go - Golang template engine pipelines

Question

I have a Golang template, defined like this

{{- define "test" -}}
{{- printf "%s" .Name | trunc 24 -}}
{{- end -}}

Then I use it in one of my files:

{{ template "test" . }}

What does the dot mean after "test"? Golang template docs say:

{{template "name" pipeline}}
The template with the specified name is executed with dot set
to the value of the pipeline.

But I am not sure what pipeline is. Reading documentation gave no results, could anyone explain once again?

Also, why do we have to start values beginning with dot? E.g. {{ - printf "%s" .Name | trunc 24 -}}. Is it also a kind of pipeline?

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Waitting for answers