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# Cache Groups

You can do more elaborate grouping by setting up `$cache_id` groups. This is accomplished by separating each sub-group with a vertical bar `|` in the `$cache_id` value. You can have as many sub-groups as you like.

- You can think of cache groups like a directory hierarchy. For instance, a cache group of `'a|b|c'` could be thought of as the directory structure `'/a/b/c/'`.

- `clear_cache(null,'a|b|c')` would be like removing the files `'/a/b/c/*'`. `clear_cache(null,'a|b')` would be like removing the files `'/a/b/*'`.

- If you specify a `$compile_id` such as `clear_cache(null,'a|b','foo')` it is treated as an appended cache group `'/a/b/c/foo/'`.

- If you specify a template name such as `clear_cache('foo.tpl','a|b|c')` then Smarty will attempt to remove `'/a/b/c/foo.tpl'`.

- You CANNOT remove a specified template name under multiple cache groups such as `'/a/b/*/foo.tpl'`, the cache grouping works left-to-right ONLY. You will need to group your templates under a single cache group heirarchy to be able to clear them as a group.

Cache grouping should not be confused with your template directory heirarchy, the cache grouping has no knowledge of how your templates are structured. So for example, if you have a template structure like `themes/blue/index.tpl` and you want to be able to clear all the cache files for the "blue" theme, you will need to create a cache group structure that mimics your template file structure, such as `display('themes/blue/index.tpl','themes|blue')`, then clear them with `clear_cache(null,'themes|blue')`.

Example 14-9. $cache_id groups
`<?php require('Smarty.class.php'); $smarty = new Smarty; $smarty->caching = true; // clear all caches with 'sports|basketball' as the first two cache_id groups $smarty->clear_cache(null,'sports|basketball'); // clear all caches with "sports" as the first cache_id group. This would // include "sports|basketball", or "sports|(anything)|(anything)|(anything)|..." $smarty->clear_cache(null,'sports'); // clear the foo.tpl cache file with "sports|basketball" as the cache_id $smarty->clear_cache('foo.tpl','sports|basketball'); $smarty->display('index.tpl','sports|basketball'); ?>`

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