How to create a function in a cshtml template?

Question

why not just declare that function inside the cshtml file?

@functions{
    public string GetSomeString(){
        return string.Empty;
    }
}

<h2>index</h2>
@GetSomeString()

You can use the @helper Razor directive:

@helper WelcomeMessage(string username)
{
    <p>Welcome, @username.</p>
}

Then you invoke it like this:

@WelcomeMessage("John Smith")

If your method doesn't have to return html and has to do something else then you can use a lambda instead of helper method in Razor

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Index";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";

    Func<int,int,int> Sum = (a, b) => a + b;
}

<h2>Index</h2>

@Sum(3,4)

Take a look at Declarative Razor Helpers

In ASP.NET Core Razor Pages, you can combine C# and HTML in the function:

@model PagerModel
@{
}

@functions 
{
    void PagerNumber(int pageNumber, int currentPage)
    {
        if (pageNumber == currentPage)
        {
            <span class="page-number-current">@pageNumber</span>
        }
        else
        {
            <a class="page-number-other" href="/table/@pageNumber">@pageNumber</a>
        }
    }
}

<p>@PagerNumber(1,2) @PagerNumber(2,2) @PagerNumber(3,2)</p>

If you want to access your page's global variables, you can do so:

@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home Page";

    var LoadingButtons = Model.ToDictionary(person => person, person => false);

    string GetLoadingState (string person) => LoadingButtons[person] ? "is-loading" : string.Empty;
}