# What is the purpose of "$" character in cumulocity SmartREST template

**URL:** <https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380>\
**Category:** Forum\
**Tags:** device-connectivity, cumulocity\
**Created:** [April 6, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380 "2021-04-06T12:33:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ruben\_Cruz3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ruben\_Cruz3](https://community.cumulocity.com/u/Ruben_Cruz3)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 12:33pm UTC](https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380/1 "2021-04-06T12:33:55Z")

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Hello.

I would like to know the purpose of “$” when we are using SmartRest tamplate, for example:  
$.c8y\_IsDevice, what does this mean?

Thank you.

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**Author:** ![Christian\_Guether1](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.cumulocity.com/christian_guether1/32/14848_2.png) [@Christian\_Guether1](https://community.cumulocity.com/u/Christian_Guether1)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 5:39am UTC](https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380/2 "2021-04-07T05:39:23Z")

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Hi Ruben,

the $ symbol is briefly described in the documentation in the [Templates section](https://cumulocity.com/guides/reference/smartrest/#templates). In summary the $ symbol serves as a variable to access the base object within smartREST templates. By using JPath expression you can use the base object to access certain properties of it. For example to read the type of an object you would use $.type.

Best regards  
Christian

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ruben\_Cruz3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Ruben\_Cruz3](https://community.cumulocity.com/u/Ruben_Cruz3)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380/3 "2021-04-07T12:48:09Z")

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Thank you very much

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**Author:** ![system](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/community.cumulocity.com/system/32/31990_2.png) [@system](https://community.cumulocity.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.cumulocity.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-character-in-cumulocity-smartrest-template/7380/4 "2021-07-06T12:48:13Z")

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