Syntax

Tiramisu has one fundamental construct: the function call.

Function Calls

A function call has a name followed by content in curly braces:

name { content }

The name can be any text before the opening brace. The content can include plain text, other function calls, or a mix of both.

Nesting

Function calls can be nested to any depth:

bold { italic { underline { deeply nested } } }

Each function call can contain plain text, other function calls, or both:

bold { This is italic { partially } formatted }

Paragraphs

Plain text outside of function calls becomes paragraph content. Paragraphs are separated by blank lines:

This is the first paragraph.

This is the second paragraph.

This is the third.

Function Names

A function name is any text immediately before an opening {. This means function names can include spaces, numbers, and special characters — though by convention most function names are simple identifiers:

bold { works }
myWidget { works }

Escaping

To prevent a function call from being parsed, prefix the function name with a backslash:

bold { this is literal text }

This renders as: bold { this is literal text } — the backslash tells the parser to treat bold as plain text rather than a function call.

Special Characters

Some characters have special meaning inside function call parameters. You only need to escape them when they appear inside { } — in plain paragraph text, they are treated literally and need no escaping.