Concatenate variable in Hugo - hugo

Question

This snippet works wonderfully on Hugo:
{{ if and (or .IsPage .IsSection) .Site.Params.contentCommitsURL }}
{{ $File := .File }}
{{ $Site := .Site }}
{{with $File.Path }}
Link to API call
{{ end }}
{{ end }}
With,
[Params]
contentCommitsURL = https://api.github.com/repos/csitauthority/CSITauthority.github.io/commits?path=HUGO/content/
it is able to beautifully generate the following link
Link to API call
in the layout html file.
Problem Description
The URL is generated. Now I'm pulling hairs trying to figure out how to concatenate the commands { $Site.Params.contentCommitsURL }}{{ replace $File.Dir "\\" "/" }}{{ $File.LogicalName }} in a page variable such as {{ $url }}
For instance:
{{ $url := {{ $Site.Params.contentCommitsURL }}{{ replace $File.Dir "\\" "/" }}{{ $File.LogicalName }} }}
does not work
but the following does:
{{ $url := "https://api.github.com/repos/csitauthority/CSITauthority.github.io/commits?path=HUGO/content/post/vlan-101.md"}}
I want to be able to do something like this:
{{ $url := $Site.Params.contentCommitsURL + (replace $File.Dir "\\" "/") + $File.LogicalName }}
^Obviously, that doesn't work. I want to know what does.

Answer 1

On the Hugo discourse forum, someone hinted a solution and I was able to come up with the following.
{{ if and (or .IsPage .IsSection) .Site.Params.contentCommitsURL }}
{{ $File := .File }}
{{ $Site := .Site }}
{{with $File.Path }}
{{ $fileDir := replace $File.Dir "\\" "/"}}
{{ $url := $File.LogicalName | printf "%s%s" $fileDir | printf "%s%s" $Site.Params.contentCommitsURL }}
{{ $.Scratch.Set "url" $url }}
{{ end }}
{{ end }}
Where I want it to appear, I use the Scratch function like this:
{{ $url := $.Scratch.Get "url"}}
{{ range getJSON $url }}
<div style="display:inline-block; width:40px;"><a href="{{.author.html_url}}" target="_blank">
<img src="{{.author.avatar_url}}" alt="{{.author.login}}" text="{{.author.login}}" class="inline" width="40" height="40" style="height: 40px;height: 40px; vertical-align:middle; margin: 0 auto;"></a>
</div>
{{ end }}
The code is self-explanatory so I won't bother with a verbose description. Instead, I'd like to bring your focus on the implementation. You'll notice that the Scratch function has been used.
The hugo documentation says this:
Variables defined inside if conditionals and similar are not visible on the outside.
(see this issue)
It's a workaround that involves storing the value temporarily. here's more on scratch
Limitations
As of this moment, I feel this code is not complete. It works but, it shows the author based on commits. So multiple commits will generate the same author multiple times. I bring this limitation to your notice, to develop a creative solution. I'll update this answer when I get a satisfactory answer. Meanwhile, feel free to suggest.
here's my original answer on hugo discourse.