# perldoc > Template::Document --- type: CommandReference command: Template::Document mode: perldoc section: source: perldoc --- ## Quick Reference - `Template::Document->new({ BLOCK => ..., DEFBLOCKS => ..., METADATA => ... })` — create a compiled template document - `$doc->process($context)` — execute the template and return output - `$doc->author()` — access metadata via AUTOLOAD (e.g., `$doc->title`) - `Template::Document->as_perl(\%config)` — generate Perl source for the template ## Name **Template::Document** — Compiled template document object ## Synopsis perl use Template::Document; $doc = Template::Document->new({ BLOCK => sub { # some perl code; return $some_text }, DEFBLOCKS => { header => sub { # more perl code; return $some_text }, footer => sub { # blah blah blah; return $some_text }, }, METADATA => { author => 'Andy Wardley', version => 3.14, } }) || die $Template::Document::ERROR; print $doc->process($context); ## Options (Constructor Parameters and Methods) ### Constructor Parameters - `BLOCK` — reference to a Perl subroutine (or string of Perl code) that constitutes the main template block - `DEFBLOCKS` — hash reference of named sub-blocks (each a subroutine reference or code string) - `METADATA` — hash reference of arbitrary metadata items (e.g., author, version) ### Instance Methods - `process($context)` — execute the template, returning text output; takes a `Template::Context` object - `block()` — returns a reference to the main BLOCK subroutine - `blocks()` — returns a reference to the hash of named DEFBLOCKS subroutines - `variables()` — returns a hash reference of variables used in the template (requires `TRACE_VARS` option) - `AUTOLOAD` — accesses metadata items as methods (e.g., `$doc->author()`) ### Class Methods - `as_perl(\%config)` — generate a Perl source representation of the template - `write_perl_file(\%config)` — write compiled Perl template to disk (used internally by `Template::Parser` when `COMPILE_EXT` is set) ## Examples **Accessing template metadata from within a template:** perl # In a PRE_PROCESS template: # template object is available as 'template' [% template.title %] ... ## See Also - [Template](https://perldoc.perl.org/Template) - [Template::Parser](https://perldoc.perl.org/Template::Parser)