sttemp

A simple CLI tool for processing text templates with variable substitution from environment variables or user input.

Variables are resolved in the following order:

1. Environment variables. If a variable exists in the environment, its value is used.
2. Interactive prompt. If not found in environment, you'll be prompted to enter a value.

Installation

You can build it from source, or use go install

go install github.com/konyahin/sttemp@latest

Usage

sttemp [options] [template-name ...]

Shell integration

If you want to get autocomplete, copy appropriate line into your shell settings.

# zsh
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit
compdef '_values "sttemp options" $(sttemp -l 2>/dev/null)' sttemp

# bash
complete -W "$(sttemp -l 2>/dev/null)" sttemp

# ksh
set -A complete_sttemp -- $(sttemp -l)

fzf integration can look like this

fst () {
    templates="$(sttemp -l)"
    selected=$(echo "$templates" | fzf)
    [ -n "$selected" ] && sttemp "$selected"
}

Options

• -C <path> custom template directory (default: ~/.local/share/sttemp)
• -o <file> output to file instead of stdout
• -d use template's subdirectory name as output filename
• -h show short help
• --no-input use only environment variables (do not ask user for substitution value); exit with error if some variable is missing
• --edit edit selected template in your console $EDITOR
• -l list all templates names

Examples

sttemp                                  # list all templates
sttemp greeting                         # process template `greeting`, output to stdout
sttemp -o out.txt greeting              # save to file `out.txt`
sttemp -d mit                           # save as `LICENSE`, if `mit` in `LICENSE` subfolder (see files structure below)
sttemp --edit mit                       # open file with `mit` template in `$EDITOR`
export NAME="Alice" && sttemp greeting  # use environment variables

Template Syntax

Use {VARIABLE} for placeholders. Variables are resolved from environment or prompted interactively. To include literal {VARIABLE} text in your template without substitution, escape it with a backslash as this \{VARIABLE}.

Template example

Hello, {FIRST NAME}!
Server: {HOST}:{PORT}
Escape literals: \{NOT_A_VAR}

Templates Organization

Store templates in subdirectories for auto-naming with -d:

~/.local/share/sttemp/
├── greeting
└── LICENSE/
    ├── mit   # `sttemp -d mit` creates file "LICENSE"
    └── GPLv3 # `sttemp -d GPLv3` also creates file "LICENSE"