Blank Variable Handling
    There may be times when you want to print a default value for an empty
    variable instead of printing nothing, such as printing " " so that
    table backgrounds work properly. Many would use an
    {if} statement to
    handle this, but there is a shorthand way with Smarty, using the
    default
    variable modifier.
   
| Example 18-1. Printing   when a variable is empty | {* the long way *}
{if $title eq ""}
    
{else}
   {$title}
{/if}
{* the short way *}
{$title|default:" "} | 
 | 
    See also default
    and Default Variable Handling.