gohugoio/hugo · error

want 1 or 2 arguments

Error message

want 1 or 2 arguments

What it means

Page.RenderString accepts either one argument (the content string) or two arguments (an options map followed by the content string). Any other count — zero arguments, or three or more — returns this error.

Solutions

1. Pass exactly one argument (the content) or two (options map, content).
2. Remove any extra positional arguments.
3. If you only need default rendering, pass the string alone.

Example fix

// before
{{ .RenderString }}
// after
{{ .RenderString "**hello**" }}

// RenderString wants 1 or 2 args
if len(args) < 1 || len(args) > 2 {
    return errors.New("RenderString: pass the content, or an options map plus the content")
}

When it happens

Trigger: {{ .RenderString }} with no arguments, or a call passing three or more positional arguments.

Common situations: Forgetting to pass the content string to RenderString; passing extra positional args by mistake in a partial.

Related errors

• first argument must be a map
• text is already rendered, repeating it may cause infinite…
• argument must be a slice
• arguments must be slices or arrays
• arguments to complement must be slices or arrays

AI-assisted analysis of gohugoio/hugo@52c9bd7908 (2026-08-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c515da0891620837. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at hugolib/page__content.go:882

	ctx = c.prepareContext(ctx)
	cr, err := c.contentRendered(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}
	return cr.contentWithoutSummary, nil
}

func (c *cachedContentScope) Summary(ctx context.Context) (page.Summary, error) {
	ctx = c.prepareContext(ctx)
	rendered, err := c.contentRendered(ctx)
	return rendered.summary, err
}

func (c *cachedContentScope) RenderString(ctx context.Context, args ...any) (template.HTML, error) {
	ctx = c.prepareContext(ctx)

	if len(args) < 1 || len(args) > 2 {
		return "", errors.New("want 1 or 2 arguments")
	}

	pco := c.pco

	var contentToRender string
	opts := defaultRenderStringOpts
	sidx := 1

	if len(args) == 1 {
		sidx = 0
	} else {
		m, ok := args[0].(map[string]any)
		if !ok {
			return "", errors.New("first argument must be a map")
		}

		if err := mapstructure.WeakDecode(m, &opts); err != nil {
			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to decode options: %w", err)

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