Derive Date And Permalink From Filename

Introduction

This post demonstrates the path and filename fields in @tola/current.

For 2026_02_25_meta-from-filename.typ, the template infers:

• date from the YYYY_MM_DD prefix
• permalink from directory + slug (remaining filename parts)

How It Works

path provides the source file path relative to the content directory, and filename provides the last segment:

#import "@tola/current:0.0.0": path, filename
// path = "showcase/2026_02_25_meta-from-filename.typ"
// filename = "2026_02_25_meta-from-filename.typ"

You can parse the filename to extract the date:

#let parts = filename.split("_")
#let date = datetime(
  year: int(parts.at(0)),
  month: int(parts.at(1)),
  day: int(parts.at(2)),
)

And derive the permalink from path + parsed slug:

// skip YYYY_MM_DD, keep slug part
#let slug = parts.slice(3).join("-")

// remove filename, keep directory
#let dir = path.split("/").slice(0, -1).join("/")

// permalink: "/slug/" or "/dir/slug/"
#let permalink = if dir == "" {
  "/" + slug + "/"
} else {
  "/" + dir + "/" + slug + "/"
}

Benefits

• File names can include dates for chronological sorting in file managers
• URLs remain clean without date prefixes (auto-derived from slug)
• date and permalink stay derived from one source (no duplication)