path separators instead of slashes. So, if tpldir is path/to/state then tpldot is path.to.state. NOTE: if tpldir is ., this will be set to ""

    {{ tpldot }}