Thanks guys! Since your examples avoid the Block Assignment structure, can I assume that Block Assignments are not allowed in Home Assistant templates?
It works, but you’d have to convert alpha and beta to booleans and there is no bool filter. Block sets are always strings. This is why your result is always true/on. You’re essentially saying {{ if alpha has characters in it and beta has characters in it }}.
But not in the manner you were using them because, as petro explained, they’re strings (logically ANDing two strings doesn’t produce the result you want).
Thank you but I think Petro’s response identified the root-cause first and explains why your template behaves the way it does. My post just supports his explanation. Anyway, ultimately it’s your call.