How to access outermost forloop.counter with nested for loops in Django templates?

You can use forloop.parentloop to get to the outer forloop, so in your case {{forloop.parentloop.counter}}.

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you can also use with

Caches a complex variable under a simpler name. This is useful when accessing an “expensive” method (e.g., one that hits the database) multiple times.

{% for outerItem in outerItems %}
  {% with forloop.counter as outer_counter %}
    {% for item in items%}
        <div>{{ outer_counter }}.&nbsp;{{ item }}</div>
    {% endfor %}
  {% endwith %}
{% endfor %}

if using high version of Django you could use

{% with outer_counter=forloop.counter %}

Note: With doesn't allow spaces before or after =

I've checked, Django 1.4.x - Django 1.9.x support the two methods.

this is more clear when have many for loops

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In some cases the forloop.parentloop is not enough.

Check out django-templateaddons3 and its {% counter %} tag for a full-fledged solution.

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