I would like to specify numbered sections via Pandoc's support for YAML front matter. I know that the flag for the command-line usage is --number-sections, but something like
---
title: Test
number-sections: true
---
doesn't produce the desired result. I know that I am close because you can do this with the geometry package (e.g. geometry: margin=2cm). I wish there was a definitive guide on how Pandoc YAML front matter handling. For example, the following is very useful (avoids templates), but its discoverability is low:
header-includes:
- \usepackage{some latex package}
In order to turn on numbered-sections in latex output you need to use numbersections in your YAML block. If you ever want to "discover" things like this with pandoc just poke around the templates:
$ grep -i number default.latex
$if(numbersections)$
$ grep -i number default.html*
$
As you can see this option does not work with html.
Markdown and YAML I tested with:
---
title: Test
numbersections: true
---
# blah
Text is here.
## Double Blah
Twice the text is here
If you need it to work with more than beamer,latex,context,opendoc you will need to file a bug at github.
In order to show section number in the produced output pdf, there are two choices.
In YAML front matter
Add the following setting to begin of markdown file
---
numbersections: true
---
In command line
We can also use the command option to generate pdf with numbered section. According to Pandoc documentation, the correct options is --number-sections or simply -N,
pandoc test.md -o test.pdf --number-sections
# pandoc test.md -o test.pdf -N
Related
I have a file text.txt which contains very basic latex/markdown. For example, it might be the following.
Here is some basic maths: $f(x) = ax + b$ defines a straight line, often called a "linear" function---but it's not _actually_ a linear function, eg $f(0) \ne 0$.
I would like to convert this into html using WebTeX. However, I don't want smart quotes---" should be outputted as basic straight lines, not curved on either end---or smart dashes------ should be literally three dashes, not an em-dash.
It seems that the smart option is good for this: pandoc manual, github 1, github 2. However, I can't quite work out the correct syntax. I have tried, for example, the following.
pandoc text.txt -f markdown-smart -t markdown-smart -s --webtex -o tex.html
Unfortunately this doesn't work.
I solved this while writing the question, so I'll post the answer below! (Spoiler alert: simply remove -t markdown-smart.)
Simply remove -t markdown-smart.
pandoc text.txt -f markdown-smart -s --webtex -o tex.html
I believe that this -t is saying "to markdown without smart". We are not trying to output markdown, but rather html. If the version with -t is viewed, then one sees that the code for embedding various images is included. If this is pasted into a markdown editor, then it should show up.
To get html, simply remove this.
When I used titlesec in my markdown document as below:
---
header-includes:
- \usepackage{titlesec}
---
when processing it by pandoc, I got the following error:
pandoc try.md -o try.pdf
! Argument of \paragraph has an extra }.
<inserted text>
\par
l.1290 \ttl#extract\paragraph
pandoc: Error producing PDF
by searching, I found the following work-around for R-markdown:
Can't knit to pdf with custom styles
I wonder how can I implement a similar work-around with markdown and YAML headers?
I also found and verified the following approach would work:
pandoc --variable=subparagraph try.md -o try.pdf
But it's harder for the user, as one might forget the work-around.
There are some discussion of the work-around https://www.bountysource.com/issues/40574981-latex-template-incompatible-with-titlesec,
but it's beyond my knowledge
Thanks for your help
This is because the default LaTeX template redefines \paragraph. To disable this behaviour, you can use the subparagraph variable in pandoc. You could supply this at the command-line:
pandoc --variable subparagraph -o file.pdf file.md
Or you could embed it in the document's YAML metadata, with any non-null value:
---
subparagraph: yes
---
From man pandoc (and the user's guide):
subparagraph
disables default behavior of LaTeX template that redefines (sub)paragraphs as sections, changing the appearance of nested headings in some classes
After this, titlesec.sty should work.
To compile a pdf with a bibtex bibliography, I thought it was sufficient to write the YAML as
---
title: super awesome paper
author: albert enstein
bibliography: /path/to/bib/file.bib
---
and punch this command into the terminal:
pandoc test.md -o test.pdf
But it does not work. Instead I have to manually add the bib file to the terminal command:
pandoc test.md --bibliography=/path/to/bib/file.bib -o test.pdf
What am I doing wrong?
There is nothing wrong with your syntax. So I suspect there are spaces somewhere in the path to the file.
A common error is that the variable does not accept spaces, so I would suggest to try bibliography: "/path/to/bib/file.bib" instead.
I believe you need to use the flag --filter pandoc-citeproc if you don't want to use the flag --bibliography=/path/to/bib/file.bib. This is because using the --bibliography= flag is equivalent to writing --metadata bibliography=FILE --filter pandoc-citeproc (https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering).
Pandoc supports a YAML metadata block in markdown documents. This can set the title and author, etc. It can also manipulate the appearance of the PDF output by changing the font size, margin width and the frame sizes given to figures that are included. Lots of details are given here.
I'd like to use the metadata block to remember the command line arguments that I'm supposed to be using, such as --toc and --number-sections. I tried this, adding the following to the top of my markdown:
---
title: My Title
toc: yes
number-sections: yes
---
Then I used the command line:
pandoc -o guide.pdf articheck_guide.md
This did produce a table of contents, but didn't number the sections. I wondered why this was, and if there is a way I can specify this kind of thing from the document so that I don't need to add it on the command line.
YAML metadata are not passed to pandoc as arguments, but as variables. When you call pandoc on your MWE, it does not produce this :
pandoc -o guide.pdf articheck_guide.md --toc --number-sections
as we think it would. rather, it calls :
pandoc -o guide.pdf articheck_guide.md -V toc:yes -V number-sections:yes
Why, then, does you MWE produces a toc? Because the default latex template makes use of a toc variable :
~$ pandoc -D latex | grep toc
$if(toc)$
\setcounter{tocdepth}{$toc-depth$}
So setting toc to any value should produce a table of contents, at least in latex output. In this template, there is no number-sections variables, so this one doesn't work. However, there is a numbersections variable :
~$ pandoc -D latex | grep number
$if(numbersections)$
Setting numbersections to any value will produce numbering in a latex output with the default template
---
title: My Title
toc: yes
numbersections: yes
---
The trouble with this solution is that it only works with some output format. I thought I had read somewhere on the pandoc mailing-list that we soon would be able to use metadata in YAML blocks as intended (ie. as arguments rather than variables), but I can't find it anymore, so maybe it won't happen very soon.
Have a look at panzer (GitHub repository).
This was recently announced and released by Mark Sprevak -- a piece of software, that adds the notion of 'styles' to Pandoc.
It's basically a wrapper around Pandoc. It exploits the concept of YAML metadata blocks to the maximum.
The 'styles' provide a way to set all options for a Pandoc document conversion process with one line ("I want this document be an article/CV/notes/letter.").
You can regard this as more general abstraction than Pandoc templates. Styles are combinations of...
...Pandoc command line options,
...metadata settings,
...templates,
...instructions to run filters, and
...instructions to run pre/postprocessors.
These settings can be customized on a per output type as well as a per document basis. Styles can be...
...combined and
...can bear inheritance relations to each other.
panzer styles simplify Makefiles: they bundle everything concerning the look of a document in one place -- the YAML metadata (a block in the Markdown file, or a separate file).
You just add one line of metadata (style: ...) to your document, and it will be treated as a letter/article/CV/notebook or whatever.
I would like to create a simple pdf file from a markdown file with a title and author but no date. I cannot figure out how to suppress the date without having to edit an intermediate tex file.
---
title: Test Doc
author: My Name
---
# Some Heading Here
Text here.
When you try the command pandoc test.md -o test.pdf
The date always appears in the pdf. I have tried setting the date: yaml block to all sorts of spaces, blanks, and other combinations, but cannot figure out how to get it to be blank.
Thank you.
Pandoc uses templates. To generate PDFs, by default it uses a LaTeX template, which you can print with pandoc -D latex. In an older pandoc version, this template contained:
$if(date)$
\date{$date$}
$endif$
which causes your issue because for some reason, LaTeX prints the date if you leave the \date{} command out. So either upgrade your pandoc version or modify your template manually to contain just
\date{$date$}
or use ConTeXt instead of LaTeX:
pandoc -s -t context test.md -o test.tex && context test.tex