` tags (or `

` tags for `html4`), and attach identifiers to the enclosing `

` (or `

`) rather than the heading itself. See [Heading identifiers], below. `--email-obfuscation=none`|`javascript`|`references` : Specify a method for obfuscating `mailto:` links in HTML documents. `none` leaves `mailto:` links as they are. `javascript` obfuscates them using JavaScript. `references` obfuscates them by printing their letters as decimal or hexadecimal character references. The default is `none`. `--id-prefix=`*STRING* : Specify a prefix to be added to all identifiers and internal links in HTML and DocBook output, and to footnote numbers in Markdown and Haddock output. This is useful for preventing duplicate identifiers when generating fragments to be included in other pages. `-T` *STRING*, `--title-prefix=`*STRING* : Specify *STRING* as a prefix at the beginning of the title that appears in the HTML header (but not in the title as it appears at the beginning of the HTML body). Implies `--standalone`. `-c` *URL*, `--css=`*URL* : Link to a CSS style sheet. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be included in the order specified. A stylesheet is required for generating EPUB. If none is provided using this option (or the `css` or `stylesheet` metadata fields), pandoc will look for a file `epub.css` in the user data directory (see `--data-dir`). If it is not found there, sensible defaults will be used. `--reference-doc=`*FILE* : Use the specified file as a style reference in producing a docx or ODT file. Docx : For best results, the reference docx should be a modified version of a docx file produced using pandoc. The contents of the reference docx are ignored, but its stylesheets and document properties (including margins, page size, header, and footer) are used in the new docx. If no reference docx is specified on the command line, pandoc will look for a file `reference.docx` in the user data directory (see `--data-dir`). If this is not found either, sensible defaults will be used. To produce a custom `reference.docx`, first get a copy of the default `reference.docx`: `pandoc -o custom-reference.docx --print-default-data-file reference.docx`. Then open `custom-reference.docx` in Word, modify the styles as you wish, and save the file. For best results, do not make changes to this file other than modifying the styles used by pandoc: Paragraph styles: - Normal - Body Text - First Paragraph - Compact - Title - Subtitle - Author - Date - Abstract - Bibliography - Heading 1 - Heading 2 - Heading 3 - Heading 4 - Heading 5 - Heading 6 - Heading 7 - Heading 8 - Heading 9 - Block Text - Footnote Text - Definition Term - Definition - Caption - Table Caption - Image Caption - Figure - Captioned Figure - TOC Heading Character styles: - Default Paragraph Font - Body Text Char - Verbatim Char - Footnote Reference - Hyperlink Table style: - Table ODT : For best results, the reference ODT should be a modified version of an ODT produced using pandoc. The contents of the reference ODT are ignored, but its stylesheets are used in the new ODT. If no reference ODT is specified on the command line, pandoc will look for a file `reference.odt` in the user data directory (see `--data-dir`). If this is not found either, sensible defaults will be used. To produce a custom `reference.odt`, first get a copy of the default `reference.odt`: `pandoc -o custom-reference.odt --print-default-data-file reference.odt`. Then open `custom-reference.odt` in LibreOffice, modify the styles as you wish, and save the file. PowerPoint : Templates included with Microsoft PowerPoint 2013 (either with `.pptx` or `.potx` extension) are known to work, as are most templates derived from these. The specific requirement is that the template should begin with the following first four layouts: 1. Title Slide 2. Title and Content 3. Section Header 4. Two Content All templates included with a recent version of MS PowerPoint will fit these criteria. (You can click on `Layout` under the `Home` menu to check.) You can also modify the default `reference.pptx`: first run `pandoc -o custom-reference.pptx --print-default-data-file reference.pptx`, and then modify `custom-reference.pptx` in MS PowerPoint (pandoc will use the first four layout slides, as mentioned above). `--epub-cover-image=`*FILE* : Use the specified image as the EPUB cover. It is recommended that the image be less than 1000px in width and height. Note that in a Markdown source document you can also specify `cover-image` in a YAML metadata block (see [EPUB Metadata], below). `--epub-metadata=`*FILE* : Look in the specified XML file for metadata for the EPUB. The file should contain a series of [Dublin Core elements]. For example: Creative Commons es-AR By default, pandoc will include the following metadata elements: `` (from the document title), `` (from the document authors), `` (from the document date, which should be in [ISO 8601 format]), `` (from the `lang` variable, or, if is not set, the locale), and `` (a randomly generated UUID). Any of these may be overridden by elements in the metadata file. Note: if the source document is Markdown, a YAML metadata block in the document can be used instead. See below under [EPUB Metadata]. `--epub-embed-font=`*FILE* : Embed the specified font in the EPUB. This option can be repeated to embed multiple fonts. Wildcards can also be used: for example, `DejaVuSans-*.ttf`. However, if you use wildcards on the command line, be sure to escape them or put the whole filename in single quotes, to prevent them from being interpreted by the shell. To use the embedded fonts, you will need to add declarations like the following to your CSS (see `--css`): @font-face { font-family: DejaVuSans; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; src:url("DejaVuSans-Regular.ttf"); } @font-face { font-family: DejaVuSans; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; src:url("DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf"); } @font-face { font-family: DejaVuSans; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; src:url("DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf"); } @font-face { font-family: DejaVuSans; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; src:url("DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf"); } body { font-family: "DejaVuSans"; } `--epub-chapter-level=`*NUMBER* : Specify the heading level at which to split the EPUB into separate "chapter" files. The default is to split into chapters at level-1 headings. This option only affects the internal composition of the EPUB, not the way chapters and sections are displayed to users. Some readers may be slow if the chapter files are too large, so for large documents with few level-1 headings, one might want to use a chapter level of 2 or 3. `--epub-subdirectory=`*DIRNAME* : Specify the subdirectory in the OCF container that is to hold the EPUB-specific contents. The default is `EPUB`. To put the EPUB contents in the top level, use an empty string. `--ipynb-output=all|none|best` : Determines how ipynb output cells are treated. `all` means that all of the data formats included in the original are preserved. `none` means that the contents of data cells are omitted. `best` causes pandoc to try to pick the richest data block in each output cell that is compatible with the output format. The default is `best`. `--pdf-engine=`*PROGRAM* : Use the specified engine when producing PDF output. Valid values are `pdflatex`, `lualatex`, `xelatex`, `latexmk`, `tectonic`, `wkhtmltopdf`, `weasyprint`, `prince`, `context`, and `pdfroff`. The default is `pdflatex`. If the engine is not in your PATH, the full path of the engine may be specified here. `--pdf-engine-opt=`*STRING* : Use the given string as a command-line argument to the `pdf-engine`. For example, to use a persistent directory `foo` for `latexmk`'s auxiliary files, use `--pdf-engine-opt=-outdir=foo`. Note that no check for duplicate options is done. [Dublin Core elements]: http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/ [ISO 8601 format]: http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime [Encoding issue with the listings package]: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Encoding_issue ## Citation rendering {.options} `--bibliography=`*FILE* : Set the `bibliography` field in the document's metadata to *FILE*, overriding any value set in the metadata, and process citations using `pandoc-citeproc`. (This is equivalent to `--metadata bibliography=FILE --filter pandoc-citeproc`.) If `--natbib` or `--biblatex` is also supplied, `pandoc-citeproc` is not used, making this equivalent to `--metadata bibliography=FILE`. If you supply this argument multiple times, each *FILE* will be added to bibliography. `--csl=`*FILE* : Set the `csl` field in the document's metadata to *FILE*, overriding any value set in the metadata. (This is equivalent to `--metadata csl=FILE`.) This option is only relevant with `pandoc-citeproc`. `--citation-abbreviations=`*FILE* : Set the `citation-abbreviations` field in the document's metadata to *FILE*, overriding any value set in the metadata. (This is equivalent to `--metadata citation-abbreviations=FILE`.) This option is only relevant with `pandoc-citeproc`. `--natbib` : Use [`natbib`] for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the `pandoc-citeproc` filter or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`]. `--biblatex` : Use [`biblatex`] for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the `pandoc-citeproc` filter or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`] or [`biber`]. ## Math rendering in HTML {.options} The default is to render TeX math as far as possible using Unicode characters. Formulas are put inside a `span` with `class="math"`, so that they may be styled differently from the surrounding text if needed. However, this gives acceptable results only for basic math, usually you will want to use `--mathjax` or another of the following options. `--mathjax`[`=`*URL*] : Use [MathJax] to display embedded TeX math in HTML output. TeX math will be put between `$...$` (for inline math) or `\[...\]` (for display math) and wrapped in `` tags with class `math`. Then the MathJax JavaScript will render it. The *URL* should point to the `MathJax.js` load script. If a *URL* is not provided, a link to the Cloudflare CDN will be inserted. `--mathml` : Convert TeX math to [MathML] (in `epub3`, `docbook4`, `docbook5`, `jats`, `html4` and `html5`). This is the default in `odt` output. Note that currently only Firefox and Safari (and select e-book readers) natively support MathML. `--webtex`[`=`*URL*] : Convert TeX formulas to `` tags that link to an external script that converts formulas to images. The formula will be URL-encoded and concatenated with the URL provided. For SVG images you can for example use `--webtex https://latex.codecogs.com/svg.latex?`. If no URL is specified, the CodeCogs URL generating PNGs will be used (`https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?`). Note: the `--webtex` option will affect Markdown output as well as HTML, which is useful if you're targeting a version of Markdown without native math support. `--katex`[`=`*URL*] : Use [KaTeX] to display embedded TeX math in HTML output. The *URL* is the base URL for the KaTeX library. That directory should contain a `katex.min.js` and a `katex.min.css` file. If a *URL* is not provided, a link to the KaTeX CDN will be inserted. `--gladtex` : Enclose TeX math in `` tags in HTML output. The resulting HTML can then be processed by [GladTeX] to produce images of the typeset formulas and an HTML file with links to these images. So, the procedure is: pandoc -s --gladtex input.md -o myfile.htex gladtex -d myfile-images myfile.htex # produces myfile.html and images in myfile-images [MathML]: http://www.w3.org/Math/ [MathJax]: https://www.mathjax.org [KaTeX]: https://github.com/Khan/KaTeX [GladTeX]: http://humenda.github.io/GladTeX/ ## Options for wrapper scripts {.options} `--dump-args` : Print information about command-line arguments to *stdout*, then exit. This option is intended primarily for use in wrapper scripts. The first line of output contains the name of the output file specified with the `-o` option, or `-` (for *stdout*) if no output file was specified. The remaining lines contain the command-line arguments, one per line, in the order they appear. These do not include regular pandoc options and their arguments, but do include any options appearing after a `--` separator at the end of the line. `--ignore-args` : Ignore command-line arguments (for use in wrapper scripts). Regular pandoc options are not ignored. Thus, for example, pandoc --ignore-args -o foo.html -s foo.txt -- -e latin1 is equivalent to pandoc -o foo.html -s # Exit codes If pandoc completes successfully, it will return exit code 0. Nonzero exit codes have the following meanings: Code Error ----- ------------------------------------ 3 PandocFailOnWarningError 4 PandocAppError 5 PandocTemplateError 6 PandocOptionError 21 PandocUnknownReaderError 22 PandocUnknownWriterError 23 PandocUnsupportedExtensionError 31 PandocEpubSubdirectoryError 43 PandocPDFError 47 PandocPDFProgramNotFoundError 61 PandocHttpError 62 PandocShouldNeverHappenError 63 PandocSomeError 64 PandocParseError 65 PandocParsecError 66 PandocMakePDFError 67 PandocSyntaxMapError 83 PandocFilterError 91 PandocMacroLoop 92 PandocUTF8DecodingError 93 PandocIpynbDecodingError 97 PandocCouldNotFindDataFileError 99 PandocResourceNotFound ----- ------------------------------------ # Default files The `--defaults` option may be used to specify a package of options. Here is a sample defaults file demonstrating all of the fields that may be used: ``` yaml from: markdown+emoji # reader: may be used instead of from: to: html5 # writer: may be used instead of to: # leave blank for output to stdout: output-file: # leave blank for input from stdin: input-files: - preface.md - content.md template: letter standalone: true self-contained: false # note that structured variables may be specified: variables: documentclass: book classoption: - twosides - draft # metadata values specified here are parsed as literal # string text, not markdown: metadata: author: - Sam Smith - Julie Liu metadata-files: - boilerplate.yaml # or you may use metadata-file: with a single value # Note that these take files, not their contents: include-before-body: [] include-after-body: [] include-in-header: [] resource-path: ["."] # filters will be assumed to be lua filters if they have # the .lua extension, and json filters otherwise. But # the filter type can also be specified explicitly, as shown: filters: - pandoc-citeproc - wordcount.lua - type: json path: foo.lua file-scope: false data-dir: # ERROR, WARNING, or INFO verbosity: INFO log-file: log.json # citeproc, natbib, or biblatex cite-method: citeproc # part, chapter, section, or default: top-level-division: chapter abbreviations: pdf-engine: pdflatex pdf-engine-opts: - "-shell-escape" # you may also use pdf-engine-opt: with a single option # pdf-engine-opt: "-shell-escape" # auto, preserve, or none wrap: auto columns: 78 dpi: 72 extract-media: mediadir table-of-contents: true toc-depth: 2 number-sections: false # a list of offsets at each heading level number-offset: [0,0,0,0,0,0] # toc: may also be used instead of table-of-contents: shift-heading-level-by: 1 section-divs: true identifier-prefix: foo title-prefix: "" strip-empty-paragraphs: true # lf, crlf, or native eol: lf strip-comments: false indented-code-classes: [] ascii: true default-image-extension: ".jpg" # either a style name of a style definition file: highlight-style: pygments syntax-definitions: - c.xml # or you may use syntax-definition: with a single value listings: false reference-doc: myref.docx # method is plain, webtex, gladtex, mathml, mathjax, katex # you may specify a url with webtex, mathjax, katex html-math-method: method: mathjax url: "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-mml-chtml.js" # none, references, or javascript email-obfuscation: javascript tab-stop: 8 preserve-tabs: true incremental: false slide-level: 2 epub-subdirectory: EPUB epub-metadata: meta.xml epub-fonts: - foobar.otf epub-chapter-level: 1 epub-cover-image: cover.jpg reference-links: true # block, section, or document reference-location: block setext-headers: true # accept, reject, or all track-changes: accept html-q-tags: false css: - site.css # none, all, or best ipynb-output: best # A list of two-element lists request-headers: - ["User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0"] fail-if-warnings: false dump-args: false ignore-args: false trace: false ``` Fields that are omitted will just have their regular default values. So a defaults file can be as simple as one line: ``` yaml verbosity: INFO ``` Default files can be placed in the `defaults` subdirectory of the user data directory and used from any directory. For example, one could create a file specifying defaults for writing letters, save it as `letter.yaml` in the `defaults` subdirectory of the user data directory, and then invoke these defaults from any directory using `pandoc --defaults letter` or `pandoc -dletter`. # Templates When the `-s/--standalone` option is used, pandoc uses a template to add header and footer material that is needed for a self-standing document. To see the default template that is used, just type pandoc -D *FORMAT* where *FORMAT* is the name of the output format. A custom template can be specified using the `--template` option. You can also override the system default templates for a given output format *FORMAT* by putting a file `templates/default.*FORMAT*` in the user data directory (see `--data-dir`, above). *Exceptions:* - For `odt` output, customize the `default.opendocument` template. - For `pdf` output, customize the `default.latex` template (or the `default.context` template, if you use `-t context`, or the `default.ms` template, if you use `-t ms`, or the `default.html` template, if you use `-t html`). - `docx` and `pptx` have no template (however, you can use `--reference-doc` to customize the output). Templates contain *variables*, which allow for the inclusion of arbitrary information at any point in the file. They may be set at the command line using the `-V/--variable` option. If a variable is not set, pandoc will look for the key in the document's metadata, which can be set using either [YAML metadata blocks][Extension: `yaml_metadata_block`] or with the `-M/--metadata` option. In addition, some variables are given default values by pandoc. See [Variables] below for a list of variables used in pandoc's default templates. If you use custom templates, you may need to revise them as pandoc changes. We recommend tracking the changes in the default templates, and modifying your custom templates accordingly. An easy way to do this is to fork the [pandoc-templates] repository and merge in changes after each pandoc release. [pandoc-templates]: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates ## Template syntax ### Comments Anything between the sequence `$--` and the end of the line will be treated as a comment and omitted from the output. ### Delimiters To mark variables and control structures in the template, either `$`...`$` or `${`...`}` may be used as delimiters. The styles may also be mixed in the same template, but the opening and closing delimiter must match in each case. The opening delimiter may be followed by one or more spaces or tabs, which will be ignored. The closing delimiter may be followed by one or more spaces or tabs, which will be ignored. To include a literal `$` in the document, use `$$`. ### Interpolated variables A slot for an interpolated variable is a variable name surrounded by matched delimiters. Variable names must begin with a letter and can contain letters, numbers, `_`, `-`, and `.`. The keywords `it`, `if`, `else`, `endif`, `for`, `sep`, and `endfor` may not be used as variable names. Examples: ``` $foo$ $foo.bar.baz$ $foo_bar.baz-bim$ $ foo $ ${foo} ${foo.bar.baz} ${foo_bar.baz-bim} ${ foo } ``` Variable names with periods are used to get at structured variable values. So, for example, `employee.salary` will return the value of the `salary` field of the object that is the value of the `employee` field. - If the value of the variable is simple value, it will be rendered verbatim. (Note that no escaping is done; the assumption is that the calling program will escape the strings appropriately for the output format.) - If the value is a list, the values will be concatenated. - If the value is a map, the string `true` will be rendered. - Every other value will be rendered as the empty string. ### Conditionals A conditional begins with `if(variable)` (enclosed in matched delimiters) and ends with `endif` (enclosed in matched delimiters). It may optionally contain an `else` (enclosed in matched delimiters). The `if` section is used if `variable` has a non-empty value, otherwise the `else` section is used (if present). Examples: ``` $if(foo)$bar$endif$ $if(foo)$ $foo$ $endif$ $if(foo)$ part one $else$ part two $endif$ ${if(foo)}bar${endif} ${if(foo)} ${foo} ${endif} ${if(foo)} ${ foo.bar } ${else} no foo! ${endif} ``` The keyword `elseif` may be used to simplify complex nested conditionals: ``` $if(foo)$ XXX $elseif(bar)$ YYY $else$ ZZZ $endif$ ``` ### For loops A for loop begins with `for(variable)` (enclosed in matched delimiters) and ends with `endfor` (enclosed in matched delimiters. - If `variable` is an array, the material inside the loop will be evaluated repeatedly, with `variable` being set to each value of the array in turn, and concatenated. - If the value of the associated variable is not an array or a map, a single iteration will be performed on its value. Examples: ``` $for(foo)$$foo$$sep$, $endfor$ $for(foo)$ - $foo.last$, $foo.first$ $endfor$ ${ for(foo.bar) } - ${ foo.bar.last }, ${ foo.bar.first } ${ endfor } ``` You may optionally specify a separator between consecutive values using `sep` (enclosed in matched delimiters). The material between `sep` and the `endfor` is the separator. ``` ${ for(foo) }${ foo }${ sep }, ${ endfor } ``` Instead of using `variable` inside the loop, the special anaphoric keyword `it` may be used. ``` ${ for(foo.bar) } - ${ it.last }, ${ it.first } ${ endfor } ``` ### Partials Partials (subtemplates stored in different files) may be included using the syntax ``` ${ boilerplate() } ``` Partials will be sought in the directory containing the main template, and will be assumed to have the same extension as the main template if they lack an explicit extension. (If the partials are not found here, they will also be sought in the `templates` subdirectory of the user data directory.) Partials may optionally be applied to variables using a colon: ``` ${ date:fancy() } ${ articles:bibentry() } ``` If `articles` is an array, this will iterate over its values, applying the partial `bibentry()` to each one. So the second example above is equivalent to ``` ${ for(articles) } ${ it:bibentry() } ${ endfor } ``` Note that the anaphoric keyword `it` must be used when iterating over partials. In the above examples, the `bibentry` partial should contain `it.title` (and so on) instead of `articles.title`. Final newlines are omitted from included partials. Partials may include other partials. A separator between values of an array may be specified in square brackets, immediately after the variable name or partial: ``` ${months[, ]}$ ${articles:bibentry()[; ]$ ``` The separator in this case is literal and (unlike with `sep` in an explicit `for` loop) cannot contain interpolated variables or other template directives. ### Nesting To ensure that content is "nested," that is, subsequent lines indented, use the `^` directive: ``` $item.number$ $^$$item.description$ ($item.price$) ``` In this example, if `item.description` has multiple lines, they will all be indented to line up with the first line: ``` 00123 A fine bottle of 18-year old Oban whiskey. ($148) ``` To nest multiple lines to the same level, align them with the `^` directive in the template. For example: ``` $item.number$ $^$$item.description$ ($item.price$) (Available til $item.sellby$.) ``` will produce ``` 00123 A fine bottle of 18-year old Oban whiskey. ($148) (Available til March 30, 2020.) ``` If a variable occurs by itself on a line, preceded by whitespace and not followed by further text or directives on the same line, and the variable's value contains multiple lines, it will be nested automatically. ### Breakable spaces Normally, spaces in the template itself (as opposed to values of the interpolated variables) are not breakable, but they can be made breakable in part of the template by using the `~` keyword (ended with another `~`). ``` $~$This long line may break if the document is rendered with a short line length.$~$ ``` ### Filters A filter transforms the value of a variable. Filters are specified using a slash (`/`) between the variable name and the filter name. They may go anywhere a variable can go. Example: ``` $for(name)$ $name/uppercase$ $endfor$ $for(metadata/pairs)$ - $it.key$: $it.value$ $endfor$ ``` Filters may be chained: ``` $for(employees/pairs)$ $it.key/alpha/uppercase$. $it.name$ $endfor$ ``` Some filters take parameters: ``` |----------------------|------------| $for(employee)$ $it.name.first/uppercase/left 20 "| "$$it.name.salary/right 10 " | " " |"$ $endfor$ |----------------------|------------| ``` Currently the following filters are predefined: - `pairs`: Converts a map or array to an array of maps, each with `key` and `value` fields. If the original value was an array, the `key` will be the array index, starting with 1. - `uppercase`: Converts a textual value to uppercase, and has no effect on other values. - `lowercase`: Converts a textual value to lowercase, and has no effect on other values. - `length`: Returns the length of the value: number of characters for a textual value, number of elements for a map or array. - `reverse`: Reverses a textual value or array, and has no effect on other values. - `alpha`: Converts a textual value that can be read as an integer into a lowercase alphabetic character `a..z` (mod 26), and has no effect on other values. This can be used to get lettered enumeration from array indices. To get uppercase letters, chain with `uppercase`. - `roman`: Converts a textual value that can be read as an integer into a lowercase roman numerial, and has no effect on other values. This can be used to get lettered enumeration from array indices. To get uppercase roman, chain with `uppercase`. - `left n "leftborder" "rightborder"`: Renders a textual value in a block of width `n`, aligned to the left, with an optional left and right border. Has no effect on other values. This can be used to align material in tables. Widths are positive integers indicating the number of characters. Borders are strings inside double quotes; literal `"` and `\` characters must be backslash-escaped. - `right n "leftborder" "rightborder"`: Renders a textual value in a block of width `n`, aligned to the right, and has no effect on other values. - `center n "leftborder" "rightborder"`: Renders a textual value in a block of width `n`, aligned to the center, and has no effect on other values. ## Variables ### Metadata variables `title`, `author`, `date` : allow identification of basic aspects of the document. Included in PDF metadata through LaTeX and ConTeXt. These can be set through a [pandoc title block][Extension: `pandoc_title_block`], which allows for multiple authors, or through a [YAML metadata block][Extension: `yaml_metadata_block`]: --- author: - Aristotle - Peter Abelard ... Note that if you just want to set PDF or HTML metadata, without including a title block in the document itself, you can set the `title-meta`, `author-meta`, and `date-meta` variables. (By default these are set automatically, based on `title`, `author`, and `date`.) `subtitle` : document subtitle, included in HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and docx documents `abstract` : document summary, included in LaTeX, ConTeXt, AsciiDoc, and docx documents `keywords` : list of keywords to be included in HTML, PDF, ODT, pptx, docx and AsciiDoc metadata; repeat as for `author`, above `subject` : document subject, included in ODT, PDF, docx and pptx metadata `description` : document description, included in ODT, docx and pptx metadata. Some applications show this as `Comments` metadata. `category` : document category, included in docx and pptx metadata Additionally, any root-level string metadata, not included in ODT, docx or pptx metadata is added as a *custom property*. The following [YAML] metadata block for instance: --- title: 'This is the title' subtitle: "This is the subtitle" author: - Author One - Author Two description: | This is a long description. It consists of two paragraphs ... will include `title`, `author` and `description` as standard document properties and `subtitle` as a custom property when converting to docx, ODT or pptx. ### Language variables `lang` : identifies the main language of the document using IETF language tags (following the [BCP 47] standard), such as `en` or `en-GB`. The [Language subtag lookup] tool can look up or verify these tags. This affects most formats, and controls hyphenation in PDF output when using LaTeX (through [`babel`] and [`polyglossia`]) or ConTeXt. Use native pandoc [Divs and Spans] with the `lang` attribute to switch the language: --- lang: en-GB ... Text in the main document language (British English). ::: {lang=fr-CA} > Cette citation est écrite en français canadien. ::: More text in English. ['Zitat auf Deutsch.']{lang=de} `dir` : the base script direction, either `rtl` (right-to-left) or `ltr` (left-to-right). For bidirectional documents, native pandoc `span`s and `div`s with the `dir` attribute (value `rtl` or `ltr`) can be used to override the base direction in some output formats. This may not always be necessary if the final renderer (e.g. the browser, when generating HTML) supports the [Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm]. When using LaTeX for bidirectional documents, only the `xelatex` engine is fully supported (use `--pdf-engine=xelatex`). [BCP 47]: https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47 [Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm]: http://www.w3.org/International/articles/inline-bidi-markup/uba-basics [Language subtag lookup]: https://r12a.github.io/app-subtags/ ### Variables for HTML math `classoption` : when using [KaTeX](#option--katex), you can render display math equations flush left using [YAML metadata](#layout) or with `-M classoption=fleqn`. ### Variables for HTML slides These affect HTML output when [producing slide shows with pandoc]. All [reveal.js configuration options] are available as variables. To turn off boolean flags that default to true in reveal.js, use `0`. `revealjs-url` : base URL for reveal.js documents (defaults to `reveal.js`) `s5-url` : base URL for S5 documents (defaults to `s5/default`) `slidy-url` : base URL for Slidy documents (defaults to `https://www.w3.org/Talks/Tools/Slidy2`) `slideous-url` : base URL for Slideous documents (defaults to `slideous`) [reveal.js configuration options]: https://github.com/hakimel/reveal.js#configuration ### Variables for Beamer slides These variables change the appearance of PDF slides using [`beamer`]. `aspectratio` : slide aspect ratio (`43` for 4:3 [default], `169` for 16:9, `1610` for 16:10, `149` for 14:9, `141` for 1.41:1, `54` for 5:4, `32` for 3:2) `beamerarticle` : produce an article from Beamer slides `beameroption` : add extra beamer option with `\setbeameroption{}` `institute` : author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors `logo` : logo image for slides `navigation` : controls navigation symbols (default is `empty` for no navigation symbols; other valid values are `frame`, `vertical`, and `horizontal`) `section-titles` : enables "title pages" for new sections (default is true) `theme`, `colortheme`, `fonttheme`, `innertheme`, `outertheme` : beamer themes `themeoptions` : options for LaTeX beamer themes (a list). `titlegraphic` : image for title slide ### Variables for PowerPoint These variables control the visual aspects of a slide show that are not easily controled via templates. `monofont` : font to use for code. ### Variables for LaTeX Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF] with a LaTeX engine. #### Layout `block-headings` : make `\paragraph` and `\subparagraph` (fourth- and fifth-level headings, or fifth- and sixth-level with book classes) free-standing rather than run-in; requires further formatting to distinguish from `\subsubsection` (third- or fourth-level headings). Instead of using this option, [KOMA-Script] can adjust headings more extensively: --- documentclass: scrartcl header-includes: | \RedeclareSectionCommand[ beforeskip=-10pt plus -2pt minus -1pt, afterskip=1sp plus -1sp minus 1sp, font=\normalfont\itshape]{paragraph} \RedeclareSectionCommand[ beforeskip=-10pt plus -2pt minus -1pt, afterskip=1sp plus -1sp minus 1sp, font=\normalfont\scshape, indent=0pt]{subparagraph} ... `classoption` : option for document class, e.g. `oneside`; repeat for multiple options: --- classoption: - twocolumn - landscape ... `documentclass` : document class: usually one of the standard classes, [`article`], [`book`], and [`report`]; the [KOMA-Script] equivalents, `scrartcl`, `scrbook`, and `scrreprt`, which default to smaller margins; or [`memoir`] `geometry` : option for [`geometry`] package, e.g. `margin=1in`; repeat for multiple options: --- geometry: - top=30mm - left=20mm - heightrounded ... `hyperrefoptions` : option for [`hyperref`] package, e.g. `linktoc=all`; repeat for multiple options: --- hyperrefoptions: - linktoc=all - pdfwindowui - pdfpagemode=FullScreen ... `indent` : uses document class settings for indentation (the default LaTeX template otherwise removes indentation and adds space between paragraphs) `linestretch` : adjusts line spacing using the [`setspace`] package, e.g. `1.25`, `1.5` `margin-left`, `margin-right`, `margin-top`, `margin-bottom` : sets margins if `geometry` is not used (otherwise `geometry` overrides these) `pagestyle` : control `\pagestyle{}`: the default article class supports `plain` (default), `empty` (no running heads or page numbers), and `headings` (section titles in running heads) `papersize` : paper size, e.g. `letter`, `a4` `secnumdepth` : numbering depth for sections (with `--number-sections` option or `numbersections` variable) #### Fonts `fontenc` : allows font encoding to be specified through `fontenc` package (with `pdflatex`); default is `T1` (see [LaTeX font encodings guide]) `fontfamily` : font package for use with `pdflatex`: [TeX Live] includes many options, documented in the [LaTeX Font Catalogue]. The default is [Latin Modern][`lm`]. `fontfamilyoptions` : options for package used as `fontfamily`; repeat for multiple options. For example, to use the Libertine font with proportional lowercase (old-style) figures through the [`libertinus`] package: --- fontfamily: libertinus fontfamilyoptions: - osf - p ... `fontsize` : font size for body text. The standard classes allow 10pt, 11pt, and 12pt. To use another size, set `documentclass` to one of the [KOMA-Script] classes, such as `scrartcl` or `scrbook`. `mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont` : font families for use with `xelatex` or `lualatex`: take the name of any system font, using the [`fontspec`] package. `CJKmainfont` uses the [`xecjk`] package. `mainfontoptions`, `sansfontoptions`, `monofontoptions`, `mathfontoptions`, `CJKoptions` : options to use with `mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont` in `xelatex` and `lualatex`. Allow for any choices available through [`fontspec`]; repeat for multiple options. For example, to use the [TeX Gyre] version of Palatino with lowercase figures: --- mainfont: TeX Gyre Pagella mainfontoptions: - Numbers=Lowercase - Numbers=Proportional ... `microtypeoptions` : options to pass to the microtype package #### Links `colorlinks` : add color to link text; automatically enabled if any of `linkcolor`, `filecolor`, `citecolor`, `urlcolor`, or `toccolor` are set `linkcolor`, `filecolor`, `citecolor`, `urlcolor`, `toccolor` : color for internal links, external links, citation links, linked URLs, and links in table of contents, respectively: uses options allowed by [`xcolor`], including the `dvipsnames`, `svgnames`, and `x11names` lists `links-as-notes` : causes links to be printed as footnotes #### Front matter `lof`, `lot` : include list of figures, list of tables `thanks` : contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title `toc` : include table of contents (can also be set using `--toc/--table-of-contents`) `toc-depth` : level of section to include in table of contents #### BibLaTeX Bibliographies These variables function when using BibLaTeX for [citation rendering]. `biblatexoptions` : list of options for biblatex `biblio-style` : bibliography style, when used with `--natbib` and `--biblatex`. `biblio-title` : bibliography title, when used with `--natbib` and `--biblatex`. `bibliography` : bibliography to use for resolving references `natbiboptions` : list of options for natbib [KOMA-Script]: https://ctan.org/pkg/koma-script [LaTeX Font Catalogue]: http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/ [LaTeX font encodings guide]: https://ctan.org/pkg/encguide [TeX Gyre]: http://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre [`article`]: https://ctan.org/pkg/article [`book`]: https://ctan.org/pkg/book [`libertinus`]: https://ctan.org/pkg/libertinus [`memoir`]: https://ctan.org/pkg/memoir [`report`]: https://ctan.org/pkg/report ### Variables for ConTeXt Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF] with ConTeXt. `fontsize` : font size for body text (e.g. `10pt`, `12pt`) `headertext`, `footertext` : text to be placed in running header or footer (see [ConTeXt Headers and Footers]); repeat up to four times for different placement `indenting` : controls indentation of paragraphs, e.g. `yes,small,next` (see [ConTeXt Indentation]); repeat for multiple options `interlinespace` : adjusts line spacing, e.g. `4ex` (using [`setupinterlinespace`]); repeat for multiple options `layout` : options for page margins and text arrangement (see [ConTeXt Layout]); repeat for multiple options `linkcolor`, `contrastcolor` : color for links outside and inside a page, e.g. `red`, `blue` (see [ConTeXt Color]) `linkstyle` : typeface style for links, e.g. `normal`, `bold`, `slanted`, `boldslanted`, `type`, `cap`, `small` `lof`, `lot` : include list of figures, list of tables `mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont` : font families: take the name of any system font (see [ConTeXt Font Switching]) `margin-left`, `margin-right`, `margin-top`, `margin-bottom` : sets margins, if `layout` is not used (otherwise `layout` overrides these) `pagenumbering` : page number style and location (using [`setuppagenumbering`]); repeat for multiple options `papersize` : paper size, e.g. `letter`, `A4`, `landscape` (see [ConTeXt Paper Setup]); repeat for multiple options `pdfa` : adds to the preamble the setup necessary to generate PDF/A of the type specified, e.g. `1a:2005`, `2a`. If no type is specified (i.e. the value is set to True, by e.g. `--metadata=pdfa` or `pdfa: true` in a YAML metadata block), `1b:2005` will be used as default, for reasons of backwards compatibility. Using `--variable=pdfa` without specified value is not supported. To successfully generate PDF/A the required ICC color profiles have to be available and the content and all included files (such as images) have to be standard conforming. The ICC profiles and output intent may be specified using the variables `pdfaiccprofile` and `pdfaintent`. See also [ConTeXt PDFA] for more details. `pdfaiccprofile` : when used in conjunction with `pdfa`, specifies the ICC profile to use in the PDF, e.g. `default.cmyk`. If left unspecified, `sRGB.icc` is used as default. May be repeated to include multiple profiles. Note that the profiles have to be available on the system. They can be obtained from [ConTeXt ICC Profiles]. `pdfaintent` : when used in conjunction with `pdfa`, specifies the output intent for the colors, e.g. `ISO coated v2 300\letterpercent\space (ECI)` If left unspecified, `sRGB IEC61966-2.1` is used as default. `toc` : include table of contents (can also be set using `--toc/--table-of-contents`) `whitespace` : spacing between paragraphs, e.g. `none`, `small` (using [`setupwhitespace`]) `includesource` : include all source documents as file attachments in the PDF file [ConTeXt Paper Setup]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/PaperSetup [ConTeXt Layout]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Layout [ConTeXt Font Switching]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Font_Switching [ConTeXt Color]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Color [ConTeXt Headers and Footers]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Headers_and_Footers [ConTeXt Indentation]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Indentation [ConTeXt ICC Profiles]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/PDFX#ICC_profiles [ConTeXt PDFA]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/PDF/A [`setupwhitespace`]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupwhitespace [`setupinterlinespace`]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupinterlinespace [`setuppagenumbering`]: https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setuppagenumbering ### Variables for `wkhtmltopdf` Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF] with [`wkhtmltopdf`]. The `--css` option also affects the output. `footer-html`, `header-html` : add information to the header and footer `margin-left`, `margin-right`, `margin-top`, `margin-bottom` : set the page margins `papersize` : sets the PDF paper size ### Variables for man pages `adjusting` : adjusts text to left (`l`), right (`r`), center (`c`), or both (`b`) margins `footer` : footer in man pages `header` : header in man pages `hyphenate` : if `true` (the default), hyphenation will be used `section` : section number in man pages ### Variables for ms `fontfamily` : font family (e.g. `T` or `P`) `indent` : paragraph indent (e.g. `2m`) `lineheight` : line height (e.g. `12p`) `pointsize` : point size (e.g. `10p`) ### Variables set automatically Pandoc sets these variables automatically in response to [options] or document contents; users can also modify them. These vary depending on the output format, and include the following: `body` : body of document `date-meta` : the `date` variable converted to ISO 8601 YYYY-MM-DD, included in all HTML based formats (dzslides, epub, html, html4, html5, revealjs, s5, slideous, slidy). The recognized formats for `date` are: `mm/dd/yyyy`, `mm/dd/yy`, `yyyy-mm-dd` (ISO 8601), `dd MM yyyy` (e.g. either `02 Apr 2018` or `02 April 2018`), `MM dd, yyyy` (e.g. `Apr. 02, 2018` or `April 02, 2018), `yyyy[mm[dd]]]` (e.g. `20180402, `201804` or `2018`). `header-includes` : contents specified by `-H/--include-in-header` (may have multiple values) `include-before` : contents specified by `-B/--include-before-body` (may have multiple values) `include-after` : contents specified by `-A/--include-after-body` (may have multiple values) `meta-json` : JSON representation of all of the document's metadata. Field values are transformed to the selected output format. `numbersections` : non-null value if `-N/--number-sections` was specified `sourcefile`, `outputfile` : source and destination filenames, as given on the command line. `sourcefile` can also be a list if input comes from multiple files, or empty if input is from stdin. You can use the following snippet in your template to distinguish them: $if(sourcefile)$ $for(sourcefile)$ $sourcefile$ $endfor$ $else$ (stdin) $endif$ Similarly, `outputfile` can be `-` if output goes to the terminal. If you need absolute paths, use e.g. `$curdir$/$sourcefile$`. `curdir` : working directory from which pandoc is run. `toc` : non-null value if `--toc/--table-of-contents` was specified `toc-title` : title of table of contents (works only with EPUB, opendocument, odt, docx, pptx, beamer, LaTeX) [pandoc-templates]: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates # Extensions The behavior of some of the readers and writers can be adjusted by enabling or disabling various extensions. An extension can be enabled by adding `+EXTENSION` to the format name and disabled by adding `-EXTENSION`. For example, `--from markdown_strict+footnotes` is strict Markdown with footnotes enabled, while `--from markdown-footnotes-pipe_tables` is pandoc's Markdown without footnotes or pipe tables. The markdown reader and writer make by far the most use of extensions. Extensions only used by them are therefore covered in the section [Pandoc's Markdown] below (See [Markdown variants] for `commonmark` and `gfm`.) In the following, extensions that also work for other formats are covered. Note that markdown extensions added to the `ipynb` format affect Markdown cells in Jupyter notebooks (as do command-line options like `--atx-headers`). ## Typography #### Extension: `smart` #### Interpret straight quotes as curly quotes, `---` as em-dashes, `--` as en-dashes, and `...` as ellipses. Nonbreaking spaces are inserted after certain abbreviations, such as "Mr." This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats: input formats : `markdown`, `commonmark`, `latex`, `mediawiki`, `org`, `rst`, `twiki` output formats : `markdown`, `latex`, `context`, `rst` enabled by default in : `markdown`, `latex`, `context` (both input and output) Note: If you are *writing* Markdown, then the `smart` extension has the reverse effect: what would have been curly quotes comes out straight. In LaTeX, `smart` means to use the standard TeX ligatures for quotation marks (` `` ` and ` '' ` for double quotes, `` ` `` and `` ' `` for single quotes) and dashes (`--` for en-dash and `---` for em-dash). If `smart` is disabled, then in reading LaTeX pandoc will parse these characters literally. In writing LaTeX, enabling `smart` tells pandoc to use the ligatures when possible; if `smart` is disabled pandoc will use unicode quotation mark and dash characters. ## Headings and sections #### Extension: `auto_identifiers` #### A heading without an explicitly specified identifier will be automatically assigned a unique identifier based on the heading text. This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats: input formats : `markdown`, `latex`, `rst`, `mediawiki`, `textile` output formats : `markdown`, `muse` enabled by default in : `markdown`, `muse` The default algorithm used to derive the identifier from the heading text is: - Remove all formatting, links, etc. - Remove all footnotes. - Remove all non-alphanumeric characters, except underscores, hyphens, and periods. - Replace all spaces and newlines with hyphens. - Convert all alphabetic characters to lowercase. - Remove everything up to the first letter (identifiers may not begin with a number or punctuation mark). - If nothing is left after this, use the identifier `section`. Thus, for example, Heading Identifier ------------------------------- ---------------------------- `Heading identifiers in HTML` `heading-identifiers-in-html` `Maître d'hôtel` `maître-dhôtel` `*Dogs*?--in *my* house?` `dogs--in-my-house` `[HTML], [S5], or [RTF]?` `html-s5-or-rtf` `3. Applications` `applications` `33` `section` These rules should, in most cases, allow one to determine the identifier from the heading text. The exception is when several headings have the same text; in this case, the first will get an identifier as described above; the second will get the same identifier with `-1` appended; the third with `-2`; and so on. (However, a different algorithm is used if `gfm_auto_identifiers` is enabled; see below.) These identifiers are used to provide link targets in the table of contents generated by the `--toc|--table-of-contents` option. They also make it easy to provide links from one section of a document to another. A link to this section, for example, might look like this: See the section on [heading identifiers](#heading-identifiers-in-html-latex-and-context). Note, however, that this method of providing links to sections works only in HTML, LaTeX, and ConTeXt formats. If the `--section-divs` option is specified, then each section will be wrapped in a `section` (or a `div`, if `html4` was specified), and the identifier will be attached to the enclosing `

` (or `

`) tag rather than the heading itself. This allows entire sections to be manipulated using JavaScript or treated differently in CSS. #### Extension: `ascii_identifiers` #### Causes the identifiers produced by `auto_identifiers` to be pure ASCII. Accents are stripped off of accented Latin letters, and non-Latin letters are omitted. #### Extension: `gfm_auto_identifiers` #### Changes the algorithm used by `auto_identifiers` to conform to GitHub's method. Spaces are converted to dashes (`-`), uppercase characters to lowercase characters, and punctuation characters other than `-` and `_` are removed. Emojis are replaced by their names. ## Math Input The extensions [`tex_math_dollars`](#extension-tex_math_dollars), [`tex_math_single_backslash`](#extension-tex_math_single_backslash), and [`tex_math_double_backslash`](#extension-tex_math_double_backslash) are described in the section about Pandoc's Markdown. However, they can also be used with HTML input. This is handy for reading web pages formatted using MathJax, for example. ## Raw HTML/TeX The following extensions (especially how they affect Markdown input/output) are also described in more detail in their respective sections of [Pandoc's Markdown]. #### Extension: `raw_html` {#raw_html} When converting from HTML, parse elements to raw HTML which are not representable in pandoc's AST. By default, this is disabled for HTML input. #### Extension: `raw_tex` {#raw_tex} Allows raw LaTeX, TeX, and ConTeXt to be included in a document. This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats (in addition to `markdown`): input formats : `latex`, `org`, `textile`, `html` (environments, `\ref`, and `\eqref` only), `ipynb` output formats : `textile`, `commonmark` Note: as applied to `ipynb`, `raw_html` and `raw_tex` affect not only raw TeX in markdown cells, but data with mime type `text/html` in output cells. Since the `ipynb` reader attempts to preserve the richest possible outputs when several options are given, you will get best results if you disable `raw_html` and `raw_tex` when converting to formats like `docx` which don't allow raw `html` or `tex`. #### Extension: `native_divs` {#native_divs} This extension is enabled by default for HTML input. This means that `div`s are parsed to pandoc native elements. (Alternatively, you can parse them to raw HTML using `-f html-native_divs+raw_html`.) When converting HTML to Markdown, for example, you may want to drop all `div`s and `span`s: pandoc -f html-native_divs-native_spans -t markdown #### Extension: `native_spans` {#native_spans} Analogous to `native_divs` above. ## Literate Haskell support #### Extension: `literate_haskell` #### Treat the document as literate Haskell source. This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats: input formats : `markdown`, `rst`, `latex` output formats : `markdown`, `rst`, `latex`, `html` If you append `+lhs` (or `+literate_haskell`) to one of the formats above, pandoc will treat the document as literate Haskell source. This means that - In Markdown input, "bird track" sections will be parsed as Haskell code rather than block quotations. Text between `\begin{code}` and `\end{code}` will also be treated as Haskell code. For ATX-style headings the character '=' will be used instead of '#'. - In Markdown output, code blocks with classes `haskell` and `literate` will be rendered using bird tracks, and block quotations will be indented one space, so they will not be treated as Haskell code. In addition, headings will be rendered setext-style (with underlines) rather than ATX-style (with '#' characters). (This is because ghc treats '#' characters in column 1 as introducing line numbers.) - In restructured text input, "bird track" sections will be parsed as Haskell code. - In restructured text output, code blocks with class `haskell` will be rendered using bird tracks. - In LaTeX input, text in `code` environments will be parsed as Haskell code. - In LaTeX output, code blocks with class `haskell` will be rendered inside `code` environments. - In HTML output, code blocks with class `haskell` will be rendered with class `literatehaskell` and bird tracks. Examples: pandoc -f markdown+lhs -t html reads literate Haskell source formatted with Markdown conventions and writes ordinary HTML (without bird tracks). pandoc -f markdown+lhs -t html+lhs writes HTML with the Haskell code in bird tracks, so it can be copied and pasted as literate Haskell source. Note that GHC expects the bird tracks in the first column, so indented literate code blocks (e.g. inside an itemized environment) will not be picked up by the Haskell compiler. ## Other extensions #### Extension: `empty_paragraphs` #### Allows empty paragraphs. By default empty paragraphs are omitted. This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats: input formats : `docx`, `html` output formats : `docx`, `odt`, `opendocument`, `html` #### Extension: `native_numbering` #### Enables native numbering of figures and tables. Enumeration starts at 1. This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats: output formats : `odt`, `opendocument` #### Extension: `styles` #### {#ext-styles} When converting from docx, read all docx styles as divs (for paragraph styles) and spans (for character styles) regardless of whether pandoc understands the meaning of these styles. This can be used with [docx custom styles](#custom-styles). Disabled by default. input formats : `docx` #### Extension: `amuse` #### In the `muse` input format, this enables Text::Amuse extensions to Emacs Muse markup. #### Extension: `citations` {#org-citations} Some aspects of [Pandoc's Markdown citation syntax](#citations) are also accepted in `org` input. #### Extension: `ntb` #### In the `context` output format this enables the use of [Natural Tables (TABLE)](http://wiki.contextgarden.net/TABLE) instead of the default [Extreme Tables (xtables)](http://wiki.contextgarden.net/xtables). Natural tables allow more fine-grained global customization but come at a performance penalty compared to extreme tables. # Pandoc's Markdown Pandoc understands an extended and slightly revised version of John Gruber's [Markdown] syntax. This document explains the syntax, noting differences from standard Markdown. Except where noted, these differences can be suppressed by using the `markdown_strict` format instead of `markdown`. Extensions can be enabled or disabled to specify the behavior more granularly. They are described in the following. See also [Extensions] above, for extensions that work also on other formats. ## Philosophy Markdown is designed to be easy to write, and, even more importantly, easy to read: > A Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain > text, without looking like it's been marked up with tags or formatting > instructions. > -- [John Gruber](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#philosophy) This principle has guided pandoc's decisions in finding syntax for tables, footnotes, and other extensions. There is, however, one respect in which pandoc's aims are different from the original aims of Markdown. Whereas Markdown was originally designed with HTML generation in mind, pandoc is designed for multiple output formats. Thus, while pandoc allows the embedding of raw HTML, it discourages it, and provides other, non-HTMLish ways of representing important document elements like definition lists, tables, mathematics, and footnotes. ## Paragraphs A paragraph is one or more lines of text followed by one or more blank lines. Newlines are treated as spaces, so you can reflow your paragraphs as you like. If you need a hard line break, put two or more spaces at the end of a line. #### Extension: `escaped_line_breaks` #### A backslash followed by a newline is also a hard line break. Note: in multiline and grid table cells, this is the only way to create a hard line break, since trailing spaces in the cells are ignored. ## Headings There are two kinds of headings: Setext and ATX. ### Setext-style headings ### A setext-style heading is a line of text "underlined" with a row of `=` signs (for a level-one heading) or `-` signs (for a level-two heading): A level-one heading =================== A level-two heading ------------------- The heading text can contain inline formatting, such as emphasis (see [Inline formatting], below). ### ATX-style headings ### An ATX-style heading consists of one to six `#` signs and a line of text, optionally followed by any number of `#` signs. The number of `#` signs at the beginning of the line is the heading level: ## A level-two heading ### A level-three heading ### As with setext-style headings, the heading text can contain formatting: # A level-one heading with a [link](/url) and *emphasis* #### Extension: `blank_before_header` #### Standard Markdown syntax does not require a blank line before a heading. Pandoc does require this (except, of course, at the beginning of the document). The reason for the requirement is that it is all too easy for a `#` to end up at the beginning of a line by accident (perhaps through line wrapping). Consider, for example: I like several of their flavors of ice cream: #22, for example, and #5. #### Extension: `space_in_atx_header` #### Many Markdown implementations do not require a space between the opening `#`s of an ATX heading and the heading text, so that `#5 bolt` and `#hashtag` count as headings. With this extension, pandoc does require the space. ### Heading identifiers ### See also the [`auto_identifiers` extension](#extension-auto_identifiers) above. #### Extension: `header_attributes` #### Headings can be assigned attributes using this syntax at the end of the line containing the heading text: {#identifier .class .class key=value key=value} Thus, for example, the following headings will all be assigned the identifier `foo`: # My heading {#foo} ## My heading ## {#foo} My other heading {#foo} --------------- (This syntax is compatible with [PHP Markdown Extra].) Note that although this syntax allows assignment of classes and key/value attributes, writers generally don't use all of this information. Identifiers, classes, and key/value attributes are used in HTML and HTML-based formats such as EPUB and slidy. Identifiers are used for labels and link anchors in the LaTeX, ConTeXt, Textile, Jira markup, and AsciiDoc writers. Headings with the class `unnumbered` will not be numbered, even if `--number-sections` is specified. A single hyphen (`-`) in an attribute context is equivalent to `.unnumbered`, and preferable in non-English documents. So, # My heading {-} is just the same as # My heading {.unnumbered} If the `unlisted` class is present in addition to `unnumbered`, the heading will not be included in a table of contents. (Currently this feature is only implemented for certain formats: those based on LaTeX and HTML, PowerPoint, and RTF.) #### Extension: `implicit_header_references` #### Pandoc behaves as if reference links have been defined for each heading. So, to link to a heading # Heading identifiers in HTML you can simply write [Heading identifiers in HTML] or [Heading identifiers in HTML][] or [the section on heading identifiers][heading identifiers in HTML] instead of giving the identifier explicitly: [Heading identifiers in HTML](#heading-identifiers-in-html) If there are multiple headings with identical text, the corresponding reference will link to the first one only, and you will need to use explicit links to link to the others, as described above. Like regular reference links, these references are case-insensitive. Explicit link reference definitions always take priority over implicit heading references. So, in the following example, the link will point to `bar`, not to `#foo`: # Foo [foo]: bar See [foo] ## Block quotations Markdown uses email conventions for quoting blocks of text. A block quotation is one or more paragraphs or other block elements (such as lists or headings), with each line preceded by a `>` character and an optional space. (The `>` need not start at the left margin, but it should not be indented more than three spaces.) > This is a block quote. This > paragraph has two lines. > > 1. This is a list inside a block quote. > 2. Second item. A "lazy" form, which requires the `>` character only on the first line of each block, is also allowed: > This is a block quote. This paragraph has two lines. > 1. This is a list inside a block quote. 2. Second item. Among the block elements that can be contained in a block quote are other block quotes. That is, block quotes can be nested: > This is a block quote. > > > A block quote within a block quote. If the `>` character is followed by an optional space, that space will be considered part of the block quote marker and not part of the indentation of the contents. Thus, to put an indented code block in a block quote, you need five spaces after the `>`: > code #### Extension: `blank_before_blockquote` #### Standard Markdown syntax does not require a blank line before a block quote. Pandoc does require this (except, of course, at the beginning of the document). The reason for the requirement is that it is all too easy for a `>` to end up at the beginning of a line by accident (perhaps through line wrapping). So, unless the `markdown_strict` format is used, the following does not produce a nested block quote in pandoc: > This is a block quote. >> Nested. ## Verbatim (code) blocks ### Indented code blocks ### A block of text indented four spaces (or one tab) is treated as verbatim text: that is, special characters do not trigger special formatting, and all spaces and line breaks are preserved. For example, if (a > 3) { moveShip(5 * gravity, DOWN); } The initial (four space or one tab) indentation is not considered part of the verbatim text, and is removed in the output. Note: blank lines in the verbatim text need not begin with four spaces. ### Fenced code blocks ### #### Extension: `fenced_code_blocks` #### In addition to standard indented code blocks, pandoc supports *fenced* code blocks. These begin with a row of three or more tildes (`~`) and end with a row of tildes that must be at least as long as the starting row. Everything between these lines is treated as code. No indentation is necessary: ~~~~~~~ if (a > 3) { moveShip(5 * gravity, DOWN); } ~~~~~~~ Like regular code blocks, fenced code blocks must be separated from surrounding text by blank lines. If the code itself contains a row of tildes or backticks, just use a longer row of tildes or backticks at the start and end: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ code including tildes ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #### Extension: `backtick_code_blocks` #### Same as `fenced_code_blocks`, but uses backticks (`` ` ``) instead of tildes (`~`). #### Extension: `fenced_code_attributes` #### Optionally, you may attach attributes to fenced or backtick code block using this syntax: ~~~~ {#mycode .haskell .numberLines startFrom="100"} qsort [] = [] qsort (x:xs) = qsort (filter (< x) xs) ++ [x] ++ qsort (filter (>= x) xs) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here `mycode` is an identifier, `haskell` and `numberLines` are classes, and `startFrom` is an attribute with value `100`. Some output formats can use this information to do syntax highlighting. Currently, the only output formats that uses this information are HTML, LaTeX, Docx, Ms, and PowerPoint. If highlighting is supported for your output format and language, then the code block above will appear highlighted, with numbered lines. (To see which languages are supported, type `pandoc --list-highlight-languages`.) Otherwise, the code block above will appear as follows:

...

The `numberLines` (or `number-lines`) class will cause the lines of the code block to be numbered, starting with `1` or the value of the `startFrom` attribute. The `lineAnchors` (or `line-anchors`) class will cause the lines to be clickable anchors in HTML output. A shortcut form can also be used for specifying the language of the code block: ```haskell qsort [] = [] ``` This is equivalent to: ``` {.haskell} qsort [] = [] ``` If the `fenced_code_attributes` extension is disabled, but input contains class attribute(s) for the code block, the first class attribute will be printed after the opening fence as a bare word. To prevent all highlighting, use the `--no-highlight` flag. To set the highlighting style, use `--highlight-style`. For more information on highlighting, see [Syntax highlighting], below. ## Line blocks #### Extension: `line_blocks` #### A line block is a sequence of lines beginning with a vertical bar (`|`) followed by a space. The division into lines will be preserved in the output, as will any leading spaces; otherwise, the lines will be formatted as Markdown. This is useful for verse and addresses: | The limerick packs laughs anatomical | In space that is quite economical. | But the good ones I've seen | So seldom are clean | And the clean ones so seldom are comical | 200 Main St. | Berkeley, CA 94718 The lines can be hard-wrapped if needed, but the continuation line must begin with a space. | The Right Honorable Most Venerable and Righteous Samuel L. Constable, Jr. | 200 Main St. | Berkeley, CA 94718 This syntax is borrowed from [reStructuredText]. ## Lists ### Bullet lists ### A bullet list is a list of bulleted list items. A bulleted list item begins with a bullet (`*`, `+`, or `-`). Here is a simple example: * one * two * three This will produce a "compact" list. If you want a "loose" list, in which each item is formatted as a paragraph, put spaces between the items: * one * two * three The bullets need not be flush with the left margin; they may be indented one, two, or three spaces. The bullet must be followed by whitespace. List items look best if subsequent lines are flush with the first line (after the bullet): * here is my first list item. * and my second. But Markdown also allows a "lazy" format: * here is my first list item. * and my second. ### Block content in list items ### A list item may contain multiple paragraphs and other block-level content. However, subsequent paragraphs must be preceded by a blank line and indented to line up with the first non-space content after the list marker. * First paragraph. Continued. * Second paragraph. With a code block, which must be indented eight spaces: { code } Exception: if the list marker is followed by an indented code block, which must begin 5 spaces after the list marker, then subsequent paragraphs must begin two columns after the last character of the list marker: * code continuation paragraph List items may include other lists. In this case the preceding blank line is optional. The nested list must be indented to line up with the first non-space character after the list marker of the containing list item. * fruits + apples - macintosh - red delicious + pears + peaches * vegetables + broccoli + chard As noted above, Markdown allows you to write list items "lazily," instead of indenting continuation lines. However, if there are multiple paragraphs or other blocks in a list item, the first line of each must be indented. + A lazy, lazy, list item. + Another one; this looks bad but is legal. Second paragraph of second list item. ### Ordered lists ### Ordered lists work just like bulleted lists, except that the items begin with enumerators rather than bullets. In standard Markdown, enumerators are decimal numbers followed by a period and a space. The numbers themselves are ignored, so there is no difference between this list: 1. one 2. two 3. three and this one: 5. one 7. two 1. three #### Extension: `fancy_lists` #### Unlike standard Markdown, pandoc allows ordered list items to be marked with uppercase and lowercase letters and roman numerals, in addition to Arabic numerals. List markers may be enclosed in parentheses or followed by a single right-parentheses or period. They must be separated from the text that follows by at least one space, and, if the list marker is a capital letter with a period, by at least two spaces.[^2] [^2]: The point of this rule is to ensure that normal paragraphs starting with people's initials, like B. Russell was an English philosopher. do not get treated as list items. This rule will not prevent (C) 2007 Joe Smith from being interpreted as a list item. In this case, a backslash escape can be used: (C\) 2007 Joe Smith The `fancy_lists` extension also allows '`#`' to be used as an ordered list marker in place of a numeral: #. one #. two #### Extension: `startnum` #### Pandoc also pays attention to the type of list marker used, and to the starting number, and both of these are preserved where possible in the output format. Thus, the following yields a list with numbers followed by a single parenthesis, starting with 9, and a sublist with lowercase roman numerals: 9) Ninth 10) Tenth 11) Eleventh i. subone ii. subtwo iii. subthree Pandoc will start a new list each time a different type of list marker is used. So, the following will create three lists: (2) Two (5) Three 1. Four * Five If default list markers are desired, use `#.`: #. one #. two #. three #### Extension: `task_lists` #### Pandoc supports task lists, using the syntax of GitHub-Flavored Markdown. - [ ] an unchecked task list item - [x] checked item ### Definition lists ### #### Extension: `definition_lists` #### Pandoc supports definition lists, using the syntax of [PHP Markdown Extra] with some extensions.[^3] Term 1 : Definition 1 Term 2 with *inline markup* : Definition 2 { some code, part of Definition 2 } Third paragraph of definition 2. Each term must fit on one line, which may optionally be followed by a blank line, and must be followed by one or more definitions. A definition begins with a colon or tilde, which may be indented one or two spaces. A term may have multiple definitions, and each definition may consist of one or more block elements (paragraph, code block, list, etc.), each indented four spaces or one tab stop. The body of the definition (including the first line, aside from the colon or tilde) should be indented four spaces. However, as with other Markdown lists, you can "lazily" omit indentation except at the beginning of a paragraph or other block element: Term 1 : Definition with lazy continuation. Second paragraph of the definition. If you leave space before the definition (as in the example above), the text of the definition will be treated as a paragraph. In some output formats, this will mean greater spacing between term/definition pairs. For a more compact definition list, omit the space before the definition: Term 1 ~ Definition 1 Term 2 ~ Definition 2a ~ Definition 2b Note that space between items in a definition list is required. (A variant that loosens this requirement, but disallows "lazy" hard wrapping, can be activated with `compact_definition_lists`: see [Non-pandoc extensions], below.) [^3]: I have been influenced by the suggestions of [David Wheeler](http://www.justatheory.com/computers/markup/modest-markdown-proposal.html). ### Numbered example lists ### #### Extension: `example_lists` #### The special list marker `@` can be used for sequentially numbered examples. The first list item with a `@` marker will be numbered '1', the next '2', and so on, throughout the document. The numbered examples need not occur in a single list; each new list using `@` will take up where the last stopped. So, for example: (@) My first example will be numbered (1). (@) My second example will be numbered (2). Explanation of examples. (@) My third example will be numbered (3). Numbered examples can be labeled and referred to elsewhere in the document: (@good) This is a good example. As (@good) illustrates, ... The label can be any string of alphanumeric characters, underscores, or hyphens. Note: continuation paragraphs in example lists must always be indented four spaces, regardless of the length of the list marker. That is, example lists always behave as if the `four_space_rule` extension is set. This is because example labels tend to be long, and indenting content to the first non-space character after the label would be awkward. ### Compact and loose lists ### Pandoc behaves differently from `Markdown.pl` on some "edge cases" involving lists. Consider this source: + First + Second: - Fee - Fie - Foe + Third Pandoc transforms this into a "compact list" (with no `

` tags around "First", "Second", or "Third"), while Markdown puts `

` tags around "Second" and "Third" (but not "First"), because of the blank space around "Third". Pandoc follows a simple rule: if the text is followed by a blank line, it is treated as a paragraph. Since "Second" is followed by a list, and not a blank line, it isn't treated as a paragraph. The fact that the list is followed by a blank line is irrelevant. (Note: Pandoc works this way even when the `markdown_strict` format is specified. This behavior is consistent with the official Markdown syntax description, even though it is different from that of `Markdown.pl`.) ### Ending a list ### What if you want to put an indented code block after a list? - item one - item two { my code block } Trouble! Here pandoc (like other Markdown implementations) will treat `{ my code block }` as the second paragraph of item two, and not as a code block. To "cut off" the list after item two, you can insert some non-indented content, like an HTML comment, which won't produce visible output in any format: - item one - item two { my code block } You can use the same trick if you want two consecutive lists instead of one big list: 1. one 2. two 3. three 1. uno 2. dos 3. tres ## Horizontal rules A line containing a row of three or more `*`, `-`, or `_` characters (optionally separated by spaces) produces a horizontal rule: * * * * --------------- ## Tables Four kinds of tables may be used. The first three kinds presuppose the use of a fixed-width font, such as Courier. The fourth kind can be used with proportionally spaced fonts, as it does not require lining up columns. #### Extension: `table_captions` #### A caption may optionally be provided with all 4 kinds of tables (as illustrated in the examples below). A caption is a paragraph beginning with the string `Table:` (or just `:`), which will be stripped off. It may appear either before or after the table. #### Extension: `simple_tables` #### Simple tables look like this: Right Left Center Default ------- ------ ---------- ------- 12 12 12 12 123 123 123 123 1 1 1 1 Table: Demonstration of simple table syntax. The header and table rows must each fit on one line. Column alignments are determined by the position of the header text relative to the dashed line below it:[^4] - If the dashed line is flush with the header text on the right side but extends beyond it on the left, the column is right-aligned. - If the dashed line is flush with the header text on the left side but extends beyond it on the right, the column is left-aligned. - If the dashed line extends beyond the header text on both sides, the column is centered. - If the dashed line is flush with the header text on both sides, the default alignment is used (in most cases, this will be left). [^4]: This scheme is due to Michel Fortin, who proposed it on the [Markdown discussion list](http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/markdown-discuss/2005-March/001097.html). The table must end with a blank line, or a line of dashes followed by a blank line. The column header row may be omitted, provided a dashed line is used to end the table. For example: ------- ------ ---------- ------- 12 12 12 12 123 123 123 123 1 1 1 1 ------- ------ ---------- ------- When the header row is omitted, column alignments are determined on the basis of the first line of the table body. So, in the tables above, the columns would be right, left, center, and right aligned, respectively. #### Extension: `multiline_tables` #### Multiline tables allow header and table rows to span multiple lines of text (but cells that span multiple columns or rows of the table are not supported). Here is an example: ------------------------------------------------------------- Centered Default Right Left Header Aligned Aligned Aligned ----------- ------- --------------- ------------------------- First row 12.0 Example of a row that spans multiple lines. Second row 5.0 Here's another one. Note the blank line between rows. ------------------------------------------------------------- Table: Here's the caption. It, too, may span multiple lines. These work like simple tables, but with the following differences: - They must begin with a row of dashes, before the header text (unless the header row is omitted). - They must end with a row of dashes, then a blank line. - The rows must be separated by blank lines. In multiline tables, the table parser pays attention to the widths of the columns, and the writers try to reproduce these relative widths in the output. So, if you find that one of the columns is too narrow in the output, try widening it in the Markdown source. The header may be omitted in multiline tables as well as simple tables: ----------- ------- --------------- ------------------------- First row 12.0 Example of a row that spans multiple lines. Second row 5.0 Here's another one. Note the blank line between rows. ----------- ------- --------------- ------------------------- : Here's a multiline table without a header. It is possible for a multiline table to have just one row, but the row should be followed by a blank line (and then the row of dashes that ends the table), or the table may be interpreted as a simple table. #### Extension: `grid_tables` #### Grid tables look like this: : Sample grid table. +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ | Fruit | Price | Advantages | +===============+===============+====================+ | Bananas | $1.34 | - built-in wrapper | | | | - bright color | +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ | Oranges | $2.10 | - cures scurvy | | | | - tasty | +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ The row of `=`s separates the header from the table body, and can be omitted for a headerless table. The cells of grid tables may contain arbitrary block elements (multiple paragraphs, code blocks, lists, etc.). Cells that span multiple columns or rows are not supported. Grid tables can be created easily using [Emacs table mode]. [Emacs table mode]: http://table.sourceforge.net/ Alignments can be specified as with pipe tables, by putting colons at the boundaries of the separator line after the header: +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ | Right | Left | Centered | +==============:+:==============+:==================:+ | Bananas | $1.34 | built-in wrapper | +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ For headerless tables, the colons go on the top line instead: +--------------:+:--------------+:------------------:+ | Right | Left | Centered | +---------------+---------------+--------------------+ ##### Grid Table Limitations ##### Pandoc does not support grid tables with row spans or column spans. This means that neither variable numbers of columns across rows nor variable numbers of rows across columns are supported by Pandoc. All grid tables must have the same number of columns in each row, and the same number of rows in each column. For example, the Docutils [sample grid tables] will not render as expected with Pandoc. [sample grid tables]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#grid-tables #### Extension: `pipe_tables` #### Pipe tables look like this: | Right | Left | Default | Center | |------:|:-----|---------|:------:| | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | | 123 | 123 | 123 | 123 | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | : Demonstration of pipe table syntax. The syntax is identical to [PHP Markdown Extra tables]. The beginning and ending pipe characters are optional, but pipes are required between all columns. The colons indicate column alignment as shown. The header cannot be omitted. To simulate a headerless table, include a header with blank cells. Since the pipes indicate column boundaries, columns need not be vertically aligned, as they are in the above example. So, this is a perfectly legal (though ugly) pipe table: fruit| price -----|-----: apple|2.05 pear|1.37 orange|3.09 The cells of pipe tables cannot contain block elements like paragraphs and lists, and cannot span multiple lines. If a pipe table contains a row whose printable content is wider than the column width (see `--columns`), then the table will take up the full text width and the cell contents will wrap, with the relative cell widths determined by the number of dashes in the line separating the table header from the table body. (For example `---|-` would make the first column 3/4 and the second column 1/4 of the full text width.) On the other hand, if no lines are wider than column width, then cell contents will not be wrapped, and the cells will be sized to their contents. Note: pandoc also recognizes pipe tables of the following form, as can be produced by Emacs' orgtbl-mode: | One | Two | |-----+-------| | my | table | | is | nice | The difference is that `+` is used instead of `|`. Other orgtbl features are not supported. In particular, to get non-default column alignment, you'll need to add colons as above. [PHP Markdown Extra tables]: https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table ## Metadata blocks #### Extension: `pandoc_title_block` #### If the file begins with a title block % title % author(s) (separated by semicolons) % date it will be parsed as bibliographic information, not regular text. (It will be used, for example, in the title of standalone LaTeX or HTML output.) The block may contain just a title, a title and an author, or all three elements. If you want to include an author but no title, or a title and a date but no author, you need a blank line: % % Author % My title % % June 15, 2006 The title may occupy multiple lines, but continuation lines must begin with leading space, thus: % My title on multiple lines If a document has multiple authors, the authors may be put on separate lines with leading space, or separated by semicolons, or both. So, all of the following are equivalent: % Author One Author Two % Author One; Author Two % Author One; Author Two The date must fit on one line. All three metadata fields may contain standard inline formatting (italics, links, footnotes, etc.). Title blocks will always be parsed, but they will affect the output only when the `--standalone` (`-s`) option is chosen. In HTML output, titles will appear twice: once in the document head -- this is the title that will appear at the top of the window in a browser -- and once at the beginning of the document body. The title in the document head can have an optional prefix attached (`--title-prefix` or `-T` option). The title in the body appears as an H1 element with class "title", so it can be suppressed or reformatted with CSS. If a title prefix is specified with `-T` and no title block appears in the document, the title prefix will be used by itself as the HTML title. The man page writer extracts a title, man page section number, and other header and footer information from the title line. The title is assumed to be the first word on the title line, which may optionally end with a (single-digit) section number in parentheses. (There should be no space between the title and the parentheses.) Anything after this is assumed to be additional footer and header text. A single pipe character (`|`) should be used to separate the footer text from the header text. Thus, % PANDOC(1) will yield a man page with the title `PANDOC` and section 1. % PANDOC(1) Pandoc User Manuals will also have "Pandoc User Manuals" in the footer. % PANDOC(1) Pandoc User Manuals | Version 4.0 will also have "Version 4.0" in the header. #### Extension: `yaml_metadata_block` #### A [YAML] metadata block is a valid YAML object, delimited by a line of three hyphens (`---`) at the top and a line of three hyphens (`---`) or three dots (`...`) at the bottom. A YAML metadata block may occur anywhere in the document, but if it is not at the beginning, it must be preceded by a blank line. (Note that, because of the way pandoc concatenates input files when several are provided, you may also keep the metadata in a separate YAML file and pass it to pandoc as an argument, along with your Markdown files: pandoc chap1.md chap2.md chap3.md metadata.yaml -s -o book.html Just be sure that the YAML file begins with `---` and ends with `---` or `...`.) Alternatively, you can use the `--metadata-file` option. Using that approach however, you cannot reference content (like footnotes) from the main markdown input document. Metadata will be taken from the fields of the YAML object and added to any existing document metadata. Metadata can contain lists and objects (nested arbitrarily), but all string scalars will be interpreted as Markdown. Fields with names ending in an underscore will be ignored by pandoc. (They may be given a role by external processors.) Field names must not be interpretable as YAML numbers or boolean values (so, for example, `yes`, `True`, and `15` cannot be used as field names). A document may contain multiple metadata blocks. The metadata fields will be combined through a *left-biased union*: if two metadata blocks attempt to set the same field, the value from the first block will be taken. When pandoc is used with `-t markdown` to create a Markdown document, a YAML metadata block will be produced only if the `-s/--standalone` option is used. All of the metadata will appear in a single block at the beginning of the document. Note that [YAML] escaping rules must be followed. Thus, for example, if a title contains a colon, it must be quoted. The pipe character (`|`) can be used to begin an indented block that will be interpreted literally, without need for escaping. This form is necessary when the field contains blank lines or block-level formatting: --- title: 'This is the title: it contains a colon' author: - Author One - Author Two keywords: [nothing, nothingness] abstract: | This is the abstract. It consists of two paragraphs. ... Template variables will be set automatically from the metadata. Thus, for example, in writing HTML, the variable `abstract` will be set to the HTML equivalent of the Markdown in the `abstract` field:

This is the abstract.

It consists of two paragraphs.

Variables can contain arbitrary YAML structures, but the template must match this structure. The `author` variable in the default templates expects a simple list or string, but can be changed to support more complicated structures. The following combination, for example, would add an affiliation to the author if one is given: --- title: The document title author: - name: Author One affiliation: University of Somewhere - name: Author Two affiliation: University of Nowhere ... To use the structured authors in the example above, you would need a custom template: $for(author)$ $if(author.name)$ $author.name$$if(author.affiliation)$ ($author.affiliation$)$endif$ $else$ $author$ $endif$ $endfor$ Raw content to include in the document's header may be specified using `header-includes`; however, it is important to mark up this content as raw code for a particular output format, using the [`raw_attribute` extension](#extension-raw_attribute)), or it will be interpreted as markdown. For example: header-includes: - | ```{=latex} \let\oldsection\section \renewcommand{\section}[1]{\clearpage\oldsection{#1}} ``` ## Backslash escapes #### Extension: `all_symbols_escapable` #### Except inside a code block or inline code, any punctuation or space character preceded by a backslash will be treated literally, even if it would normally indicate formatting. Thus, for example, if one writes *\*hello\** one will get *hello* instead of hello This rule is easier to remember than standard Markdown's rule, which allows only the following characters to be backslash-escaped: \`*_{}[]()>#+-.! (However, if the `markdown_strict` format is used, the standard Markdown rule will be used.) A backslash-escaped space is parsed as a nonbreaking space. It will appear in TeX output as `~` and in HTML and XML as `\ ` or `\ `. A backslash-escaped newline (i.e. a backslash occurring at the end of a line) is parsed as a hard line break. It will appear in TeX output as `\\` and in HTML as `
`. This is a nice alternative to Markdown's "invisible" way of indicating hard line breaks using two trailing spaces on a line. Backslash escapes do not work in verbatim contexts. ## Inline formatting ### Emphasis ### To *emphasize* some text, surround it with `*`s or `_`, like this: This text is _emphasized with underscores_, and this is *emphasized with asterisks*. Double `*` or `_` produces **strong emphasis**: This is **strong emphasis** and __with underscores__. A `*` or `_` character surrounded by spaces, or backslash-escaped, will not trigger emphasis: This is * not emphasized *, and \*neither is this\*. #### Extension: `intraword_underscores` #### Because `_` is sometimes used inside words and identifiers, pandoc does not interpret a `_` surrounded by alphanumeric characters as an emphasis marker. If you want to emphasize just part of a word, use `*`: feas*ible*, not feas*able*. ### Strikeout ### #### Extension: `strikeout` #### To strikeout a section of text with a horizontal line, begin and end it with `~~`. Thus, for example, This ~~is deleted text.~~ ### Superscripts and subscripts ### #### Extension: `superscript`, `subscript` #### Superscripts may be written by surrounding the superscripted text by `^` characters; subscripts may be written by surrounding the subscripted text by `~` characters. Thus, for example, H~2~O is a liquid. 2^10^ is 1024. If the superscripted or subscripted text contains spaces, these spaces must be escaped with backslashes. (This is to prevent accidental superscripting and subscripting through the ordinary use of `~` and `^`.) Thus, if you want the letter P with 'a cat' in subscripts, use `P~a\ cat~`, not `P~a cat~`. ### Verbatim ### To make a short span of text verbatim, put it inside backticks: What is the difference between `>>=` and `>>`? If the verbatim text includes a backtick, use double backticks: Here is a literal backtick `` ` ``. (The spaces after the opening backticks and before the closing backticks will be ignored.) The general rule is that a verbatim span starts with a string of consecutive backticks (optionally followed by a space) and ends with a string of the same number of backticks (optionally preceded by a space). Note that backslash-escapes (and other Markdown constructs) do not work in verbatim contexts: This is a backslash followed by an asterisk: `\*`. #### Extension: `inline_code_attributes` #### Attributes can be attached to verbatim text, just as with [fenced code blocks]: `<$>`{.haskell} ### Small caps ### To write small caps, use the `smallcaps` class: [Small caps]{.smallcaps} Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension: Small caps For compatibility with other Markdown flavors, CSS is also supported: Small caps This will work in all output formats that support small caps. ## Math #### Extension: `tex_math_dollars` #### Anything between two `$` characters will be treated as TeX math. The opening `$` must have a non-space character immediately to its right, while the closing `$` must have a non-space character immediately to its left, and must not be followed immediately by a digit. Thus, `$20,000 and $30,000` won't parse as math. If for some reason you need to enclose text in literal `$` characters, backslash-escape them and they won't be treated as math delimiters. TeX math will be printed in all output formats. How it is rendered depends on the output format: LaTeX ~ It will appear verbatim surrounded by `$...$` (for inline math) or `\[...\]` (for display math). Markdown, Emacs Org mode, ConTeXt, ZimWiki ~ It will appear verbatim surrounded by `$...$` (for inline math) or `$$...$$` (for display math). XWiki ~ It will appear verbatim surrounded by `{{formula}}..{{/formula}}`. reStructuredText ~ It will be rendered using an [interpreted text role `:math:`]. AsciiDoc ~ For AsciiDoc output format (`-t asciidoc`) it will appear verbatim surrounded by `latexmath:[$...$]` (for inline math) or `[latexmath]++++\[...\]+++` (for display math). For AsciiDoctor output format (`-t asciidoctor`) the LaTex delimiters (`$..$` and `\[..\]`) are omitted. Texinfo ~ It will be rendered inside a `@math` command. roff man, Jira markup ~ It will be rendered verbatim without `$`'s. MediaWiki, DokuWiki ~ It will be rendered inside `

` tags.

Textile
  ~ It will be rendered inside `

` tags. RTF, OpenDocument ~ It will be rendered, if possible, using Unicode characters, and will otherwise appear verbatim. ODT ~ It will be rendered, if possible, using MathML. DocBook ~ If the `--mathml` flag is used, it will be rendered using MathML in an `inlineequation` or `informalequation` tag. Otherwise it will be rendered, if possible, using Unicode characters. Docx ~ It will be rendered using OMML math markup. FictionBook2 ~ If the `--webtex` option is used, formulas are rendered as images using CodeCogs or other compatible web service, downloaded and embedded in the e-book. Otherwise, they will appear verbatim. HTML, Slidy, DZSlides, S5, EPUB ~ The way math is rendered in HTML will depend on the command-line options selected. Therefore see [Math rendering in HTML] above. [interpreted text role `:math:`]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/roles.html#math ## Raw HTML #### Extension: `raw_html` #### Markdown allows you to insert raw HTML (or DocBook) anywhere in a document (except verbatim contexts, where `<`, `>`, and `&` are interpreted literally). (Technically this is not an extension, since standard Markdown allows it, but it has been made an extension so that it can be disabled if desired.) The raw HTML is passed through unchanged in HTML, S5, Slidy, Slideous, DZSlides, EPUB, Markdown, CommonMark, Emacs Org mode, and Textile output, and suppressed in other formats. For a more explicit way of including raw HTML in a Markdown document, see the [`raw_attribute` extension][Extension: `raw_attribute`]. In the CommonMark format, if `raw_html` is enabled, superscripts, subscripts, strikeouts and small capitals will be represented as HTML. Otherwise, plain-text fallbacks will be used. Note that even if `raw_html` is disabled, tables will be rendered with HTML syntax if they cannot use pipe syntax. #### Extension: `markdown_in_html_blocks` #### Standard Markdown allows you to include HTML "blocks": blocks of HTML between balanced tags that are separated from the surrounding text with blank lines, and start and end at the left margin. Within these blocks, everything is interpreted as HTML, not Markdown; so (for example), `*` does not signify emphasis. Pandoc behaves this way when the `markdown_strict` format is used; but by default, pandoc interprets material between HTML block tags as Markdown. Thus, for example, pandoc will turn

*one*

[a link](http://google.com)

into

one

a link

whereas `Markdown.pl` will preserve it as is. There is one exception to this rule: text between ` HTML """) ``` ## Image This image ![image](myimage.png) will be included as a cell attachment. ```` If you want to add cell attributes, group cells differently, or add output to code cells, then you need to include divs to indicate the structure. You can use either [fenced divs][Extension: `fenced_divs`] or [native divs][Extension: `native_divs`] for this. Here is an example: ```` :::::: {.cell .markdown} # Lorem **Lorem ipsum** dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc luctus bibendum felis dictum sodales. :::::: :::::: {.cell .code execution_count=1} ``` {.python} print("hello") ``` ::: {.output .stream .stdout} ``` hello ``` ::: :::::: :::::: {.cell .code execution_count=2} ``` {.python} from IPython.display import HTML HTML(""" HTML """) ``` ::: {.output .execute_result execution_count=2} ```{=html} HTML hello ``` ::: :::::: ```` If you include raw HTML or TeX in an output cell, use the [raw attribute][Extension: `fenced_attribute`], as shown in the last cell of the example above. Although pandoc can process "bare" raw HTML and TeX, the result is often interspersed raw elements and normal textual elements, and in an output cell pandoc expects a single, connected raw block. To avoid using raw HTML or TeX except when marked explicitly using raw attributes, we recommend specifying the extensions `-raw_html-raw_tex+raw_attribute` when translating between Markdown and ipynb notebooks. Note that options and extensions that affect reading and writing of Markdown will also affect Markdown cells in ipynb notebooks. For example, `--wrap=preserve` will preserve soft line breaks in Markdown cells; `--atx-headers` will cause ATX-style headings to be used; and `--preserve-tabs` will prevent tabs from being turned to spaces. # Syntax highlighting Pandoc will automatically highlight syntax in [fenced code blocks] that are marked with a language name. The Haskell library [skylighting] is used for highlighting. Currently highlighting is supported only for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, and LaTeX/PDF output. To see a list of language names that pandoc will recognize, type `pandoc --list-highlight-languages`. The color scheme can be selected using the `--highlight-style` option. The default color scheme is `pygments`, which imitates the default color scheme used by the Python library pygments (though pygments is not actually used to do the highlighting). To see a list of highlight styles, type `pandoc --list-highlight-styles`. If you are not satisfied with the predefined styles, you can use `--print-highlight-style` to generate a JSON `.theme` file which can be modified and used as the argument to `--highlight-style`. To get a JSON version of the `pygments` style, for example: pandoc --print-highlight-style pygments > my.theme Then edit `my.theme` and use it like this: pandoc --highlight-style my.theme If you are not satisfied with the built-in highlighting, or you want highlight a language that isn't supported, you can use the `--syntax-definition` option to load a [KDE-style XML syntax definition file](https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/applications/katepart/highlight.html). Before writing your own, have a look at KDE's [repository of syntax definitions](https://github.com/KDE/syntax-highlighting/tree/master/data/syntax). To disable highlighting, use the `--no-highlight` option. [skylighting]: https://github.com/jgm/skylighting # Custom Styles Custom styles can be used in the docx and ICML formats. ## Output By default, pandoc's docx and ICML output applies a predefined set of styles for blocks such as paragraphs and block quotes, and uses largely default formatting (italics, bold) for inlines. This will work for most purposes, especially alongside a `reference.docx` file. However, if you need to apply your own styles to blocks, or match a preexisting set of styles, pandoc allows you to define custom styles for blocks and text using `div`s and `span`s, respectively. If you define a `div` or `span` with the attribute `custom-style`, pandoc will apply your specified style to the contained elements (with the exception of elements whose function depends on a style, like headings, code blocks, block quotes, or links). So, for example, using the `bracketed_spans` syntax, [Get out]{custom-style="Emphatically"}, he said. would produce a docx file with "Get out" styled with character style `Emphatically`. Similarly, using the `fenced_divs` syntax, Dickinson starts the poem simply: ::: {custom-style="Poetry"} | A Bird came down the Walk--- | He did not know I saw--- ::: would style the two contained lines with the `Poetry` paragraph style. For docx output, styles will be defined in the output file as inheriting from normal text, if the styles are not yet in your reference.docx. If they are already defined, pandoc will not alter the definition. This feature allows for greatest customization in conjunction with [pandoc filters]. If you want all paragraphs after block quotes to be indented, you can write a filter to apply the styles necessary. If you want all italics to be transformed to the `Emphasis` character style (perhaps to change their color), you can write a filter which will transform all italicized inlines to inlines within an `Emphasis` custom-style `span`. For docx output, you don't need to enable any extensions for custom styles to work. [pandoc filters]: http://pandoc.org/filters.html ## Input The docx reader, by default, only reads those styles that it can convert into pandoc elements, either by direct conversion or interpreting the derivation of the input document's styles. By enabling the [`styles` extension](#ext-styles) in the docx reader (`-f docx+styles`), you can produce output that maintains the styles of the input document, using the `custom-style` class. Paragraph styles are interpreted as divs, while character styles are interpreted as spans. For example, using the `custom-style-reference.docx` file in the test directory, we have the following different outputs: Without the `+styles` extension: $ pandoc test/docx/custom-style-reference.docx -f docx -t markdown This is some text. This is text with an *emphasized* text style. And this is text with a **strengthened** text style. > Here is a styled paragraph that inherits from Block Text. And with the extension: $ pandoc test/docx/custom-style-reference.docx -f docx+styles -t markdown ::: {custom-style="First Paragraph"} This is some text. ::: ::: {custom-style="Body Text"} This is text with an [emphasized]{custom-style="Emphatic"} text style. And this is text with a [strengthened]{custom-style="Strengthened"} text style. ::: ::: {custom-style="My Block Style"} > Here is a styled paragraph that inherits from Block Text. ::: With these custom styles, you can use your input document as a reference-doc while creating docx output (see below), and maintain the same styles in your input and output files. # Custom writers Pandoc can be extended with custom writers written in [lua]. (Pandoc includes a lua interpreter, so lua need not be installed separately.) To use a custom writer, simply specify the path to the lua script in place of the output format. For example: pandoc -t data/sample.lua Creating a custom writer requires writing a lua function for each possible element in a pandoc document. To get a documented example which you can modify according to your needs, do pandoc --print-default-data-file sample.lua [lua]: http://www.lua.org # A note on security If you use pandoc to convert user-contributed content in a web application, here are some things to keep in mind: 1. Although pandoc itself will not create or modify any files other than those you explicitly ask it create (with the exception of temporary files used in producing PDFs), a filter or custom writer could in principle do anything on your file system. Please audit filters and custom writers very carefully before using them. 2. If your application uses pandoc as a Haskell library (rather than shelling out to the executable), it is possible to use it in a mode that fully isolates pandoc from your file system, by running the pandoc operations in the `PandocPure` monad. See the document [Using the pandoc API](http://pandoc.org/using-the-pandoc-api.html) for more details. 3. Pandoc's parsers can exhibit pathological performance on some corner cases. It is wise to put any pandoc operations under a timeout, to avoid DOS attacks that exploit these issues. If you are using the pandoc executable, you can add the command line options `+RTS -M512M -RTS` (for example) to limit the heap size to 512MB. 4. The HTML generated by pandoc is not guaranteed to be safe. If `raw_html` is enabled for the Markdown input, users can inject arbitrary HTML. Even if `raw_html` is disabled, users can include dangerous content in attributes for headings, spans, and code blocks. To be safe, you should run all the generated HTML through an HTML sanitizer. # Authors Copyright 2006--2019 John MacFarlane (jgm@berkeley.edu). Released under the [GPL], version 2 or greater. This software carries no warranty of any kind. (See COPYRIGHT for full copyright and warranty notices.) For a full list of contributors, see the file AUTHORS.md in the pandoc source code. [GPL]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html "GNU General Public License" [YAML]: https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec"