Get area name: area_name

The area_name template function returns the friendly, human-readable name of an areaAn area in Home Assistant is a logical grouping of devices and entities that represents a room or space in your home, such as the living room, kitchen, or garage. [Learn more]. You can give it an area ID, an entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] ID, or a deviceA device is a model representing a physical or logical unit that contains entities. ID, and it tells you the name of the area it belongs to.

This is especially useful for building dynamic messages and notificationsYou can use notifications to send messages, pictures, and more, to devices. [Learn more]. Instead of showing a technical area ID like living_room, you can show the actual name “Living Room” that you (or whoever receives the message) recognize. For example, when motion is detected, your notification can say “Motion detected in the Living Room” by looking up the area name of the sensorSensors return information about a thing, for instance the level of water in a tank. [Learn more] that triggered.

Usage

Here’s how to use this template function. Copy any example and adjust it to your setup.

TemplateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the action or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions. [Learn more]
{{ area_name("living_room") }}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".)
Living Room

Function signature

The signature is a technical summary of this template function. It shows the name of the function, the values (called parameters) it accepts, and what type of data each parameter expects (for example, a piece of text or a number).

Function parameters that have a = with a value after them are optional. If you leave them out, the default value shown is used automatically.

Function parameters without a = are usually required. A few optional parameters have no default value, so the signature shows them without a = as well. To check whether a parameter is required, look at the parameter list below the signature. Each parameter is marked as Required or Optional.

The most common optional parameter without a default value is default. The default parameter sets the value a function returns when the function can’t produce a result, for example, when float gets text that isn’t a number. If you leave out default, there is no fallback value, so most functions raise an error and the template fails. The parameter list of each function says what happens. If you set default, the function returns your value instead.

How to read a signature

Here is the signature of the round filter as an example:

round(
    value: Any,
    precision: int = 0,
    method: str = "common",
    default: Any,
) -> float | int | Any
  • round is the name of the function.
  • Between the parentheses are the parameters. Each parameter has a name, followed by a colon and the type of value the parameter expects. The type only tells you what kind of value to pass. For default: Any, you pass a value of any type, such as 0 or "unknown", not the word Any.
  • = 0 and = "common" are default values. You can leave out precision and method, and round uses these default values.
  • default has no =, but the parameter list marks default as optional. If you leave out default and round gets a value that isn’t a number, round raises an error.
  • -> shows the type of value the function returns.
  • Inside a signature, | means “or”. This function returns a decimal number, a whole number, or the value you passed as default.

round is a filter, so the first parameter, value, is the value before the |. For example, {{ 3.14159 | round(2) }} returns 3.14.

The types you’ll see most often:

  • str: text, such as "hello"
  • int: a whole number, such as 5
  • float: a decimal number, such as 3.14
  • bool: true or false
  • list: a list of values, such as [1, 2, 3]. list[str] is a list of texts.
  • dict: a set of keys and values, such as {"name": "Kitchen"}
  • datetime and timedelta: a date and time, and a duration. For details, refer to Dates and times.
  • None: no value
  • Any: any type of value

Some signatures use special forms:

  • *args means you can pass any number of values, separated by commas. For example, average(1, 2, 3).
  • value | name(...) means the function is a filter. The value before the | is passed to the filter as its first parameter. Some filter signatures, like the round example, show this value as the first parameter between the parentheses instead.
area_name(
    lookup_value: str,
) -> str | None

Function parameters

The following parameters can be provided to this function.

lookup_value string Required

The area ID, entity ID, or device ID to look up. Returns the friendly name of the area, or None if no matching area is found.

Good to know

  • Returns None when the lookup value does not match an area, entity, or device.
  • When an entity or device has no area assigned, the result is None.
  • The name reflects the current area label, so renaming an area updates the output immediately.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > Tools > Template, paste the example into the Template editor, and watch the result update on the right. Edit the values to see how the function adapts to your own entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more].

More examples

Real scenarios where this function comes up in automations and templates. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Get the area name from an entity

Find out which room a sensor is in by passing its entity ID.

TemplateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the action or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions. [Learn more]
{{ area_name("sensor.living_room_temperature") }}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".)
Living Room

Use in a notification with the trigger area

A very common pattern: when a sensor triggers an automationAutomations in Home Assistant allow you to automatically respond to things that happen in and around your home. [Learn more], include the room name in the notification. This works with any triggerA trigger is the part of an automation that makes the automation start when something specific happens, for example, when the sun sets, a door opens, or a button is pressed. [Learn more] that provides trigger.entity_id, such as state or motion triggers.

ActionAn action makes Home Assistant do something, for example, turn on a light, send a notification, or activate a scene. Automations and scripts run a list of actions. [Learn more]
action:
  - action: notify.mobile
    data:
      title: >
        {{ area_name(trigger.entity_id) }}
      message: >
        Motion detected in {{ area_name(trigger.entity_id) }}

List all area names

Loop through all areas and display their names.

TemplateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the action or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions. [Learn more]
{% for area_id in areas() %}
  {{ area_name(area_id) }}
{% endfor %}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".)
Living Room
Kitchen
Bedroom
Hallway

List rooms with open windows

A common use case: build a message listing which rooms have open windows or doors. This uses area_name as a filter to convert each open sensor’s entity ID into a room name, then removes duplicates.

TemplateA template is an automation definition that can include variables for the action or data from the trigger values. This allows automations to generate dynamic actions. [Learn more]
{{
  states.binary_sensor
  | selectattr('attributes.device_class', 'in',
      ('window', 'door'))
  | map(attribute='entity_id')
  | select('is_state', 'on')
  | map('area_name')
  | select
  | unique
  | list
  | join(', ')
}}
Result (stringA piece of text, like a name, message, or entity ID. In templates, wrap strings in quotes, like "living_room" or "lights are on".)
Kitchen, Bedroom

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with your template and expected result, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Tip

AI assistants like ChatGPT or Claude can also explain or fix templates when you describe what you want in plain language.

Related template functions

These functions work well alongside this one: