Using .Get with non-existent .Params returns an empty string instead of nil

[willfaught]

It should be nil in both cases.

For example, given this shortcode:

{{ warnf "%#v %#v" (.Get 0) (.Get "foo") }}

For {{< myshortcode "bar" >}}, "bar" <nil> is logged.

For {{< myshortcode other="bar" >}}, <nil> "" is logged.

Note how the second value logged varies between cases, despite .Get "foo" not being assigned an argument in either case.

It didn’t cause a problem for me directly, but my concern is that someone might think that {{ if ne (.Get "foo") "" }} or {{ if ne (.Get "foo") nil }} are correct, when they might not be, depending on the argument syntax. The API should be clear and consistent on the values, regardless of whether {{ if .Get "foo" }} is the primary way of checking for given values.

See https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/bug-using-get-with-non-existent-params-returns-an-empty-string-instead-of-nil/42593/2 for the full context.

What version of Hugo are you using (hugo env)?

$ hugo env
hugo v0.110.0+extended darwin/amd64 BuildDate=unknown
GOOS="darwin"
GOARCH="amd64"
GOVERSION="go1.19.5"
github.com/sass/libsass="3.6.5"
github.com/webmproject/libwebp="v1.2.4"

Does this issue reproduce with the latest release?

Yes