Q:

Best practice for template theming - #markup vs safe_value

When doing complex display logic and breaking apart a renderable array in a field collection template, what's the best string output to use from the array: #markup, or safe_value? Presumably #markup is already run through the right filters... right?

A:

You actually want to use the render() function like so:
<?php print render($content[FIELD_NAME]); ?>

See http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/includes%21common.inc/function/render/7 for reference. Also, be sure to use hide($content[FIELD_NAME]) right before you render $content or you will render the field a second time (unless you've hidden it in the view mode on the Manage Display tab of the content type).

