Convert to slug format: slugify

The slugify template function converts a string into a slug format, which is a URL-friendly, lowercase version of the text with special characters removed and spaces replaced by a separator. By default it uses underscores as the separator, but you can choose any character you like, such as a hyphen.

Slugs are the format Home Assistant uses for entityAn 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] IDs, so this function is handy whenever you need to build or match entity IDs dynamically. For example, you might want to turn a room name from a sensor into an entity ID format, or create consistent naming for use in automationsAutomations in Home Assistant allow you to automatically respond to things that happen in and around your home. [Learn more] and scriptsScripts are components that allow you to specify a sequence of actions to be executed by Home Assistant when turned on. [Learn more]. It is also useful when generating filenames or identifiers that should not contain spaces or special characters.

Usage

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

{{ slugify("Hello World!") }}

hello_world

{{ "Hello World!" | slugify }}

hello_world

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.

slugify(
    value: str,
    separator: str = "_",
) -> str

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this function.

Using a custom separator

You can use a hyphen or any other character as the separator instead of the default underscore.

{{ slugify("Living Room Light", "-") }}

living-room-light

Good to know

• The default separator is an underscore, which matches the Home Assistant entity ID format.
• The result is always lowercase, regardless of the input case.
• Accented characters are stripped to plain ASCII equivalents where possible.

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.

Build an entity ID from a room name

Turn a human-readable room name into an entity ID format that can be used to look up 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].

{{ "light." ~ slugify("Kitchen Ceiling") }}

light.kitchen_ceiling

Create a consistent identifier from user input

When processing input from a text helper or other source, convert it to a clean slug for use in templates.

{% set room = states("input_text.room_name") %}
sensor.temperature_{{ slugify(room) }}

sensor.temperature_living_room

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:

• URL-encode a value: urlencode - URL-encodes a dictionary of values for use in HTTP requests.

• Convert number to ordinal: ordinal - Converts a number to its ordinal string representation (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on).