path: root/README

% Pandoc User's Guide
% John MacFarlane
% July 14, 2007

Pandoc is a [Haskell] library for converting from one markup format to
another, and a command-line tool that uses this library. It can read
[markdown] and (subsets of) [reStructuredText], [HTML], and [LaTeX], and
it can write [markdown], [reStructuredText], [HTML], [LaTeX], [ConTeXt],
[RTF], [DocBook XML], [groff man] pages, and [S5] HTML slide shows.
Pandoc's version of markdown contains some enhancements, like footnotes
and embedded LaTeX.

In contrast to existing tools for converting markdown to HTML, which
use regex substitutions, Pandoc has a modular design: it consists of a
set of readers, which parse text in a given format and produce a native
representation of the document, and a set of writers, which convert
this native representation into a target format. Thus, adding an input
or output format requires only adding a reader or writer.

[markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
[reStructuredText]: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html
[S5]: http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/
[HTML]:  http://www.w3.org/TR/html40/
[LaTeX]: http://www.latex-project.org/
[ConTeXt]: http://www.pragma-ade.nl/ 
[RTF]:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format
[DocBook XML]:  http://www.docbook.org/
[groff man]: http://developer.apple.com/DOCUMENTATION/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man7/groff_man.7.html
[Haskell]:  http://www.haskell.org/

(c) 2006 John MacFarlane (jgm at berkeley dot 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.)
Recai Oktaş (roktas at debian dot org) deserves credit for the build
system, the debian package, and the robust wrapper scripts.

[GPL]: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html "GNU General Public License"

Requirements
============

The `pandoc` program itself does not depend on any external libraries
or programs.

The wrapper script `html2markdown` requires

  - `pandoc` (which must be in the PATH)
  - a POSIX-compliant shell (installed by default on all linux and unix
    systems, including Mac OS X, and in [Cygwin] for Windows),
  - `HTML Tidy`
  - `iconv` (for character encoding conversion).  (If `iconv` is absent,
    `html2markdown` will still work, but it will treat everything as UTF-8.)

The wrapper script `markdown2pdf` requires

  - `pandoc` (which must be in the PATH)
  - a POSIX-compliant shell
  - `pdflatex`, which should be part of any [LaTeX] distribution
  - the following LaTeX packages (available from [CTAN], if they
    are not already included in your LaTeX distribution):
    + `unicode` (for UTF8 characters)
    + `fancyvrb` (for verbatim text in footnotes)
    + `graphicx` (for images)
    + `array` (for tables)
    + `ulem` (for strikeout text)

The wrapper script `hsmarkdown` requires only a POSIX-compliant shell.

[Cygwin]:  http://www.cygwin.com/ 
[HTML Tidy]:  http://tidy.sourceforge.net/
[`iconv`]: http://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/
[CTAN]: http://www.ctan.org "Comprehensive TeX Archive Network"

Using Pandoc
============

If you run `pandoc` without arguments, it will accept input from
STDIN.  If you run it with file names as arguments, it will take input
from those files.  By default, `pandoc` writes its output to STDOUT.
If you want to write to a file, use the `-o` option:

    pandoc -o hello.html hello.txt

Note that you can specify multiple input files on the command line.
`pandoc` will concatenate them all (with blank lines between them)
before parsing:

	pandoc -s chapter1.txt chapter2.txt references.txt > book.html

(The `-s` option here tells `pandoc` to produce a standalone HTML file,
with a proper header, rather than a fragment.  For more details on this
and many other command-line options, see below.)

The format of the input and output can be specified explicitly using
command-line options.  The input format can be specified using the
`-r/--read` or `-f/--from` options, the output format using the
`-w/--write` or `-t/--to` options.  Thus, to convert `hello.txt` from
markdown to LaTeX, you could type:

	pandoc -f markdown -t latex hello.txt

To convert `hello.html` from html to markdown:

	pandoc -f html -t markdown hello.html

Supported output formats include `markdown`, `latex`, `context`
(ConTeXt), `html`, `rtf` (rich text format), `rst` (reStructuredText),
`docbook` (DocBook XML), `man` (groff man), and `s5` (which produces an
HTML file that acts like powerpoint). Supported input formats include
`markdown`, `html`, `latex`, and `rst`. Note that the `rst` reader only
parses a subset of reStructuredText syntax. For example, it doesn't
handle tables, option lists, or footnotes. But for simple documents it
should be adequate. The `latex` and `html` readers are also limited in
what they can do. Because the `html` reader is picky about the HTML it
parses, it is recommended that you pipe HTML through [HTML Tidy] before
sending it to `pandoc`, or use the `html2markdown` script described
below.

If you don't specify a reader or writer explicitly, `pandoc` will
try to determine the input and output format from the extensions of
the input and output filenames.  Thus, for example, 

	pandoc -o hello.tex hello.txt

will convert `hello.txt` from markdown to LaTeX.  If no output file
is specified (so that output goes to STDOUT), or if the output file's
extension is unknown, the output format will default to HTML.
If no input file is specified (so that input comes from STDIN), or
if the input files' extensions are unknown, the input format will
be assumed to be markdown unless explicitly specified.

Character encodings
-------------------

All input is assumed to be in the UTF-8 encoding, and all output
is in UTF-8. If your local character encoding is not UTF-8 and you use
accented or foreign characters, you should pipe the input and output
through [`iconv`]. For example,

	iconv -t utf-8 source.txt | pandoc | iconv -f utf-8 > output.html

will convert `source.txt` from the local encoding to UTF-8, then
convert it to HTML, then convert back to the local encoding,
putting the output in `output.html`.

The shell scripts (described below) automatically convert the input 
from the local encoding to UTF-8 before running them through `pandoc`,
then convert the output back to the local encoding.

Shell scripts
=============

Three shell scripts, `markdown2pdf`, `html2markdown`, and `hsmarkdown`,
are included in the standard Pandoc installation.  (They are not included
in the Windows binary package, as they require a POSIX shell, but they
may be used in Windows under Cygwin.)

1.  `markdown2pdf` produces a PDF file from markdown-formatted
    text, using `pandoc` and `pdflatex`.  The default
    behavior of `markdown2pdf` is to create a file with the same
    base name as the first argument and the extension `pdf`; thus,
    for example,

	    markdown2pdf sample.txt endnotes.txt

    will produce `sample.pdf`.  (If `sample.pdf` exists already,
    it will be backed up before being overwritten.)  An output file
    name can be specified explicitly using the `-o` option:

	    markdown2pdf -o "My Book.pdf" chap1.txt chap2.txt chap3.txt  

    If no input file is specified, input will be taken from STDIN.
    All of `pandoc`'s options will work with `markdown2pdf` as well.

2.  `html2markdown` grabs a web page from a file or URL and converts
    it to markdown-formatted text, using `tidy` and `pandoc`.

    All of `pandoc`'s options will work with `html2markdown` as well.
    In addition, the following special options may be used.
    The special options must be separated from the `html2markdown`
    command and any regular Pandoc options by the delimiter `--`:

        html2markdown -o out.txt -- -e latin1 -g curl google.com 

    The `-e` or `--encoding` option specifies the character encoding
    of the HTML input.  If this option is not specified, and input
    is not from STDIN, `html2markdown` will attempt to determine the
    page's character encoding from the "Content-type" meta tag.
    If this is not present, UTF-8 is assumed.

    The `-g` or `--grabber` option specifies the command to be used to
    fetch the contents of a URL:

        html2markdown -g 'curl --user foo:bar' www.mysite.com

    If this option is not specified, `html2markdown` searches for an
    available program (`wget`, `curl`, or a text-mode browser) to fetch
    the contents of a URL.

3.  `hsmarkdown` is designed to be used as a drop-in replacement for
    `Markdown.pl`.  It forces `pandoc` to convert from markdown to
    HTML, and to use the `--strict` flag for maximal compliance with
    official markdown syntax.  (All of Pandoc's syntax extensions and
    variants, described below, are disabled.)  No other command-line
    options are allowed.  (In fact, options will be interpreted as
    filenames.)

    As an alternative to using the `hsmarkdown` shell script, the
    user may create a symbolic link to `pandoc` called `hsmarkdown`.
    When invoked under the name `hsmarkdown`, `pandoc` will behave
    as if the `--strict` flag had been selected, and no command-line
    options will be recognized.  However, this approach does not work
    under Cygwin, due to problems with its simulation of symbolic
    links.

Command-line options
====================

Various command-line options can be used to customize the output.
For further documentation, see the `pandoc(1)` man page.

`-f`, `--from`, `-r`, or `--read` can be used to specify the input
format -- the format Pandoc will be converting *from*.  Available
formats are `native`, `markdown`, `rst`, `html`, and `latex`.

`-t`, `--to`, `-w`, or `--write` can be used to specify the output
format -- the format Pandoc will be converting *to*.  Available formats
are `native`, `html`, `s5`, `docbook`, `latex`, `context`, `markdown`,
`rst`, and `rtf`.

`-s` or `--standalone` indicates that a standalone document is to be
produced (with appropriate headers and footers), rather than a fragment.

`-o` or `--output` specifies the name of the output file.  If this
option is not specified, or if its argument is `-`, output will be sent
to STDOUT.

`-p` or `--preserve-tabs` causes tabs in the source text to be
preserved, rather than converted to spaces (the default).

`--tabstop` allows the user to set the tab stop (which defaults to 4).

`--strict` specifies that strict markdown syntax is to be used, without
pandoc's usual extensions and variants (described below).  When the
input format is HTML, this means that constructs that have no
equivalents in standard markdown (e.g. definition lists or strikeout
text) will be parsed as raw HTML.

`--reference-links` causes reference-style links to be used in markdown 
and reStructuredText output.  By default inline links are used.

`-R` or `--parse-raw` causes the HTML and LaTeX readers to parse HTML
codes and LaTeX environments that it can't translate as raw HTML or
LaTeX.  Raw HTML can be printed in markdown, reStructuredText, HTML,
and S5 output; raw LaTeX can be printed in markdown, reStructuredText,
LaTeX, and ConTeXt output.  The default is for the readers to omit
untranslatable HTML codes and LaTeX environments.  (The LaTeX reader
does pass through untranslatable LaTeX commands, even if `-R` is not
specified.)

`-C` or `--custom-header` can be used to specify a custom document
header.  To see the headers used by default, use the `-D` option:
for example, `pandoc -D html` prints the default HTML header.

`--toc` or `--table-of-contents` includes an automatically generated
table of contents (or, in the case of `latex`, `context`, and `rst`, an
instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no
effect with `man`, `docbook`, or `s5` output formats.

`-c` or `--css` allows the user to specify a custom stylesheet that
will be linked to in HTML and S5 output.

`-H` or `--include-in-header` specifies a file to be included
(verbatim) at the end of the document header.  This can be used, for
example, to include special CSS or javascript in HTML documents.

`-B` or `--include-before-body` specifies a file to be included
(verbatim) at the beginning of the document body (e.g. after the `<body>`
tag in HTML, or the `\begin{document}` command in LaTeX).  This can be
used to include navigation bars or banners in HTML documents.

`-A` or `--include-after-body` specifies a file to be included
(verbatim) at the end of the document body (before the `</body>` tag in
HTML, or the `\end{document}` command in LaTeX).

`-T` or `--title-prefix` specifies a string to be included 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).  (See
below on Titles.)

`-S` or `--smart` causes `pandoc` to produce typographically
correct output, along the lines of John Gruber's [Smartypants].
Straight quotes are converted to curly quotes, `---` to dashes, and
`...` to ellipses.  (Note:  This option is only significant when
the input format is `markdown`.  It is selected automatically
when the output format is `latex` or `context`.)

[Smartypants]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/smartypants/

`-m` or `--asciimathml` will cause LaTeX formulas (between $ signs) in
HTML or S5 to display as formulas rather than as code.  The trick will
not work in all browsers, but it works in Firefox.  Peter Jipsen's
[ASCIIMathML] script is used to do the magic.

[ASCIIMathML]: http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/mathml/asciimath.html

`-i` or `--incremental` causes all lists in S5 output to be displayed
incrementally by default (one item at a time).  The normal default
is for lists to be displayed all at once.

`-N` or `--number-sections` causes sections to be numbered in LaTeX
or ConTeXt output.  By default, sections are not numbered.

`--dump-args` is intended to make it easier to create wrapper scripts
that use Pandoc.  It causes Pandoc to dump information about the arguments
with which it was called to STDOUT, then exit.  The first line printed
is the name of the output file specified using the `-o` or `--output`
option, or `-` if output would go to STDOUT.  The remaining lines, if any,
list command-line arguments.  These will include the names of input
files and any special options passed after ` -- ` on the command line.
So, for example,

    pandoc --dump-args -o foo.html -s foo.txt appendix.txt -- -e latin1

will cause the following to be printed to STDOUT:

    foo.html
    foo.txt
    appendix.txt
    -e
    latin1

`--ignore-args` causes Pandoc to ignore all command-line arguments.
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   

`-v` or `--version` prints the version number to STDERR.

`-h` or `--help` prints a usage message to STDERR.

Pandoc's markdown vs. standard markdown
=======================================

In parsing markdown, Pandoc departs from and extends [standard markdown]
in a few respects.  (To run Pandoc on the official markdown test suite,
type `make test-markdown`.)  Except where noted, these differences can
be suppressed by specifying the `--strict` command-line option or by
using the `hsmarkdown` wrapper.

[standard markdown]:  http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax
  "Markdown syntax description"

Backslash escapes
-----------------

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

    <em>*hello*</em>

instead of

    <strong>hello</strong>

This rule is easier to remember than standard markdown's rule,
which allows only the following characters to be backslash-escaped:

    \`*_{}[]()>#+-.!

Subscripts and superscripts
---------------------------

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~`.

Strikeout
---------

To strikeout a section of text with a horizontal line, begin and end it
with `~~`. Thus, for example,

    This ~~is deleted text.~~

Lists
-----

Pandoc behaves differently from standard markdown on some "edge
cases" involving lists.  Consider this source: 

	1.  First
	2.  Second:
		-   Fee
		-   Fie
		-   Foe

	3.  Third

Pandoc transforms this into a "compact list" (with no `<p>` tags
around "First", "Second", or "Third"), while markdown puts `<p>`
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 `--strict` option is specified.  This
behavior is consistent with the official markdown syntax
description, even though it is different from that of `Markdown.pl`.)

Unlike standard markdown, Pandoc allows ordered list items to be
marked with single lowercase letters (from 'a' to 'n'), instead of
numbers. So, for example, this source yields a nested ordered list:

    1.  First
    2.  Second
        a.  Fee
        b.  Fie
    3.  Third

The letters may be followed by either '.' or ')':

    1.  First
    2.  Second
        a)  Fee
        b)  Fie
    3.  Third

Note that Pandoc pays no attention to the *type* of ordered list
item marker used.  Thus, the following is treated just the same as
the example above:

    a)  First
    1.  Second
        2.  Fee
        b)  Fie
    c.  Third

Definition lists
----------------

Pandoc supports definition lists, using a syntax inspired by
[PHP Markdown Extra] and [reStructuredText]:

  [PHP Markdown Extra]: http://www.michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/extra/

    Term 1
    :   Definition 1

    Term 2
    :   Definition 2

    :   Second paragraph of definition 2.

Each term must fit on one line. The definition must begin on the line
after the term. The definition consists of one or more block elements
(paragraph, code block, list, etc.), each beginning with a colon and
(aside from the colon) indented one tab stop.

    Term *with inline markup*
    :   Here is the definition.  It may
        contain multiple blocks.  Here is some code:

    :       {* my code *} 

    :   Here is the third paragraph of this definition.

If you leave space after the definition (as in the first example above),
the definitions will be considered paragraphs. In some output formats,
this will mean greater spacing between term/definition pairs. For a
compact definition list, do not leave space between the definition and
the next term:

    Term 1
    :   Definition 1
    Term 2
    :   Definition 2

Reference links
---------------

Pandoc allows implicit reference links with just a single set of
brackets.  So, the following links are equivalent:

	1. Here's my [link]
	2. Here's my [link][]

	[link]: linky.com

(Note:  Pandoc works this way even if `--strict` is specified, because
`Markdown.pl` 1.0.2b7 allows single-bracket links.)

Footnotes
---------

Pandoc's markdown allows footnotes, using the following syntax:

	Here is a footnote reference,[^1] and another.[^longnote]

	[^1]: Here is the footnote.  It can go anywhere in the document,
	except in embedded contexts like block quotes or lists.	

	[^longnote]: Here's the other note.  This one contains multiple
	blocks.

        Subsequent paragraphs are indented to show that they belong to
    the previous footnote.

            { some.code }

	    The whole paragraph can be indented, or just the first line.
	    In this way, multi-paragraph footnotes work just like
	    multi-paragraph list items in markdown.

    This paragraph won't be part of the note, because it isn't indented.

The identifiers in footnote references may not contain spaces, tabs,
or newlines.  These identifiers are used only to correlate the
footnote reference with the note itself; in the output, footnotes
will be numbered sequentially.

The footnotes themselves need not be placed at the end of the
document.  They may appear anywhere except inside other block elements
(lists, block quotes, tables, etc.).

Inline footnotes are also allowed (though, unlike regular notes,
they cannot contain multiple paragraphs).  The syntax is as follows:

    Here is an inline note.^[Inlines notes are easier to write, since
    you don't have to pick an identifier and move down to type the
    note.]

Inline and regular footnotes may be mixed freely.

Tables
------

Two kinds of tables may be used.  Both kinds presuppose the use of
a fixed-width font, such as Courier.

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 headers 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:[^1]

  - 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).

[^1]:  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.  Optionally, a caption may be
provided (as illustrated in the example above).  A caption is a paragraph
beginning with the string `Table:`, which will be stripped off.

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.

Multiline tables allow headers and table rows to span multiple lines
of text.  Here is an example:

    ---------------------------------------------------------------
     Centered   Left             Right
      Header    Aligned        Aligned  Default 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:  Optional caption.  This, 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.
  - They must end with a row of dashes, then a blank line.
  - The rows must be separated by blank lines. 

Title blocks
------------

If the file begins with a title block

	% title
	% author(s) (separated by commas)
	% 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 lines.  Each must begin with a % and fit on one line.
The title may contain standard inline formatting.  If you want to
include an author but no title, or a title and a date but no author,
you need a blank line:

	% My title
	% 
	% June 15, 2006

Titles will be written 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.

Markdown in HTML blocks
-----------------------

While standard markdown leaves HTML blocks exactly as they are, Pandoc
treats text between HTML tags as markdown. Thus, for example, Pandoc
will turn

	<table>
		<tr>
			<td>*one*</td>
			<td>[a link](http://google.com)</td>
		</tr>
	</table>

into

	<table>
		<tr>
			<td><em>one</em></td>
			<td><a href="http://google.com">a link</a></td>
		</tr>
	</table>

whereas `Markdown.pl` will preserve it as is.

There is one exception to this rule:  text between `<script>` and
`</script>` tags is not interpreted as markdown.

This departure from standard markdown should make it easier to mix
markdown with HTML block elements.  For example, one can surround
a block of markdown text with `<div>` tags without preventing it
from being interpreted as markdown.

Header identifiers in HTML
--------------------------

Each header element in pandoc's HTML output is given a unique
identifier. This identifier is based on the text of the header. To
derive the identifier from the header text,

  - Remove all formatting, links, etc.
  - Remove all punctuation, except dashes and hyphens.
  - Replace all spaces, dashes, newlines, and hyphens with hyphens.
  - Convert all alphabetic characters to lowercase.

Thus,

                         Header text     Identifier
   --------------------------------- --- --------------------------------
         Header identifiers in HTML   →  `header-identifiers-in-html`
             *Dogs*?--in *my* house?  →  `dogs--in-my-house`
             [HTML], [S5], or [RTF]?  →  `html-s5-or-rtf`

These rules should, in most cases, allow one to determine the identifier
from the header text. The exception is when several headers 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.

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 [header identifiers](#header-identifiers-in-html). 

Note, however, that this method of providing links to sections works
only in HTML.

Box-style blockquotes
---------------------

Pandoc supports emacs-style boxquote block quotes, in addition to
standard markdown (email-style) block quotes:

	,----
	| They look like this.
	`----

Blank lines before headers and blockquotes
------------------------------------------

Standard markdown syntax does not require a blank line before a header
or blockquote.  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 `>` or `#` 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.

Inline LaTeX
------------

Anything between two $ characters will be parsed as LaTeX math.  The
opening $ must have a character immediately to its right, while the
closing $ must have a character immediately to its left.  Thus,
`$20,000 and $30,000` won't parse as math.  The $ character can be
escaped with a backslash if needed.

If you pass the `-m` (`--asciimathml`) option to `pandoc`, it will
embed the [ASCIIMathML] script in the resulting HTML.  This will
cause LaTeX math to be displayed as formulas in better
browsers.[^2]

[ASCIIMathML]: http://www1.chapman.edu/~jipsen/asciimath.html 

Inline LaTeX commands will also be preserved and passed unchanged
to the LaTeX writer.  Thus, for example, you can use LaTeX to
include BibTeX citations:

	This result was proved in \cite{jones.1967}.

You can also use LaTeX environments.  For example,

	\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}\hline
	Age & Frequency \\ \hline
	18--25  & 15 \\
	26--35  & 33 \\ 
	36--45  & 22 \\ \hline
	\end{tabular}

Note, however, that material between the begin and end tags will
be interpreted as raw LaTeX, not as markdown.

[^2]: If you are serving several pages that use ASCIIMathML, it will be
    more efficient to link to an external copy of `ASCIIMathML.js`
    instead of using the `-m|--asciimathml` option to embed it directly
    in web pages. To do this, get a copy of `ASCIIMathML.js` from the
    [ASCIIMathML] website and make it available on your webserver. Then
    create a custom header for your web page that includes the line

        <script src="/path/to/ASCIIMathML.js"></script>

Custom headers
==============

When run with the "standalone" option (`-s`), `pandoc` creates a
standalone file, complete with an appropriate header.  To see the
default headers used for html and latex, use the following commands:

	pandoc -D html

	pandoc -D latex 

If you want to use a different header, just create a file containing
it and specify it on the command line as follows:

	pandoc --header=MyHeaderFile

Producing S5 with Pandoc
========================

Producing an [S5] web-based slide show with Pandoc is easy.  A title
page is constructed automatically from the document's title block (see
above).  Each section (with a level-one header) produces a single slide.
(Note that if the section is too big, the slide will not fit on the page;
S5 is not smart enough to produce multiple pages.)

Here's the markdown source for a simple slide show, `eating.txt`:

	% Eating Habits
	% John Doe
	% March 22, 2005

	# In the morning

	- Eat eggs
	- Drink coffee

	# In the evening

	- Eat spaghetti
	- Drink wine

To produce the slide show, simply type

	pandoc -w s5 -s eating.txt > eating.html

and open up `eating.html` in a browser.  The HTML file embeds
all the required javascript and CSS, so no other files are necessary.

Note that by default, the S5 writer produces lists that display
"all at once."  If you want your lists to display incrementally
(one item at a time), use the `-i` option.  If you want a
particular list to depart from the default (that is, to display
incrementally without the `-i` option and all at once with the
`-i` option), put it in a block quote:

	> - Eat spaghetti
	> - Drink wine

In this way incremental and nonincremental lists can be mixed in
a single document.