Syntax question: what's with the #?

[Niklas Malmberg]

I'm looking to extract information from the Sprint field on issues, getting the active sprint out of potentially several noted on an issue.
  
I've seen several posts and pages on the topic, for example: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-questions/Automating-Fix-Versions-from-Sprint-names/qaq-p/2630388  

However, I don't understand the # syntax, so I don't know how I can use statements like the one below in my automation rules. Where is this explained?   

{{#issue.sprint}}{{#if(equals(state,"active"))}}{{name.substringBefore(" Sprint").trim()}}{{/}}{{/}} 

A simple use case example

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Niklas Malmberg 

The pound sign # is a token to indicate the start of some section, as with an iterator or condition in your example.  

You may seem more examples of iterators here: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-lists/#Combined-function-examples

That example also uses smart value, list filtering: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Automation-articles/Filtering-smart-value-lists/ba-p/1827588

With smart value, conditional logic: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-conditional-logic/

For the specific example you show:

{{#issue.sprint}}{{#if(equals(state,"active"))}}{{name.substringBefore(" Sprint").trim()}}{{/}}{{/}} 

What that is doing is:

• iterate over each sprint assigned to the issue
• using conditional filtering, only select the current active sprint
• and assuming the sprint's name looks like this format "some text Sprint"
• use text functions to extract that prefix text

Kind regards,
Bill

[Niklas Malmberg]

Good explanation @Bill Sheboy, thanks. 

Is such a statement possible to assign to a smartvalue variable, like I was trying to do?  
For sure I will look into the provided links too, later today. 

[Bill Sheboy]

Yes; that expression will provide a text value which can be assigned to a variable.