--- a/util/xtemplate.lua	Wed Dec 06 23:52:45 2023 +0100
+++ b/util/xtemplate.lua	Sat Dec 09 14:57:41 2023 +0100
@@ -8,8 +8,16 @@
 local function render(template, root, escape, filters)
 	escape = escape or st.xml_escape;
 
-	return (s_gsub(template, "%b{}", function(block)
+	return (s_gsub(template, "(%s*)(%b{})(%s*)", function(pre_blank, block, post_blank)
 		local inner = s_sub(block, 2, -2);
+		if inner:sub(1, 1) == "-" then
+			pre_blank = "";
+			inner = inner:sub(2);
+		end
+		if inner:sub(-1, -1) == "-" then
+			post_blank = "";
+			inner = inner:sub(1, -2);
+		end
 		local path, pipe, pos = s_match(inner, "^([^|]+)(|?)()");
 		if not (type(path) == "string") then return end
 		local value
@@ -74,12 +82,12 @@
 
 		if type(value) == "string" then
 			if not is_escaped then value = escape(value); end
-			return value
+			return pre_blank .. value .. post_blank
 		elseif st.is_stanza(value) then
 			value = value:get_text();
-			if value then return escape(value) end
+			if value then return pre_blank .. escape(value) .. post_blank end
 		end
-		return ""
+		return pre_blank .. post_blank
 	end))
 end