{assign var='name' value='Bob'}

The value of $name is {$name}.

  

The above example will output:

The value of $name is Bob.

  

This complex example must have the variables in `backticks`

{assign var=running_total value=`$running_total+$some_array[row].some_value`}

  

To access {assign} variables from a php script use get_template_vars(). Here's the template that creates the variable $foo.

{assign var='foo' value='Smarty'}

The template variables are only available after/during template execution as in the following script.

<?php

// this will output nothing as the template has not been executed
echo $smarty->get_template_vars('foo');

// fetch the template to a variable
$whole_page = $smarty->fetch('index.tpl');

// this will output 'smarty' as the template has been executed
echo $smarty->get_template_vars('foo');

$smarty->assign('foo','Even smarter');

// this will output 'Even smarter'
echo $smarty->get_template_vars('foo');

?>