Django Template Error: KeyError: "'test'=='test'" (string == string)

This one has even stumped Chat GPT who thinks there is nothing wrong with my code. I will slowly dissect my code till I get to the bottom of what is happening but given how bizarre it is, I wanted to document it here.

I am building using Django and have a Django template. The main template calls a second template and it’s on that second template the issue is happening:

{% include "kb/select_file_dialog.html" %}
{% if 'test'=='test' %}
  <script>
  var dialog = document.getElementById('my_modal_2');
      dialog.showModal();
  </script>

This gives me the error: KeyError: "'test'=='test'"

I have no idea why it thinks it’s working with a dictionary. Without the problematic line {% if 'test'=='test' %} the code runs fine.

>Solution :

The problem is that there are no spaces between the variables and ==, as a result the template parser things this is a single identifier. Yes, Django’s template parser is not very well-implemented in my humble opinion.

You thus write:

{% if 'test' == 'test' %}
  …
{% endif %}

This one has even stumped Chat GPT.

That’s not very surprising, unfortunately ChatGPT is very good in writing bogus answers.