Master directive(file) Last updated: 22. Oct 2026

Uses another file as master page (layout) for this page. The page's own code runs first; then the master file is rendered and the page is merged into it. Elements in the page carry an xdt:Transform attribute that says what to do with them.

Supported actions (case-insensitive):

Replace — replaces the matching element in the master.
Insert — adds the whole element as the last child of the matching parent in the master (the parent is found from the element's own position, for example html > head). Create is an alias for Insert.
Append — Docly-specific: adds the element's inner content as the last children of the matching element. This is not the same as Insert.
InsertBefore(selector) / InsertAfter(selector) — inserts the element as a sibling before or after the element the selector matches, for example InsertAfter(div[id=menu]).
SetAttributes — copies the element's attributes to the matching element.
Remove / RemoveAll — removes the first / all matching elements.
RemoveAttributes(attr1,attr2) — removes the listed attributes from the matching element.

The matching element in the master is found with xdt:Locator="Match(attr)" if present, otherwise by the element's id, otherwise by its tag path from <html> downwards.

Most mistakes are silent in the rendered page: a transform whose target is not found is skipped, and an unknown  directive is removed. They are reported as compile errors when the file is saved and by the compile-error scan. Three mistakes write an XDT ERROR text into the page: an unknown action name (when the target exists), InsertBefore/InsertAfter without a selector, and Insert/Create when the parent path is not found in the master. A missing master file writes MASTER ERROR, FILE NOT FOUND (…).

A master file may itself use , so layouts can be nested. Directives are not processed in #/API files.

A master page is shared by pages in different sub-folders, so reference assets (CSS, JS, images) with absolute paths starting with "/", for example "/css/style.css". They then resolve the same way from every page.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
file	string	Path to the file in double quotes, resolved from the site root — a leading / is optional, so "Header.hash" and "/Header.hash" are the same file. Paths are not relative to the current page's folder. A path starting with #/ falls back to the site template's file when the site has no own copy.

Returns

The page merged into the master page.

Example

Code example (#JS)

#JS is mixed HTML (or other text file) with inline JavaScript with # starting and ending each inline statement.

<!--#master file="/master.hash"-->
<html>
    <head>
        <title xdt:Transform="Replace">My Page Title</title>
        <link href="/css/custom.css" rel="stylesheet" xdt:Transform="Insert" />
        <script src="/js/page.js" xdt:Transform="Insert"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="page-content" xdt:Transform="Replace">
            <h1>Welcome</h1>
            <p>This is my page content.</p>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

Output

The #JS code above produces the output shown below:

<html lang="no">
<head>
    <title>My Page Title</title>
    <link href="/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="/css/custom.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="/js/page.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <!-- Navigation from master.hash -->
    </header>

    <div id="page-content">
        <h1>Welcome</h1>
        <p>This is my page content.</p>
    </div>

    <footer>
        <!-- Footer from master.hash -->
    </footer>
    <script src="/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
</body>
</html>