Can someone tell me why I would want to use a filter instead of a vmethod when using Template Toolkit? Let's say I need ucfirst. Here's a filter:
[% some_var FILTER ucfirst %]
Or the more concise:
[% some_var | ucfirst %]
Frankly, I don't get this. I'd rather write:
[% some_var.ucfirst %]
In fact, it's trivial to provide that:
use Template::Stash;
$Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ucfirst} = sub { ucfirst shift };
The only advantage I can see for filters is that I can call them on constants:
[% "hello" | ucfirst %]
You can't do that with vmethods (a shame). However, method syntax seems far more natural. Admittedly, filters are great when I have a multi-line block of text:
[% FILTER html_para %] Mary had a little lamb. Support Planned Parenthood. [% END %]
So, other than this compelling reason, why would filters be preferable? They're just one more thing to remember.