---
title: IsAncestor
description: Reports whether PAGE1 in an ancestor of PAGE2.
categories: []
keywords: []
action:
  related:
    - methods/page/Ancestors
    - methods/page/CurrentSection
    - methods/page/FirstSection
    - methods/page/InSection
    - methods/page/IsDescendant
    - methods/page/Parent
    - methods/page/Sections
  returnType: bool
  signatures: [PAGE1.IsAncestor PAGE2]
toc: true
---

{{% include "methods/page/_common/definition-of-section.md" %}}

With this content structure:

```text
content/
├── auctions/
│   ├── 2023-11/
│   │   ├── _index.md
│   │   ├── auction-1.md
│   │   └── auction-2.md
│   ├── 2023-12/
│   │   ├── _index.md
│   │   ├── auction-3.md
│   │   └── auction-4.md
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── bidding.md
│   └── payment.md
└── _index.md
```

When rendering the "auctions" page:

```go-html-template
{{ with .Site.GetPage "/" }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → false
{{ end }}

{{ with .Site.GetPage "/auctions" }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → false
{{ end }}

{{ with .Site.GetPage "/auctions/2023-11" }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → true
{{ end }}

{{ with .Site.GetPage "/auctions/2023-11/auction-2" }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → true
{{ end }}
```

In the examples above we are coding defensively using the [`with`] statement, returning nothing if the page does not exist. By adding an [`else`] clause we can do some error reporting:

```go-html-template
{{ $path := "/auctions/2023-11" }}
{{ with .Site.GetPage $path }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → true
{{ else }}
  {{ errorf "Unable to find the section with path %s" $path }}
{{ end }}
  ```

## Understanding context

Inside of the `with` block, the [context] (the dot) is the section `Page` object, not the `Page` object passed into the template. If we were to use this syntax:

```go-html-template
{{ with .Site.GetPage "/auctions" }}
  {{ .IsAncestor . }} → true
{{ end }}
```

The result would be wrong when rendering the "auction-1" page because we are comparing the section page to itself.

{{% note %}}
Use the `$` to get the context passed into the template.
{{% /note %}}

```go-html-template
{{ with .Site.GetPage "/auctions" }}
  {{ $.IsAncestor . }} → true
{{ end }}
```

{{% note %}}
Gaining a thorough understanding of context is critical for anyone writing template code.
{{% /note %}}

[context]: /getting-started/glossary/#context
[`with`]: /functions/go-template/with
[`else`]: /functions/go-template/else