Can templates return boolean values (actual "kindOf" boolean)?

[foobl42]

I'm finding that maybe I don't know how to return a boolean value (true or false) from a template. When I return true or false, and then evaluate the return value via the "kindOf" sprig function, I get "string" and not "boolean". Is there a way to return a boolean from a template? Or do I just need to test for "truthiness" via sprig's "empty" function, or some other method?

[foobl42]

Additional info... A test template:

cat test
{{ true }}

A call to execute-template:

chezmoi execute-template '{{includeTemplate "test" . | kindOf}}'
string

[foobl42]

And when I evaluate the output via "empty", I get a bool answer:

chezmoi execute-template '{{includeTemplate "test" . | empty | not}}'
true

Which of course is a boolean:

chezmoi execute-template '{{includeTemplate "test" . | empty | kindOf}}'
bool

But can I somehow pass the boolean as a return from the includeTemplate call, so that I don't need to check for emptiness/truthiness?

[twpayne]

The result of executing a template is always a string.

[foobl42]

Thank you for the clarification.

[halostatue]

If you know that the value will be a valid JSON value, you can always use fromJson:

chezmoi execute-template '{{includeTemplate "test" . | fromJson | kindOf}}'
bool

I have a number of templates where I force the output to json ({{- toJson $result -}}) and then I ensure that it's parsed from JSON on the other end (most of these are dictionaries).

[foobl42]

Thanks much! I'll give that a try.