code: def _simple_expand(template, seq):
      
  
      def replacer(found):
          ops = found.group(1).split("|")
  
          path = ops[0]
          var = path.lstrip(".")
          depth = min(len(seq), max(1, len(path) - len(var)))
          try:
              val = seq[-depth]
              if var:
                  if is_sequence(val) and float(var) == _round(float(var), 0):
                      val = val[int(var)]
                  else:
                      val = val[var]
              for func_name in ops[1:]:
                  parts = func_name.split('(')
                  if len(parts) > 1:
                      val = eval(parts[0] + "(val, " + ("(".join(parts[1::])))
                  else:
                      val = FORMATTERS[func_name](val)
              val = toString(val)
              return val
          except Exception as e:
              from mo_logs import Except
  
              e = Except.wrap(e)
              try:
                  if e.message.find("is not JSON serializable"):
                      # WORK HARDER
                      val = toString(val)
                      return val
              except Exception as f:
                  if not _Log:
                      _late_import()
  
                  _Log.warning(
                      "Can not expand " + "|".join(ops) + " in template: {{template_|json}}",
                      template_=template,
                      cause=e
                  )
              return "[template expansion error: (" + str(e.message) + ")]"
  
      return _variable_pattern.sub(replacer, template)
docs: seq IS TUPLE OF OBJECTS IN PATH ORDER INTO THE DATA TREE
      seq[-1] IS THE CURRENT CONTEXT