void register_function string name string impl Use this to dynamically register template function plugins. Pass in the template function name, followed by the PHP function name that implements it. $smarty->register_function("date_now", "print_current_date"); function print_current_date ($params) { extract($params); if(empty($format)) $format="%b %e, %Y"; echo strftime($format,time()); } // now you can use this in Smarty to print the current date: {date_now} // or, {date_now format="%Y/%m/%d"} to format it.