get template function

[matthew tucker]

I'm sure this is really simple.

I'm trying hard to get my head around the gettemplate function, how it works with $variables and the template code.

for example what exactly does

eval( '$statistics = "' . gettemplate( 'home_statistics' ) . '";' );

mean?? Am I right in thinking that its simply assigning to $statistics the code in the template 'home_statistics'? Hmm probably yes.

but how do I then pass another variable, say, $info to the template so that its value appears in $statistics? Or don't I have to do anything explicit? Are all PHP variables globally visible?

is there a thread somewhere with a quick tutorial on this? I'm getting really confused.