Center text in a field: center

The center filter centers a string within a field of a specified width by padding it with spaces on both sides. If the string is already longer than the given width, it is returned unchanged. This can be useful when you need to align text for fixed-width displays or when building formatted text output. For example, you might want to center a title in a notification or format text for a display that expects a fixed number of characters.

Usage

Here’s how to use this template function. Copy any example and adjust it to your setup.

{{ "hello" | center(20) }}

hello

Function signature

The signature is a technical summary of this template function. It shows the name of the function, the values (called parameters) it accepts, and what type of data each parameter expects (for example, a piece of text or a number).

Function parameters that have a = with a value after them are optional. If you leave them out, the default value shown is used automatically. Function parameters without a default are required.

center(
    value: str,
    width: int = 80,
) -> str

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this function.

Good to know

• The default width is 80 characters, not the length of the input.
• If the string is already as long or longer than the width, it is returned unchanged with no padding or truncation.
• When the remaining space is odd, one extra space is added on the right side.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Template, paste the example into the Template editor, and watch the result update on the right. Edit the values to see how the function adapts to your own entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more].

More examples

Real scenarios where this function comes up in automations and templates. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Center a heading in formatted text

Create a centered heading within a block of formatted text for a notification.

{{ "hello" | center(20) }}

hello

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with your template and expected result, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related template functions

These functions work well alongside this one:

• Indent text: indent - Indents text by a given number of spaces, with options for the first line and blank lines.

• Truncate text to a length: truncate - Truncates a string to a given length, appending an ellipsis if it was shortened.