# {$smarty} reserved variable

The PHP reserved `{$smarty}` variable can be used to access several
environment and request variables. The full list of them follows.

## Request variables

The [request variables](https://www.php.net/reserved.variables) such as
`$_GET`, `$_POST`, `$_COOKIE`, `$_SERVER`, `$_ENV` and `$_SESSION` can
be accessed as demonstrated in the examples below:

```smarty
{* display value of page from URL ($_GET) http://www.example.com/index.php?page=foo *}
{$smarty.get.page}

{* display the variable "page" from a form ($_POST['page']) *}
{$smarty.post.page}

{* display the value of the cookie "username" ($_COOKIE['username']) *}
{$smarty.cookies.username}

{* display the server variable "SERVER_NAME" ($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'])*}
{$smarty.server.SERVER_NAME}

{* display the system environment variable "PATH" *}
{$smarty.env.PATH}

{* display the php session variable "id" ($_SESSION['id']) *}
{$smarty.session.id}

{* display the variable "username" from merged get/post/cookies/server/env *}
{$smarty.request.username}
```

> **Note**
>
> For historical reasons `{$SCRIPT_NAME}` is shorthand for
> `{$smarty.server.SCRIPT_NAME}`.
>
>
>     <a href="{$SCRIPT_NAME}?page=smarty">click me</a>
>     <a href="{$smarty.server.SCRIPT_NAME}?page=smarty">click me</a>

> **Note**
>
> Although Smarty provides direct access to PHP super globals for
> convenience, it should be used with caution. Directly accessing super
> globals mixes underlying application code structure with templates. A
> good practice is to assign specific needed values to template vars.

## {$smarty.now}

The current [timestamp](https://www.php.net/function.time) can be accessed
with `{$smarty.now}`. The value reflects the number of seconds passed
since the so-called Epoch on January 1, 1970, and can be passed directly
to the [`date_format`](../language-modifiers/language-modifier-date-format.md) modifier for
display. Note that [`time()`](https://www.php.net/function.time) is called
on each invocation; eg a script that takes three seconds to execute with
a call to `$smarty.now` at start and end will show the three-second
difference.

```smarty
{* use the date_format modifier to show current date and time *}
{$smarty.now|date_format:'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'}
```

## {$smarty.const}

You can access PHP constant values directly.

```php
<?php
// the constant defined in php
define('MY_CONST_VAL','CHERRIES');
```

Output the constant in a template with

```smarty
{$smarty.const.MY_CONST_VAL}
```

> **Note**
>
> Although Smarty provides direct access to PHP constants for
> convenience, it is typically avoided as this is mixing underlying
> application code structure into the templates. A good practice is to
> assign specific needed values to template vars.

## {$smarty.capture}

Template output captured via the built-in
[`{capture}..{/capture}`](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-capture.md) function can be
accessed using the `{$smarty.capture}` variable. See the
[`{capture}`](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-capture.md) page for more information.

## {$smarty.config}

`{$smarty.config}` variable can be used to refer to loaded [config
variables](language-config-variables.md). `{$smarty.config.foo}` is a
synonym for `{#foo#}`. See the
[{config_load}](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-config-load.md) page for more info.

## {$smarty.section}

The `{$smarty.section}` variables can be used to refer to
[`{section}`](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-section.md) loop properties. These have
some very useful values such as `.first`, `.index`, etc.

> **Note**
>
> The `{$smarty.foreach}` variable is no longer used with the new
> [`{foreach}`](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-foreach.md) syntax, but is still
> supported with Smarty 2.x style foreach syntax.

## {$smarty.template}

Returns the name of the current template being processed (without the
directory).

## {$smarty.template_object}

Returns the template object of the current template being processed.

## {$smarty.current_dir}

Returns the name of the directory for the current template being
processed if it is loaded from the filesystem (the default).

## {$smarty.version}

Returns the version of Smarty the template was compiled with.

```smarty
<div id="footer">Powered by Smarty {$smarty.version}</div>
```

## {$smarty.block.child}

Returns block text from child template. See [Template
inheritance](../../api/inheritance.md).

## {$smarty.block.parent}

Returns block text from parent template. See [Template
inheritance](../../api/inheritance.md)

## {$smarty.ldelim}, {$smarty.rdelim}

These variables are used for printing the left-delimiter and
right-delimiter value literally, the same as
[`{ldelim},{rdelim}`](../language-builtin-functions/language-function-ldelim.md).

See also [assigned variables](language-assigned-variables.md) and [config
variables](language-config-variables.md)