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Generate placeholder text: lipsum

The lipsum template function generates lorem ipsum placeholder text. By default, it produces 5 paragraphs of HTML-formatted text with sentences of varying length. You can control the number of paragraphs, whether to output HTML or plain text, and the minimum and maximum number of words per sentence.

This is mainly useful for testing and prototyping. If you are developing a custom dashboard card or testing how a notification handles long text, lipsum provides a quick way to generate filler content without writing it yourself.

Usage

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

As a function 
{{ lipsum(1, html=false, min=5, max=10) }}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".) 
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

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.

lipsum(
    n: int = 5,
    html: bool = true,
    min: int = 20,
    max: int = 100,
) -> str

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this function.

n integer (Optional, default: 5)

The number of paragraphs to generate. Defaults to 5.

html boolean (Optional, default: true)

If true, wraps each paragraph in <p> tags. If false, separates paragraphs with double newlines. Defaults to true.

min integer (Optional, default: 20)

The minimum number of words per sentence. Defaults to 20.

max integer (Optional, default: 100)

The maximum number of words per sentence. Defaults to 100.

Good to know

  • HTML output is the default and wraps paragraphs in <p> tags. Pass html=false for plain text.
  • The sentence length range is 20-100 words by default, which is longer than typical sentences.

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.

Generate plain text paragraphs

Produce two paragraphs of plain text without HTML tags.

TemplateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the action or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions. [Learn more] 
{{ lipsum(2, html=false, min=5, max=15) }}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".) 
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.

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.

Tip

AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain or fix templates when you describe what you want in plain language.

Related template functions

These functions work well alongside this one: