# Alpine.js Documentation - Directives

Alpine directives are attributes that you can add to HTML elements to give them special behavior.

## [x-for](/directives/for)

Alpine's `x-for` directive allows you to create DOM elements by iterating through a list. Here's a simple example of using it to create a list of colors based on an array.

```
<ul x-data="{ colors: ['Red', 'Orange', 'Yellow'] }">


n<template x-for="color in colors">


n<li x-text="color"></li>


n</template>


n</ul>
```

You may also pass objects to `x-for`.

```
<ul x-data="{ car: { make: 'Jeep', model: 'Grand Cherokee', color: 'Black' } }">


n<template x-for="(value, index) in car">


n<li>


n<span x-text="index"></span>: <span x-text="value"></span>


n</li>


n</template>


n</ul>
```

There are two rules worth noting about `x-for`:

> `x-for` MUST be declared on a `<template>` element.
> That `<template>` element MUST contain only one root element

### [Keys](#keys)

It is important to specify unique keys for each `x-for` iteration if you are going to be re-ordering items. Without dynamic keys, Alpine may have a hard time keeping track of what re-orders and will cause odd side-effects.

```
<ul x-data="{ colors: [


n{ id: 1, label: 'Red' },


n{ id: 2, label: 'Orange' },


n{ id: 3, label: 'Yellow' },


n]}">


n<template x-for="color in colors" :key="color.id">


n<li x-text="color.label"></li>


n</template>


n</ul>
```

Now if the colors are added, removed, re-ordered, or their "id"s change, Alpine will preserve or destroy the iterated `<li>`elements accordingly.

### [Accessing indexes](#accessing-indexes)

If you need to access the index of each item in the iteration, you can do so using the `([item], [index]) in [items]` syntax like so:

```
<ul x-data="{ colors: ['Red', 'Orange', 'Yellow'] }">


n<template x-for="(color, index) in colors">


n<li>


n<span x-text="index + ': '"></span>


n<span x-text="color"></span>


n</li>


n</template>


n</ul>
```

You can also access the index inside a dynamic `:key` expression.

```
<template x-for="(color, index) in colors" :key="index">
```

### [Iterating over a range](#iterating-over-a-range)

If you need to simply loop `n` number of times, rather than iterate through an array, Alpine offers a short syntax.

```
<ul>


n<template x-for="i in 10">


n<li x-text="i"></li>


n</template>


n</ul>
```

`i` in this case can be named anything you like.

> Despite not being included in the above snippet, `x-for` cannot be used if no parent element has `x-data` defined. [→ Read more about `x-data`](/directives/data)

### [Contents of a `<template>`](#contents-of-a-template)

As mentioned above, an `<template>` tag must contain only one root element.

For example, the following code will not work:

```
<template x-for="color in colors">


n<span>The next color is </span><span x-text="color">


n</template>
```

but this code will work:

```
<template x-for="color in colors">


n<p>


n<span>The next color is </span><span x-text="color">


n</p>


n</template>
```

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