Handlebars.js vs Nunjucks

Overview

Handlebars.js

Stacks8.3K

Followers3.2K

Votes308

Nunjucks

Stacks86

Followers91

Votes6

GitHub Stars8.8K

Forks647

Handlebars.js vs Nunjucks: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Handlebars.js and Nunjucks are templating engines that allow for dynamic content rendering in web applications. While they have similar functionalities, there are several key differences between the two.

Syntax: Handlebars.js uses double curly braces {{ }} to denote variables and expressions, while Nunjucks uses double curly braces with a percentage sign {{% %}} for the same purpose. This difference in syntax can affect the readability and familiarity of the templating engine for developers.
Template Inheritance: Nunjucks provides an inheritance feature that allows for the creation of reusable templates with defined blocks that can be extended or overridden in child templates. Handlebars.js does not have built-in template inheritance, which can make code organization and reuse more challenging.
Filters and Extensions: Nunjucks offers a wide range of built-in filters and extensions, which provide additional functionalities such as formatting, manipulating data, and customizing the template engine. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, has a more limited set of built-in helpers, and extending its functionalities requires writing custom helpers.
Whitespace Control: Nunjucks provides finer control over whitespace handling within templates. It allows trimming leading and trailing whitespace and specifying custom whitespace control rules. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, does not offer such explicit control over whitespace, which might lead to unexpected rendering results in some scenarios.
Async Support: Nunjucks has built-in support for asynchronous operations. It allows for the use of asynchronous filters and functions, enabling dynamic content retrieval from external resources. Handlebars.js, however, does not provide native support for asynchronous operations, requiring developers to implement workarounds or rely on external libraries.
Error Handling and Debugging: Nunjucks provides detailed error messages and stack traces, making it easier to identify and debug issues within templates. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, provides less detailed error messages, which might make troubleshooting more time-consuming and challenging.

In summary, Handlebars.js and Nunjucks differ in syntax, template inheritance capabilities, filter and extension offerings, whitespace control, async support, and error handling and debugging features. These differences should be considered when choosing a templating engine for a web application.

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Advice on Handlebars.js, Nunjucks

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	Nunjucks
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.	Rich Powerful language with block inheritance, autoescaping, macros, asynchronous control, and more. Heavily inspired by jinja2. It supports all modern browsers.
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 8.8K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 647
Stacks 8.3K	Stacks 86
Followers 3.2K	Followers 91
Votes 308	Votes 6
Pros & Cons
Pros 106 Simple 76 Great templating language 50 Open source 36 Logicless 20 Integrates well into any codebase	Pros 4 Supported by Mozilla 2 Easy sintaxis like JS
Integrations
Mustache	JavaScript Google Chrome Firefox

What are some alternatives to Handlebars.js, Nunjucks?

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.

Jinja

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.

Twig

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

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.

Jsonnet

It is a data templating language for app and tool developers. It is a powerful DSL for elegant description of JSON data.

Related Comparisons

Handlebars.js vs Nunjucks: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Syntax: Handlebars.js uses double curly braces {{ }} to denote variables and expressions, while Nunjucks uses double curly braces with a percentage sign {{% %}} for the same purpose. This difference in syntax can affect the readability and familiarity of the templating engine for developers.
Template Inheritance: Nunjucks provides an inheritance feature that allows for the creation of reusable templates with defined blocks that can be extended or overridden in child templates. Handlebars.js does not have built-in template inheritance, which can make code organization and reuse more challenging.
Filters and Extensions: Nunjucks offers a wide range of built-in filters and extensions, which provide additional functionalities such as formatting, manipulating data, and customizing the template engine. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, has a more limited set of built-in helpers, and extending its functionalities requires writing custom helpers.
Whitespace Control: Nunjucks provides finer control over whitespace handling within templates. It allows trimming leading and trailing whitespace and specifying custom whitespace control rules. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, does not offer such explicit control over whitespace, which might lead to unexpected rendering results in some scenarios.
Async Support: Nunjucks has built-in support for asynchronous operations. It allows for the use of asynchronous filters and functions, enabling dynamic content retrieval from external resources. Handlebars.js, however, does not provide native support for asynchronous operations, requiring developers to implement workarounds or rely on external libraries.
Error Handling and Debugging: Nunjucks provides detailed error messages and stack traces, making it easier to identify and debug issues within templates. Handlebars.js, on the other hand, provides less detailed error messages, which might make troubleshooting more time-consuming and challenging.

Handlebars.js vs Nunjucks

Overview