Overview

Handlebars.js

Stacks7.9K

Followers3.2K

Votes308

Jinja

Stacks1.5K

Followers292

Votes8

GitHub Stars11.2K

Forks1.7K

Handlebars.js vs Jinja2: What are the differences?

1. Syntax and Structure: Handlebars.js uses double curly braces {{}} to enclose variables and expressions, while Jinja2 uses double curly braces {}. Handlebars.js also uses the #if, #each, and #unless keywords for control flow, whereas Jinja2 uses {% if %}, {% for %}, and {% unless %} respectively.
2. Template Inheritance: Jinja2 provides template inheritance, allowing the creation of a base template that can be extended and modified by child templates. Handlebars.js does not have built-in support for template inheritance.
3. Custom Helpers: Handlebars.js allows the creation of custom helpers that can be used to perform additional logic or manipulate data within templates. Jinja2 does not have built-in support for custom helpers, although it can be extended through macros and filters.
4. Pre-compilation: Handlebars.js can be pre-compiled into JavaScript functions, which can improve performance by reducing the need for runtime parsing and evaluation. Jinja2 is typically compiled and executed dynamically at runtime.
5. Language Support: Handlebars.js is primarily used with JavaScript-based web frameworks, while Jinja2 is commonly used with Python-based web frameworks such as Flask and Django. This means that Handlebars.js has better integration and compatibility with JavaScript-specific features and libraries.
6. Syntax Extensibility: Handlebars.js allows the extension of its syntax through custom helpers and block helpers, making it more flexible for complex template logic. Jinja2 has a more fixed syntax and does not provide the same level of extensibility.

In Summary, Handlebars.js and Jinja2 differ in their syntax and structure, support for template inheritance, custom helpers, pre-compilation, language compatibility, and syntax extensibility.

Advice on Handlebars.js, Jinja

Asad

Software Engineer at Lisec Automation

Jun 15, 2020

Needs adviceon

.NET

Handlebars.js

@All: I am searching for the best template engine for .NET. I started looking into several template engines, including the Dotliquid, Handlebars.js, Scriban, and Razorlight. I found handlebar a bit difficult to use when using the loops and condition because you need to register for helper first. DotLiquid and Scriban were easy to use and in Razorlight I did not find the example for loops.

Can you please suggest which template engine is best suited for the use of conditional/list and looping and why? Or if anybody could provide me a resource or link where I can compare which is best?

Thanks In Advance

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Handlebars.js	Jinja
Handlebars.js is an extension to the Mustache templating language created by Chris Wanstrath. Handlebars.js and Mustache are both logicless templating languages that keep the view and the code separated like we all know they should be.	It is a full featured template engine for Python. It has full unicode support, an optional integrated sandboxed execution environment, widely used and BSD licensed.
-	Powerful automatic HTML escaping system for cross site scripting prevention; Template inheritance makes it possible to use the same or a similar layout for all templates; High performance with just in time compilation to Python bytecode; Translate your template sources on first load into Python bytecode for best runtime performance; Optional ahead-of-time compilation; Easy to debug; Configurable syntax; Template designer helpers
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 11.2K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 1.7K
Stacks 7.9K	Stacks 1.5K
Followers 3.2K	Followers 292
Votes 308	Votes 8
Pros & Cons
Pros 106 Simple 76 Great templating language 50 Open source 36 Logicless 20 Integrates well into any codebase	Pros 8 It is simple to use
Integrations
Mustache	Ember.js Git JavaScript Python Node.js

What are some alternatives to Handlebars.js, Jinja?

TypeScript

TypeScript is a language for application-scale JavaScript development. It's a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript.

Pug

This project was formerly known as "Jade." Pug is a high performance template engine heavily influenced by Haml and implemented with JavaScript for Node.js and browsers.

Mustache

Mustache is a logic-less template syntax. It can be used for HTML, config files, source code - anything. It works by expanding tags in a template using values provided in a hash or object. We call it "logic-less" because there are no if statements, else clauses, or for loops. Instead there are only tags. Some tags are replaced with a value, some nothing, and others a series of values.

Slim Lang

Slim is a template language whose goal is to reduce the view syntax to the essential parts without becoming cryptic. It started as an exercise to see how much could be removed from a standard html template (<, >, closing tags, etc...). As more people took an interest in Slim, the functionality grew and so did the flexibility of the syntax.

RactiveJS

Ractive was originally created at theguardian.com to produce news applications. Ractive takes your Mustache templates and transforms them into a lightweight representation of the DOM – then when your data changes, it intelligently updates the real DOM.

EJS

It is a simple templating language that lets you generate HTML markup with plain JavaScript. No religiousness about how to organize things. No reinvention of iteration and control-flow. It's just plain JavaScript.

Twig

It is a modern template engine for PHP. It is flexible, fast, and secure. Its syntax originates from Jinja and Django templates.

Nunjucks

Rich Powerful language with block inheritance, autoescaping, macros, asynchronous control, and more. Heavily inspired by jinja2. It supports all modern browsers.

Hogan.js

Hogan.js is a 3.4k JS templating engine developed at Twitter. Use it as a part of your asset packager to compile templates ahead of time or include it in your browser to handle dynamic templates.