# Multiline string as single argument to a test template

**URL:** <https://forum.robotframework.org/t/multiline-string-as-single-argument-to-a-test-template/5886>\
**Category:** Robot Framework\
**Created:** [28 June 2023 11:24 UTC](https://forum.robotframework.org/t/multiline-string-as-single-argument-to-a-test-template/5886 "2023-06-28T11:24:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rasjani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@rasjani](https://forum.robotframework.org/u/rasjani)\
**Post date:** [28 June 2023 11:24 UTC](https://forum.robotframework.org/t/multiline-string-as-single-argument-to-a-test-template/5886/1 "2023-06-28T11:24:12Z")

</div>

I was exploring my options clean up my test structures and was wondering about the possibility to pass a multiline string to a test template.

Given something like this;

```plaintext
Templated test case
    [Template] keyword that receives sql query
    SELECT * FROM FOOBAR

```

this ofcourse works but extending the query to multiline “…” syntax does not seem to help. For example;

```plaintext
Normal test case
  [Template] keyword that receives sql query
  SELECT
  ... *
  ... FROM FOOBAR

```

Now, this would receive the whole query but each row as a separate argument. This probably could be dealt with by making the test template to expect varargs and then join them on the keyword but that feels a bit off putting 😉

PS. using varargs as keyword argument and then catenate it to a single string will work but thats sort of a workaround to actual question …