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| Boilerpipe Text | Synopsis
pandoc
[
options
]
[
input-file
]…
Description
Pandoc is a
Haskell
library for converting from one markup format to another, and a
command-line tool that uses this library.
Pandoc can convert between numerous markup and word processing
formats, including, but not limited to, various flavors of
Markdown
,
HTML
,
LaTeX
and
Word
docx
. For the full lists of input and output formats, see the
--from
and
--to
options below
. Pandoc can also produce
PDF
output: see
creating a PDF
, below.
Pandoc’s enhanced version of Markdown includes syntax for
tables
,
definition
lists
,
metadata blocks
,
footnotes
,
citations
,
math
, and
much more. See below under
Pandoc’s
Markdown
.
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 (an
abstract syntax tree
or AST), 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. Users can
also run custom
pandoc
filters
to modify the intermediate AST.
Because pandoc’s intermediate representation of a document is
less expressive than many of the formats it converts between, one
should not expect perfect conversions between every format and
every other. Pandoc attempts to preserve the structural elements
of a document, but not formatting details such as margin size. And
some document elements, such as complex tables, may not fit into
pandoc’s simple document model. While conversions from pandoc’s
Markdown to all formats aspire to be perfect, conversions from
formats more expressive than pandoc’s Markdown can be expected to
be lossy.
Using pandoc
If no
input-files
are specified, input is read from
stdin
. Output goes to
stdout
by default. For
output to a file, use the
-o
/
--output
option:
pandoc -o output.html input.txt
By default, pandoc produces a document fragment. To produce a
standalone document (e.g. a valid HTML file including
<head>
and
<body>
), use the
-s
or
--standalone
flag:
pandoc -s -o output.html input.txt
For more information on how standalone documents are produced,
see
Templates
below.
If multiple input files are given, pandoc will concatenate them
all (with blank lines between them) before parsing. (Use
--file-scope
to parse files
individually.)
Specifying formats
The format of the input and output can be specified explicitly
using command-line options. The input format can be specified
using the
-f/--from
option, the output
format using the
-t/--to
option. 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 input and output formats are listed below under
Options
(see
-f
for input formats and
-t
for output
formats). You can also use
pandoc --list-input-formats
and
pandoc --list-output-formats
to print lists of
supported formats.
If the input or output format is not specified explicitly,
pandoc will attempt to guess it from the extensions of the
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.
Character encoding
Pandoc uses the UTF-8 character encoding for both input and
output. If your local character encoding is not UTF-8, you should
pipe input and output through
iconv
:
iconv -t utf-8 input.txt | pandoc | iconv -f utf-8
Note that in some output formats (such as HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt,
RTF, OPML, DocBook, and Texinfo), information about the character
encoding is included in the document header, which will only be
included if you use the
-s/--standalone
option.
Creating a PDF
To produce a PDF, specify an output file with a
.pdf
extension:
pandoc test.txt -o test.pdf
By default, pandoc will use LaTeX to create the PDF, which
requires that a LaTeX engine be installed (see
--pdf-engine
below).
Alternatively, pandoc can use ConTeXt, roff ms, or HTML as an
intermediate format. To do this, specify an output file with a
.pdf
extension, as before, but add the
--pdf-engine
option or
-t context
,
-t html
, or
-t ms
to the
command line. The tool used to generate the PDF from the
intermediate format may be specified using
--pdf-engine
.
You can control the PDF style using variables, depending on the
intermediate format used: see
variables for LaTeX
,
variables for ConTeXt
,
variables for
wkhtmltopdf
,
variables for ms
. When HTML is used
as an intermediate format, the output can be styled using
--css
.
To debug the PDF creation, it can be useful to look at the
intermediate representation: instead of
-o test.pdf
, use for example
-s -o test.tex
to output the
generated LaTeX. You can then test it with
pdflatex test.tex
.
When using LaTeX, the following packages need to be available
(they are included with all recent versions of
TeX Live
):
amsfonts
,
amsmath
,
lm
,
unicode-math
,
iftex
,
listings
(if
the
--listings
option is used),
fancyvrb
,
longtable
,
booktabs
,
multirow
(if the document contains a table with cells that cross multiple
rows),
graphicx
(if
the document contains images),
bookmark
,
xcolor
,
soul
,
geometry
(with the
geometry
variable set),
setspace
(with
linestretch
), and
babel
(with
lang
). If
CJKmainfont
is set,
xeCJK
is needed
if
xelatex
is used, else
luatexja
is
needed if
lualatex
is used.
framed
is
required if code is highlighted in a scheme that use a colored
background. The use of
xelatex
or
lualatex
as the PDF engine requires
fontspec
.
lualatex
uses
selnolig
and
lua-ul
.
xelatex
uses
bidi
(with the
dir
variable set). If the
mathspec
variable is set,
xelatex
will use
mathspec
instead of
unicode-math
.
The
csquotes
package will be used for
typography
if
the
csquotes
variable or metadata field is set to a
true value. The
natbib
,
biblatex
,
bibtex
, and
biber
packages
can optionally be used for
citation
rendering
. If math with
\cancel
,
\bcancel
, or
\xcancel
is used, the
cancel
package
is needed. The following packages will be used to improve output
quality if present, but pandoc does not require them to be
present:
upquote
(for
straight quotes in verbatim environments),
microtype
(for better spacing adjustments),
parskip
(for
better inter-paragraph spaces),
xurl
(for better
line breaks in URLs), and
footnotehyper
or
footnote
(to
allow footnotes in tables).
Reading from the Web
Instead of an input file, an absolute URI may be given. In this
case pandoc will fetch the content using HTTP:
pandoc -f html -t markdown https://www.fsf.org
It is possible to supply a custom User-Agent string or other
header when requesting a document from a URL:
pandoc -f html -t markdown --request-header User-Agent:"Mozilla/5.0" \
https://www.fsf.org
Options
General options
-f
FORMAT
,
-r
FORMAT
,
--from=
FORMAT
,
--read=
FORMAT
Specify input format.
FORMAT
can be:
asciidoc
(
AsciiDoc
markup)
bibtex
(
BibTeX
bibliography)
biblatex
(
BibLaTeX
bibliography)
bits
(
BITS
XML,
alias for
jats
)
commonmark
(
CommonMark
Markdown)
commonmark_x
(
CommonMark
Markdown with
extensions)
creole
(
Creole
1.0
)
csljson
(
CSL
JSON
bibliography)
csv
(
CSV
table)
tsv
(
TSV
table)
djot
(
Djot
markup
)
docbook
(
DocBook
)
docx
(
Word
docx
)
dokuwiki
(
DokuWiki markup
)
endnotexml
(
EndNote
XML bibliography
)
epub
(
EPUB
)
fb2
(
FictionBook2
e-book)
gfm
(
GitHub-Flavored
Markdown
), or the deprecated and less accurate
markdown_github
; use
markdown_github
only if
you need extensions not supported in
gfm
.
haddock
(
Haddock
markup
)
html
(
HTML
)
ipynb
(
Jupyter
notebook
)
jats
(
JATS
XML)
jira
(
Jira
/Confluence
wiki markup)
json
(JSON version of native AST)
latex
(
LaTeX
)
markdown
(
Pandoc’s
Markdown
)
markdown_mmd
(
MultiMarkdown
)
markdown_phpextra
(
PHP
Markdown Extra
)
markdown_strict
(original unextended
Markdown
)
mediawiki
(
MediaWiki
markup
)
man
(
roff
man
)
mdoc
(
mdoc
manual page
markup)
muse
(
Muse
)
native
(native Haskell)
odt
(
OpenDocument
text document
)
opml
(
OPML
)
org
(
Emacs Org
mode
)
pod
(Perl’s
Plain Old
Documentation
)
pptx
(
PowerPoint
)
ris
(
RIS
bibliography)
rtf
(
Rich Text
Format
)
rst
(
reStructuredText
)
t2t
(
txt2tags
)
textile
(
Textile
)
tikiwiki
(
TikiWiki
markup
)
twiki
(
TWiki
markup
)
typst
(
typst
)
vimwiki
(
Vimwiki
)
xlsx
(
Excel
spreadsheet
)
xml
(XML version of native AST)
the path of a custom Lua reader, see
Custom readers and writers
below
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending
+EXTENSION
or
-EXTENSION
to the format
name. See
Extensions
below, for a list
of extensions and their names. See
--list-input-formats
and
--list-extensions
, below.
-t
FORMAT
,
-w
FORMAT
,
--to=
FORMAT
,
--write=
FORMAT
Specify output format.
FORMAT
can be:
ansi
(text with
ANSI escape
codes
, for terminal viewing)
asciidoc
(modern
AsciiDoc
as interpreted by
AsciiDoctor
)
asciidoc_legacy
(
AsciiDoc
as interpreted by
asciidoc-py
).
asciidoctor
(deprecated synonym for
asciidoc
)
bbcode
BBCode
bbcode_fluxbb
BBCode
(FluxBB)
bbcode_phpbb
BBCode
(phpBB)
bbcode_steam
BBCode
(Steam)
bbcode_hubzilla
BBCode
(Hubzilla)
bbcode_xenforo
BBCode
(xenForo)
beamer
(
LaTeX beamer
slide
show)
bibtex
(
BibTeX
bibliography)
biblatex
(
BibLaTeX
bibliography)
chunkedhtml
(zip archive of multiple linked HTML
files)
commonmark
(
CommonMark
Markdown)
commonmark_x
(
CommonMark
Markdown with
extensions)
context
(
ConTeXt
)
csljson
(
CSL
JSON
bibliography)
djot
(
Djot
markup
)
docbook
or
docbook4
(
DocBook
4)
docbook5
(DocBook 5)
docx
(
Word
docx
)
dokuwiki
(
DokuWiki markup
)
epub
or
epub3
(
EPUB
v3 book)
epub2
(EPUB v2)
fb2
(
FictionBook2
e-book)
gfm
(
GitHub-Flavored
Markdown
), or the deprecated and less accurate
markdown_github
; use
markdown_github
only if
you need extensions not supported in
gfm
.
haddock
(
Haddock
markup
)
html
or
html5
(
HTML
, i.e.
HTML5
/XHTML
polyglot
markup
)
html4
(
XHTML
1.0
Transitional)
icml
(
InDesign
ICML
)
ipynb
(
Jupyter
notebook
)
jats_archiving
(
JATS
XML, Archiving and
Interchange Tag Set)
jats_articleauthoring
(
JATS
XML, Article Authoring
Tag Set)
jats_publishing
(
JATS
XML, Journal Publishing
Tag Set)
jats
(alias for
jats_archiving
)
jira
(
Jira
/Confluence
wiki markup)
json
(JSON version of native AST)
latex
(
LaTeX
)
man
(
roff
man
)
markdown
(
Pandoc’s
Markdown
)
markdown_mmd
(
MultiMarkdown
)
markdown_phpextra
(
PHP
Markdown Extra
)
markdown_strict
(original unextended
Markdown
)
markua
(
Markua
)
mediawiki
(
MediaWiki
markup
)
ms
(
roff
ms
)
muse
(
Muse
)
native
(native Haskell)
odt
(
OpenDocument
text document
)
opml
(
OPML
)
opendocument
(
OpenDocument
XML
)
org
(
Emacs Org
mode
)
pdf
(
PDF
)
plain
(plain text)
pptx
(
PowerPoint
slide show)
rst
(
reStructuredText
)
rtf
(
Rich Text
Format
)
texinfo
(
GNU Texinfo
)
textile
(
Textile
)
slideous
(
Slideous
HTML
and JavaScript slide show)
slidy
(
Slidy
HTML and
JavaScript slide show)
dzslides
(
DZSlides
HTML5 +
JavaScript slide show)
revealjs
(
reveal.js
HTML5 + JavaScript
slide show)
s5
(
S5
HTML and
JavaScript slide show)
tei
(
TEI Simple
)
typst
(
typst
)
vimdoc
(
Vimdoc
)
xml
(XML version of native AST)
xwiki
(
XWiki
markup
)
zimwiki
(
ZimWiki
markup
)
the path of a custom Lua writer, see
Custom readers and writers
below
Note that
odt
,
docx
,
epub
, and
pdf
output will not be
directed to
stdout
unless forced with
-o -
.
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending
+EXTENSION
or
-EXTENSION
to the format
name. See
Extensions
below, for a list
of extensions and their names. See
--list-output-formats
and
--list-extensions
, below.
-o
FILE
,
--output=
FILE
Write output to
FILE
instead of
stdout
. If
FILE
is
-
, output will go to
stdout
, even if a non-textual format (
docx
,
odt
,
epub2
,
epub3
) is
specified. If the output format is
chunkedhtml
and
FILE
has no extension, then instead of producing a
.zip
file pandoc will create a directory
FILE
and unpack the zip archive there (unless
FILE
already exists, in which case an error will be
raised).
--data-dir=
DIRECTORY
Specify the user data directory to search for pandoc data
files. If this option is not specified, the default user data
directory will be used. On *nix and macOS systems this will be the
pandoc
subdirectory of the XDG data directory (by
default,
$HOME/.local/share
, overridable by setting
the
XDG_DATA_HOME
environment variable). If that
directory does not exist and
$HOME/.pandoc
exists, it
will be used (for backwards compatibility). On Windows the default
user data directory is
%APPDATA%\pandoc
. You can find
the default user data directory on your system by looking at the
output of
pandoc --version
. Data files placed in this
directory (for example,
reference.odt
,
reference.docx
,
epub.css
,
templates
) will override pandoc’s normal defaults.
(Note that the user data directory is not created by pandoc, so
you will need to create it yourself if you want to make use of
it.)
-d
FILE
,
--defaults=
FILE
Specify a set of default option settings.
FILE
is a
YAML or JSON file whose fields correspond to command-line option
settings. All options for document conversion, including input and
output files, can be set using a defaults file. The file will be
searched for first in the working directory, and then in the
defaults
subdirectory of the user data directory (see
--data-dir
). The
.yaml
extension will be added if
FILE
lacs
an extension. See the section
Defaults
files
for more information on the file format. Settings from
the defaults file may be overridden or extended by subsequent
options on the command line.
--bash-completion
Generate a bash completion script. To enable bash completion
with pandoc, add this to your
.bashrc
:
eval "$(pandoc --bash-completion)"
--verbose
Give verbose debugging output.
--quiet
Suppress warning messages.
--fail-if-warnings[=true|false]
Exit with error status if there are any warnings.
--log=
FILE
Write log messages in machine-readable JSON format to
FILE
. All messages above DEBUG level will be written,
regardless of verbosity settings (
--verbose
,
--quiet
).
--list-input-formats
List supported input formats, one per line.
--list-output-formats
List supported output formats, one per line.
--list-extensions
[
=
FORMAT
]
List supported extensions for
FORMAT
, one per line,
preceded by a
+
or
-
indicating whether
it is enabled by default in
FORMAT
. If
FORMAT
is
not specified, defaults for pandoc’s Markdown are given.
--list-highlight-languages
List supported languages for syntax highlighting, one per
line.
--list-highlight-styles
List supported styles for syntax highlighting, one per line.
See
--syntax-highlighting
.
-v
,
--version
Print version.
-h
,
--help
Show usage message.
Reader options
--shift-heading-level-by=
NUMBER
Shift heading levels by a positive or negative integer. For
example, with
--shift-heading-level-by=-1
, level
2 headings become level 1 headings, and level 3 headings become
level 2 headings. Headings cannot have a level less than 1, so a
heading that would be shifted below level 1 becomes a regular
paragraph. Exception: with a shift of -N, a level-N heading at the
beginning of the document replaces the metadata title.
--shift-heading-level-by=-1
is a
good choice when converting HTML or Markdown documents that use an
initial level-1 heading for the document title and level-2+
headings for sections.
--shift-heading-level-by=1
may be
a good choice for converting Markdown documents that use level-1
headings for sections to HTML, since pandoc uses a level-1 heading
to render the document title.
Deprecated. Use
--shift-heading-level-by
=X
instead, where X = NUMBER - 1.
Specify the base level for
headings (defaults to 1).
--indented-code-classes=
CLASSES
Specify classes to use for indented code blocks—for example,
perl,numberLines
or
haskell
. Multiple
classes may be separated by spaces or commas.
--default-image-extension=
EXTENSION
Specify a default extension to use when image paths/URLs have
no extension. This allows you to use the same source for formats
that require different kinds of images. Currently this option only
affects the Markdown and LaTeX readers.
--file-scope[=true|false]
Parse each file individually before combining for multifile
documents. This will allow footnotes in different files with the
same identifiers to work as expected. If this option is set,
footnotes and links will not work across files. Reading binary
files (docx, odt, epub) implies
--file-scope
.
If two or more files are processed using
--file-scope
, prefixes based on
the filenames will be added to identifiers in order to
disambiguate them, and internal links will be adjusted
accordingly. For example, a header with identifier
foo
in
subdir/file1.txt
will have its
identifier changed to
subdir__file1.txt__foo
.
-F
PROGRAM
,
--filter=
PROGRAM
Specify an executable to be used as a filter transforming the
pandoc AST after the input is parsed and before the output is
written. The executable should read JSON from stdin and write JSON
to stdout. The JSON must be formatted like pandoc’s own JSON input
and output. The name of the output format will be passed to the
filter as the first argument. Hence,
pandoc --filter ./caps.py -t latex
is equivalent to
pandoc -t json | ./caps.py latex | pandoc -f json -t latex
The latter form may be useful for debugging filters.
Filters may be written in any language.
Text.Pandoc.JSON
exports
toJSONFilter
to
facilitate writing filters in Haskell. Those who would prefer to
write filters in python can use the module
pandocfilters
,
installable from PyPI. There are also pandoc filter libraries in
PHP
,
perl
, and
JavaScript/node.js
.
In order of preference, pandoc will look for filters in
a specified full or relative path (executable or
non-executable),
$DATADIR/filters
(executable or
non-executable) where
$DATADIR
is the user data
directory (see
--data-dir
, above),
$PATH
(executable only).
Filters, Lua-filters, and citeproc processing are applied in
the order specified on the command line.
-L
SCRIPT
,
--lua-filter=
SCRIPT
Transform the document in a similar fashion as JSON filters
(see
--filter
), but use pandoc’s
built-in Lua filtering system. The given Lua script is expected to
return a list of Lua filters which will be applied in order. Each
Lua filter must contain element-transforming functions indexed by
the name of the AST element on which the filter function should be
applied.
The
pandoc
Lua module provides helper functions
for element creation. It is always loaded into the script’s Lua
environment.
See the
Lua
filters documentation
for further details.
In order of preference, pandoc will look for Lua filters in
a specified full or relative path,
$DATADIR/filters
where
$DATADIR
is the user data directory (see
--data-dir
, above).
Filters, Lua filters, and citeproc processing are applied in
the order specified on the command line.
-M
KEY
[
=
VAL
],
--metadata=
KEY
[
:
VAL
]
Set the metadata field
KEY
to the value
VAL
.
A value specified on the command line overrides a value specified
in the document using
YAML metadata blocks
.
Values will be parsed as YAML boolean or string values. If no
value is specified, the value will be treated as Boolean true.
Like
--variable
,
--metadata
causes template
variables to be set. But unlike
--variable
,
--metadata
affects the metadata of
the underlying document (which is accessible from filters and may
be printed in some output formats) and metadata values will be
escaped when inserted into the template.
--metadata-file=
FILE
Read metadata from the supplied YAML (or JSON) file. This
option can be used with every input format, but string scalars in
the metadata file will always be parsed as Markdown. (If the input
format is Markdown or a Markdown variant, then the same variant
will be used to parse the metadata file; if it is a non-Markdown
format, pandoc’s default Markdown extensions will be used.) This
option can be used repeatedly to include multiple metadata files;
values in files specified later on the command line will be
preferred over those specified in earlier files. Metadata values
specified inside the document, or by using
-M
,
overwrite values specified with this option. The file will be
searched for first in the working directory, and then in the
metadata
subdirectory of the user data directory (see
--data-dir
).
-p
,
--preserve-tabs[=true|false]
Preserve tabs instead of converting them to spaces. (By
default, pandoc converts tabs to spaces before parsing its input.)
Note that this will only affect tabs in literal code spans and
code blocks. Tabs in regular text are always treated as
spaces.
--tab-stop=
NUMBER
Specify the number of spaces per tab (default is 4).
--track-changes=accept
|
reject
|
all
Specifies what to do with insertions, deletions, and comments
produced by the MS Word “Track Changes” feature.
accept
(the default) processes all the insertions and
deletions.
reject
ignores them. Both
accept
and
reject
ignore comments.
all
includes all insertions, deletions, and comments,
wrapped in spans with
insertion
,
deletion
,
comment-start
, and
comment-end
classes, respectively. The author and
time of change is included.
all
is useful for
scripting: only accepting changes from a certain reviewer, say, or
before a certain date. If a paragraph is inserted or deleted,
track-changes=all
produces a span with the class
paragraph-insertion
/
paragraph-deletion
before the affected paragraph break. This option only affects the
docx reader.
Extract images and other media contained in or linked from the
source document to the path
DIR
, creating it if
necessary, and adjust the images references in the document so
they point to the extracted files. Media are downloaded, read from
the file system, or extracted from a binary container (e.g. docx),
as needed. The original file paths are used if they are relative
paths not containing
..
. Otherwise filenames are
constructed from the SHA1 hash of the contents.
If the path given ends in
.zip
, then instead of
creating a directory, pandoc will create a zip archive containing
the media files.
--abbreviations=
FILE
Specifies a custom abbreviations file, with abbreviations one
to a line. If this option is not specified, pandoc will read the
data file
abbreviations
from the user data directory
or fall back on a system default. To see the system default, use
pandoc --print-default-data-file=abbreviations
. The
only use pandoc makes of this list is in the Markdown reader.
Strings found in this list will be followed by a nonbreaking
space, and the period will not produce sentence-ending space in
formats like LaTeX. The strings may not contain spaces.
--trace[=true|false]
Print diagnostic output tracing parser progress to stderr. This
option is intended for use by developers in diagnosing performance
issues.
General writer options
-s
,
--standalone
Produce output with an appropriate header and footer (e.g. a
standalone HTML, LaTeX, TEI, or RTF file, not a fragment). This
option is set automatically for
pdf
,
epub
,
epub3
,
fb2
,
docx
, and
odt
output. For
native
output, this option causes metadata to be
included; otherwise, metadata is suppressed.
--template=
FILE
|
URL
Use the specified file as a custom template for the generated
document. Implies
--standalone
. See
Templates
, below, for a description of
template syntax. If the template is not found, pandoc will search
for it in the
templates
subdirectory of the user data
directory (see
--data-dir
). If no extension is
specified and an extensionless template is not found, pandoc will
look for a template with an extension corresponding to the writer,
so that
--template=special
looks for
special.html
for HTML output. If this option is not
used, a default template appropriate for the output format will be
used (see
-D/--print-default-template
).
-V
KEY
[
=
VAL
],
--variable=
KEY
[
=
VAL
]
Set the template variable
KEY
to the string value
VAL
when rendering the document in standalone mode.
Either
:
or
=
may be used to separate
KEY
from
VAL
. If no
VAL
is specified,
the key will be given the value
true
. Structured
values (lists, maps) cannot be assigned using this option, but
they can be assigned in the
variables
section of a
defaults file
or using the
--variable-json
option. If the
variable already has a
list
value, the value will be
added to the list. If it already has another kind of value, it
will be made into a list containing the previous and the new
value. For example,
-V keyword=Joe -V author=Sue
makes
author
contain a list of strings:
Joe
and
Sue
.
--variable-json=
KEY
[
=
:
JSON
]
Set the template variable
KEY
to the value specified
by a JSON string (this may be a boolean, a string, a list, or a
mapping; a number will be treated as a string). For example,
--variable-json foo=false
will
give
foo
the boolean false value, while
--variable-json foo='"false"'
will
give it the string value
"false"
. Either
:
or
=
may be used to separate
KEY
from
VAL
. If the variable already has a
value, this value will be replaced.
--sandbox[=true|false]
Run pandoc in a sandbox, limiting IO operations in readers and
writers to reading the files specified on the command line. Note
that this option does not limit IO operations by filters or in the
production of PDF documents. But it does offer security against,
for example, disclosure of files through the use of
include
directives. Anyone using pandoc on untrusted
user input should use this option.
Note: some readers and writers (e.g.,
docx
) need
access to data files. If these are stored on the file system, then
pandoc will not be able to find them when run in
--sandbox
mode and will raise an error. For these applications, we recommend
using a pandoc binary compiled with the
embed_data_files
option, which causes the data files
to be baked into the binary instead of being stored on the file
system.
-D
FORMAT
,
--print-default-template=
FORMAT
Print the system default template for an output
FORMAT
. (See
-t
for a list of possible
FORMAT
s.) Templates in the user data directory are
ignored. This option may be used with
-o
/
--output
to redirect output to a
file, but
-o
/
--output
must come before
--print-default-template
on the
command line.
Note that some of the default templates use partials, for
example
styles.html
. To print the partials, use
--print-default-data-file
: for
example,
--print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html
.
--print-default-data-file=
FILE
Print a system default data file. Files in the user data
directory are ignored. This option may be used with
-o
/
--output
to
redirect output to a file, but
-o
/
--output
must come before
--print-default-data-file
on the
command line.
--eol=crlf
|
lf
|
native
Manually specify line endings:
crlf
(Windows),
lf
(macOS/Linux/UNIX), or
native
(line
endings appropriate to the OS on which pandoc is being run). The
default is
native
.
--dpi
=
NUMBER
Specify the default dpi (dots per inch) value for conversion
from pixels to inch/centimeters and vice versa. (Technically, the
correct term would be ppi: pixels per inch.) The default is 96dpi.
When images contain information about dpi internally, the encoded
value is used instead of the default specified by this option.
--wrap=auto
|
none
|
preserve
Determine how text is wrapped in the output (the source code,
not the rendered version). With
auto
(the default),
pandoc will attempt to wrap lines to the column width specified by
--columns
(default 72). With
none
, pandoc will not wrap lines at all. With
preserve
, pandoc will attempt to preserve the
wrapping from the source document (that is, where there are
nonsemantic newlines in the source, there will be nonsemantic
newlines in the output as well). In
ipynb
output,
this option affects wrapping of the contents of Markdown
cells.
--columns=
NUMBER
Specify length of lines in characters. This affects text
wrapping in the generated source code (see
--wrap
). It also affects
calculation of column widths for plain text tables (see
Tables
below).
--toc[=true|false]
,
--table-of-contents[=true|false]
Include an automatically generated table of contents (or, in
the case of
latex
,
context
,
docx
,
odt
,
opendocument
,
rst
, or
ms
, an instruction to create
one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless
-s/--standalone
is used, and it
has no effect on
man
,
docbook4
,
docbook5
, or
jats
output.
Note that if you are producing a PDF via
ms
and
using (the default)
pdfroff
as a
--pdf-engine
, the table of
contents will appear at the beginning of the document, before the
title. If you would prefer it to be at the end of the document,
use the option
--pdf-engine-opt=--no-toc-relocation
.
If
groff
is used as the
--pdf-engine
, the table of
contents will always appear at the end of the document.
--toc-depth=
NUMBER
Specify the number of section levels to include in the table of
contents. The default is 3 (which means that level-1, 2, and 3
headings will be listed in the contents).
--lof[=true|false]
,
--list-of-figures[=true|false]
Include an automatically generated list of figures (or, in some
formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document.
This option has no effect unless
-s/--standalone
is used, and it
only has an effect on
latex
,
context
,
and
docx
output.
--lot[=true|false]
,
--list-of-tables[=true|false]
Include an automatically generated list of tables (or, in some
formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document.
This option has no effect unless
-s/--standalone
is used, and it
only has an effect on
latex
,
context
,
and
docx
output.
Strip out HTML comments in the Markdown or Textile source,
rather than passing them on to Markdown, Textile or HTML output as
raw HTML. This does not apply to HTML comments inside raw HTML
blocks when the
markdown_in_html_blocks
extension is
not set.
--syntax-highlighting=default|none|idiomatic|
STYLE
|
FILE
The method to use for code syntax highlighting. Setting a
specific
STYLE
causes highlighting to be performed with
the internal highlighting engine, using KDE syntax definitions and
styles. The
idiomatic
method uses a format-specific
highlighter if one is available, or the default style if the
target format has no idiomatic highlighting method. Setting this
option to
none
disables all syntax highlighting. The
default
method uses a format-specific default.
The default for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, Man, and LaTeX output is
to use the internal highlighter with the default style; for Typst
it is to use Typst’s own syntax highlighting system.
Style options are
pygments
(the default),
kate
,
monochrome
,
breezeDark
,
espresso
,
zenburn
,
haddock
, and
tango
. For more information on syntax highlighting in
pandoc, see
Syntax
highlighting
, below. See also
--list-highlight-styles
.
Instead of a
STYLE
name, a JSON file with extension
.theme
may be supplied. This will be parsed as a KDE
syntax highlighting theme and (if valid) used as the highlighting
style.
To generate the JSON version of an existing style, use
--print-highlight-style
.
--no-highlight
Deprecated, use
--syntax-highlighting=none
instead.
Disables syntax highlighting for code blocks and inlines, even
when a language attribute is given.
--highlight-style=
STYLE
|
FILE
Deprecated, use
--syntax-highlighting=
STYLE
|
FILE
instead.
Specifies the coloring style to be used in highlighted source
code.
--print-highlight-style=
STYLE
|
FILE
Prints a JSON version of a highlighting style, which can be
modified, saved with a
.theme
extension, and used
with
--syntax-highlighting
. This option
may be used with
-o
/
--output
to redirect output to a
file, but
-o
/
--output
must come before
--print-highlight-style
on the
command line.
--syntax-definition=
FILE
Instructs pandoc to load a KDE XML syntax definition file,
which will be used for syntax highlighting of appropriately marked
code blocks. This can be used to add support for new languages or
to use altered syntax definitions for existing languages. This
option may be repeated to add multiple syntax definitions.
Include contents of
FILE
, verbatim, at the end of the
header. This can be used, for example, to include special CSS or
JavaScript in HTML documents. This option can be used repeatedly
to include multiple files in the header. They will be included in
the order specified. Implies
--standalone
.
-B
FILE
,
--include-before-body=
FILE
|
URL
Include contents of
FILE
, 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. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple
files. They will be included in the order specified. Implies
--standalone
. Note that if the
output format is
odt
, this file must be in
OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of
the document, and if the output is
docx
, this file
must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
-A
FILE
,
--include-after-body=
FILE
|
URL
Include contents of
FILE
, verbatim, at the end of the
document body (before the
</body>
tag in HTML,
or the
\end{document}
command in LaTeX). This option
can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be
included in the order specified. Implies
--standalone
. Note that if the
output format is
odt
, this file must be in
OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of
the document, and if the output is
docx
, this file
must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
--resource-path=
SEARCHPATH
List of paths to search for images and other resources. The
paths should be separated by
:
on Linux, UNIX, and
macOS systems, and by
;
on Windows. If
--resource-path
is not specified,
the default resource path is the working directory. Note that, if
--resource-path
is specified, the
working directory must be explicitly listed or it will not be
searched. For example:
--resource-path=.:test
will search
the working directory and the
test
subdirectory, in
that order. This option can be used repeatedly. Search path
components that come later on the command line will be searched
before those that come earlier, so
--resource-path foo:bar --resource-path baz:bim
is equivalent to
--resource-path baz:bim:foo:bar
.
Note that this option only has an effect when pandoc itself needs
to find an image (e.g., in producing a PDF or docx, or when
--embed-resources
is used.) It
will not cause image paths to be rewritten in other cases (e.g.,
when pandoc is generating LaTeX or HTML).
Set the request header
NAME
to the value
VAL
when making HTTP requests (for example, when a URL is given on the
command line, or when resources used in a document must be
downloaded). If you’re behind a proxy, you also need to set the
environment variable
http_proxy
to
http://...
.
--no-check-certificate[=true|false]
Disable the certificate verification to allow access to
unsecure HTTP resources (for example when the certificate is no
longer valid or self signed).
Options affecting specific
writers
--self-contained[=true|false]
Deprecated synonym for
--embed-resources --standalone
.
--embed-resources[=true|false]
Produce a standalone HTML file with no external dependencies,
using
data:
URIs to incorporate the contents of
linked scripts, stylesheets, images, and videos. The resulting
file should be “self-contained,” in the sense that it needs no
external files and no net access to be displayed properly by a
browser. This option works only with HTML output formats,
including
html4
,
html5
,
html+lhs
,
html5+lhs
,
s5
,
slidy
,
slideous
,
dzslides
,
and
revealjs
. Scripts, images, and stylesheets at
absolute URLs will be downloaded; those at relative URLs will be
sought relative to the working directory (if the first source file
is local) or relative to the base URL (if the first source file is
remote). Elements with the attribute
data-external="1"
will be left alone; the documents
they link to will not be incorporated in the document. Limitation:
resources that are loaded dynamically through JavaScript cannot be
incorporated; as a result, fonts may be missing when
--mathjax
is used, and some advanced features (e.g. zoom or speaker notes)
may not work in an offline “self-contained”
reveal.js
slide show.
For SVG images,
img
tags with
data:
URIs are used, unless the image has the class
inline-svg
, in which case an inline SVG element is
inserted. This approach is recommended when there are many
occurrences of the same SVG in a document, as
<use>
elements will be used to reduce
duplication.
--link-images[=true|false]
Include links to images instead of embedding the images in ODT.
(This option currently only affects ODT output.)
--html-q-tags[=true|false]
Use
<q>
tags for quotes in HTML. (This
option only has an effect if the
smart
extension is
enabled for the input format used.)
--ascii[=true|false]
Use only ASCII characters in output. Currently supported for
XML and HTML formats (which use entities instead of UTF-8 when
this option is selected), CommonMark, gfm, and Markdown (which use
entities), roff man and ms (which use hexadecimal escapes), and to
a limited degree LaTeX (which uses standard commands for accented
characters when possible).
--reference-links[=true|false]
Use reference-style links, rather than inline links, in writing
Markdown or reStructuredText. By default inline links are used.
The placement of link references is affected by the
--reference-location
option.
--reference-location=block
|
section
|
document
Specify whether footnotes (and references, if
reference-links
is set) are placed at the end of the
current (top-level) block, the current section, or the document.
The default is
document
. Currently this option only
affects the
markdown
,
muse
,
html
,
epub
,
slidy
,
s5
,
slideous
,
dzslides
, and
revealjs
writers. In slide formats, specifying
--reference-location=section
will
cause notes to be rendered at the bottom of a slide.
--figure-caption-position=above
|
below
Specify whether figure captions go above or below figures
(default is
below
). This option only affects HTML,
LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
--table-caption-position=above
|
below
Specify whether table captions go above or below tables
(default is
above
). This option only affects HTML,
LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
--markdown-headings=setext
|
atx
Specify whether to use ATX-style (
#
-prefixed) or
Setext-style (underlined) headings for level 1 and 2 headings in
Markdown output. (The default is
atx
.) ATX-style
headings are always used for levels 3+. This option also affects
Markdown cells in
ipynb
output.
--list-tables[=true|false]
Render tables as list tables in RST output.
--top-level-division=default
|
section
|
chapter
|
part
Treat top-level headings as the given division type in LaTeX,
ConTeXt, DocBook, and TEI output. The hierarchy order is part,
chapter, then section; all headings are shifted such that the
top-level heading becomes the specified type. The default behavior
is to determine the best division type via heuristics: unless
other conditions apply,
section
is chosen. When the
documentclass
variable is set to
report
,
book
, or
memoir
(unless the
article
option is specified),
chapter
is
implied as the setting for this option. If
beamer
is
the output format, specifying either
chapter
or
part
will cause top-level headings to become
\part{..}
, while second-level headings remain as
their default type.
In Docx output, this option adds section breaks before
first-level headings if
chapter
is selected, and
before first- and second-level headings if
part
is
selected. Footnote numbers will restart with each section break
unless the reference doc modifies this.
-N
,
--number-sections=[true|false]
Number section headings in LaTeX, ConTeXt, HTML, Docx, ms, or
EPUB output. By default, sections are not numbered. Sections with
class
unnumbered
will never be numbered, even if
--number-sections
is
specified.
--number-offset=
NUMBER
[
,
NUMBER
,
…
]
Offsets for section heading numbers. The first number is added
to the section number for level-1 headings, the second for level-2
headings, and so on. So, for example, if you want the first
level-1 heading in your document to be numbered “6” instead of
“1”, specify
--number-offset=5
. If your
document starts with a level-2 heading which you want to be
numbered “1.5”, specify
--number-offset=1,4
.
--number-offset
only directly
affects the number of the first section heading in a document;
subsequent numbers increment in the normal way. Implies
--number-sections
. Currently this
feature only affects HTML and Docx output.
--listings[=true|false]
*Deprecated, use
--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic
or
--syntax-highlighting=default
instead.
Use the
listings
package for LaTeX code blocks. The package does not support
multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you would
need to use a custom template. This issue is fully documented
here:
Encoding
issue with the listings package
.
-i
,
--incremental[=true|false]
Make list items in slide shows display incrementally (one by
one). The default is for lists to be displayed all at once.
--slide-level=
NUMBER
Specifies that headings with the specified level create slides
(for
beamer
,
revealjs
,
pptx
,
s5
,
slidy
,
slideous
,
dzslides
). Headings above this
level in the hierarchy are used to divide the slide show into
sections; headings below this level create subheads within a
slide. Valid values are 0-6. If a slide level of 0 is specified,
slides will not be split automatically on headings, and horizontal
rules must be used to indicate slide boundaries. If a slide level
is not specified explicitly, the slide level will be set
automatically based on the contents of the document; see
Structuring the slide
show
.
--section-divs[=true|false]
Wrap sections in
<section>
tags (or
<div>
tags for
html4
), and attach
identifiers to the enclosing
<section>
(or
<div>
) rather than the heading itself (see
Heading identifiers
, below). This
option only affects HTML output (and does not affect HTML slide
formats).
--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. This option only affects HTML (including HTML slide
shows) and EPUB output. It should be used together with
-s/--standalone
, because the link
to the stylesheet goes in the document header.
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
|
URL
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
AbstractTitle
Bibliography
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 3
Heading 4
Heading 5
Heading 6
Heading 7
Heading 8
Heading 9
Block Text [for block quotes]
Footnote Block Text [for block quotes in footnotes]
Source Code
Footnote Text
Definition Term
Definition
Caption
Table Caption
Image Caption
Figure
Captioned Figure
TOC Heading
Character styles:
Default Paragraph Font
Verbatim Char
Footnote Reference
Hyperlink
Section Number
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 contain
layouts with the following names (as seen within PowerPoint):
Title Slide
Title and Content
Section Header
Two Content
Comparison
Content with Caption
Blank
For each name, the first layout found with that name will be
used. If no layout is found with one of the names, pandoc will
output a warning and use the layout with that name from the
default reference doc instead. (How these layouts are used is
described in
PowerPoint layout
choice
.)
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 layouts with the names listed
above).
--split-level=
NUMBER
Specify the heading level at which to split an EPUB or chunked
HTML document into separate files. The default is to split into
chapters at level-1 headings. In the case of EPUB, 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. For chunked HTML, this option determines how much
content goes in each “chunk.”
--chunk-template=
PATHTEMPLATE
Specify a template for the filenames in a
chunkedhtml
document. In the template,
%n
will be replaced by the chunk number (padded with
leading 0s to 3 digits),
%s
with the section number
of the chunk,
%h
with the heading text (with
formatting removed),
%i
with the section identifier.
For example,
section-%s-%i.html
might be resolved to
section-1.1-introduction.html
. The characters
/
and
\
are not allowed in chunk
templates and will be ignored. The default is
%s-%i.html
.
--epub-chapter-level=
NUMBER
Deprecated synonym for
--split-level
.
--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-title-page=true
|
false
Determines whether a the title page is included in the EPUB
(default is
true
).
--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:
<dc:rights>Creative Commons</dc:rights>
<dc:language>es-AR</dc:language>
By default, pandoc will include the following metadata
elements:
<dc:title>
(from the document title),
<dc:creator>
(from the document authors),
<dc:date>
(from the document date, which should
be in
ISO 8601
format
),
<dc:language>
(from the
lang
variable, or, if is not set, the locale), and
<dc:identifier id="BookId">
(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("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Regular.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: normal;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf");
}
body { font-family: "DejaVuSans"; }
--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
,
pagedjs-cli
,
prince
,
context
,
groff
,
pdfroff
,
and
typst
. If the engine is not in your PATH, the
full path of the engine may be specified here. If this option is
not specified, pandoc uses the following defaults depending on the
output format specified using
-t/--to
:
-t latex
or none:
pdflatex
(other options:
xelatex
,
lualatex
,
tectonic
,
latexmk
)
-t context
:
context
-t html
:
weasyprint
(other options:
prince
,
wkhtmltopdf
,
pagedjs-cli
; see
print-css.rocks
for a good
introduction to PDF generation from HTML/CSS)
-t ms
:
pdfroff
-t typst
:
typst
This option is normally intended to be used when a PDF file is
specified as
-o/--output
. However, it may still
have an effect when other output formats are requested. For
example,
ms
output will include
.pdfhref
macros only if a
--pdf-engine
is selected, and the
macros will be differently encoded depending on whether
groff
or
pdfroff
is specified.
--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.
Citation rendering
-C
,
--citeproc
Process the citations in the file, replacing them with rendered
citations and adding a bibliography. Citation processing will not
take place unless bibliographic data is supplied, either through
an external file specified using the
--bibliography
option or the
bibliography
field in metadata, or via a
references
section in metadata containing a list of
citations in CSL YAML format with Markdown formatting. The style
is controlled by a
CSL
stylesheet specified using the
--csl
option or the
csl
field in metadata. (If no stylesheet is
specified, the
chicago-author-date
style will be used
by default.) The citation processing transformation may be applied
before or after filters or Lua filters (see
--filter
,
--lua-filter
): these
transformations are applied in the order they appear on the
command line. For more information, see the section on
Citations
.
Note: if this option is specified, the
citations
extension will be disabled automatically in the writer, to ensure
that the citeproc-generated citations will be rendered instead of
the format’s own citation syntax.
--bibliography=
FILE
Set the
bibliography
field in the document’s
metadata to
FILE
, overriding any value set in the
metadata. If you supply this argument multiple times, each
FILE
will be added to bibliography. If
FILE
is a
URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If
FILE
is not found
relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the
resource path (see
--resource-path
).
--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
.) If
FILE
is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If
FILE
is not found relative to the working directory, it
will be sought in the resource path (see
--resource-path
) and finally in
the
csl
subdirectory of the pandoc user data
directory.
--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
.)
If
FILE
is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If
FILE
is not found relative to the working directory, it
will be sought in the resource path (see
--resource-path
) and finally in
the
csl
subdirectory of the pandoc user data
directory.
--natbib
Use
natbib
for
citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the
--citeproc
option 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
--citeproc
option 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
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
<span>
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. MathML is supported natively by the main
web browsers and select e-book readers.
--webtex
[
=
URL
]
Convert TeX formulas to
<img>
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
<eq>
tags in HTML
output. The resulting HTML can then be processed by
GladTeX
to produce
SVG images of the typeset formulas and an HTML file with these
images embedded.
pandoc -s --gladtex input.md -o myfile.htex
gladtex -d image_dir myfile.htex
# produces myfile.html and images in image_dir
Options for wrapper
scripts
--dump-args[=true|false]
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[=true|false]
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
1
PandocIOError
3
PandocFailOnWarningError
4
PandocAppError
5
PandocTemplateError
6
PandocOptionError
21
PandocUnknownReaderError
22
PandocUnknownWriterError
23
PandocUnsupportedExtensionError
24
PandocCiteprocError
25
PandocBibliographyError
31
PandocEpubSubdirectoryError
43
PandocPDFError
44
PandocXMLError
47
PandocPDFProgramNotFoundError
61
PandocHttpError
62
PandocShouldNeverHappenError
63
PandocSomeError
64
PandocParseError
66
PandocMakePDFError
67
PandocSyntaxMapError
83
PandocFilterError
84
PandocLuaError
89
PandocNoScriptingEngine
91
PandocMacroLoop
92
PandocUTF8DecodingError
93
PandocIpynbDecodingError
94
PandocUnsupportedCharsetError
95
PandocInputNotTextError
97
PandocCouldNotFindDataFileError
98
PandocCouldNotFindMetadataFileError
99
PandocResourceNotFound
Defaults files
The
--defaults
option may be used to
specify a package of options, in the form of a YAML or JSON file.
Examples in this section will be given in YAML, but the equivalent
forms in JSON will also work.
Fields that are omitted will just have their regular default
values. So a defaults file can be as simple as one line:
verbosity
:
INFO
or in JSON:
{
"verbosity"
:
"INFO"
}
In fields that expect a file path (or list of file paths), the
following syntax may be used to interpolate environment
variables:
csl
:
${HOME}/mycsldir/special.csl
${USERDATA}
may also be used; this will always
resolve to the user data directory that is current when the
defaults file is parsed, regardless of the setting of the
environment variable
USERDATA
.
${.}
will resolve to the directory containing the
defaults file itself. This allows you to refer to resources
contained in that directory:
epub-cover-image
:
${.}/cover.jpg
epub-metadata
:
${.}/meta.xml
resource-path
:
-
.
# the working directory from which pandoc is run
-
${.}/images
# the images subdirectory of the directory
# containing this defaults file
This environment variable interpolation syntax
only
works in fields that expect file paths.
Defaults 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
.
When multiple defaults are used, their contents will be
combined.
Note that, where command-line arguments may be repeated (
--metadata-file
,
--css
,
--include-in-header
,
--include-before-body
,
--include-after-body
,
--variable
,
--metadata
,
--syntax-definition
), the values
specified on the command line will combine with values specified
in the defaults file, rather than replacing them.
The following tables show the mapping between the command line
and defaults file entries.
command line
defaults file
foo.md
input-file
:
foo.md
foo.md bar.md
input-files
:
-
foo.md
-
bar.md
The value of
input-files
may be left empty to
indicate input from stdin, and it can be an empty sequence
[]
for no input.
General options
command line
defaults file
--from markdown+emoji
from
:
markdown+emoji
reader
:
markdown+emoji
--to markdown+hard_line_breaks
to
:
markdown+hard_line_breaks
writer
:
markdown+hard_line_breaks
--output foo.pdf
output-file
:
foo.pdf
--output -
output-file
:
--data-dir dir
data-dir
:
dir
--defaults file
defaults
:
-
file
--verbose
verbosity
:
INFO
--quiet
verbosity
:
ERROR
--fail-if-warnings
fail-if-warnings
:
true
--sandbox
sandbox
:
true
--log=FILE
log-file
:
FILE
Options specified in a defaults file itself always have
priority over those in another file included with a
defaults:
entry.
verbosity
can have the values
ERROR
,
WARNING
, or
INFO
.
Reader options
command line
defaults file
--shift-heading-level-by -1
shift-heading-level-by
:
-1
--indented-code-classes python
indented-code-classes
:
-
python
--default-image-extension ".jpg"
default-image-extension
:
'.jpg'
--file-scope
file-scope
:
true
--citeproc \
--lua-filter count-words.lua \
--filter special.lua
filters
:
-
citeproc
-
count-words.lua
-
type
:
json
path
:
special.lua
--metadata key=value \
--metadata key2
metadata
:
key
:
value
key2
:
true
--metadata-file meta.yaml
metadata-files
:
-
meta.yaml
metadata-file
:
meta.yaml
--preserve-tabs
preserve-tabs
:
true
--tab-stop 8
tab-stop
:
8
--track-changes accept
track-changes
:
accept
--extract-media dir
extract-media
:
dir
--abbreviations abbrevs.txt
abbreviations
:
abbrevs.txt
--trace
trace
:
true
Metadata values specified in a defaults file are parsed as
literal string text, not Markdown.
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
are run in the order specified. To include the built-in citeproc
filter, use either
citeproc
or
{type: citeproc}
.
General writer options
command line
defaults file
--standalone
standalone
:
true
--template letter
template
:
letter
--variable key=val \
--variable key2
variables
:
key
:
val
key2
:
true
--eol nl
eol
:
nl
--dpi 300
dpi
:
300
--wrap preserve
wrap
:
"preserve"
--columns 72
columns
:
72
--table-of-contents
table-of-contents
:
true
--toc
toc
:
true
--toc-depth 3
toc-depth
:
3
--strip-comments
strip-comments
:
true
--no-highlight
syntax-highlighting
:
'none'
--syntax-highlighting kate
syntax-highlighting
:
kate
--syntax-definition mylang.xml
syntax-definitions
:
-
mylang.xml
syntax-definition
:
mylang.xml
--include-in-header inc.tex
include-in-header
:
-
inc.tex
--include-before-body inc.tex
include-before-body
:
-
inc.tex
--include-after-body inc.tex
include-after-body
:
-
inc.tex
--resource-path .:foo
resource-path
:
[
'.'
,
'foo'
]
--request-header foo:bar
request-headers
:
-
[
"User-Agent"
,
"Mozilla/5.0"
]
--no-check-certificate
no-check-certificate
:
true
Options affecting specific writers
command line
defaults file
--self-contained
self-contained
:
true
--link-images
link-images
:
true
--html-q-tags
html-q-tags
:
true
--ascii
ascii
:
true
--reference-links
reference-links
:
true
--reference-location block
reference-location
:
block
--figure-caption-position=above
figure-caption-position
:
above
--table-caption-position=below
table-caption-position
:
below
--markdown-headings atx
markdown-headings
:
atx
--list-tables
list-tables
:
true
--top-level-division chapter
top-level-division
:
chapter
--number-sections
number-sections
:
true
--number-offset=1,4
number-offset
:
\[1,4\]
--listings
listings
:
true
--list-of-figures
list-of-figures
:
true
--lof
lof
:
true
--list-of-tables
list-of-tables
:
true
--lot
lot
:
true
--incremental
incremental
:
true
--slide-level 2
slide-level
:
2
--section-divs
section-divs
:
true
--email-obfuscation references
email-obfuscation
:
references
--id-prefix ch1
identifier-prefix
:
ch1
--title-prefix MySite
title-prefix
:
MySite
--css styles/screen.css \
--css styles/special.css
css
:
-
styles/screen.css
-
styles/special.css
--reference-doc my.docx
reference-doc
:
my.docx
--epub-cover-image cover.jpg
epub-cover-image
:
cover.jpg
--epub-title-page=false
epub-title-page
:
false
--epub-metadata meta.xml
epub-metadata
:
meta.xml
--epub-embed-font special.otf \
--epub-embed-font headline.otf
epub-fonts
:
-
special.otf
-
headline.otf
--split-level 2
split-level
:
2
--chunk-template="%i.html"
chunk-template
:
"%i.html"
--epub-subdirectory=""
epub-subdirectory
:
''
--ipynb-output best
ipynb-output
:
best
--pdf-engine xelatex
pdf-engine
:
xelatex
--pdf-engine-opt=--shell-escape
pdf-engine-opts
:
-
'-shell-escape'
pdf-engine-opt
:
'-shell-escape'
Citation rendering
command line
defaults file
--citeproc
citeproc
:
true
--bibliography logic.bib
bibliography
:
logic.bib
--csl ieee.csl
csl
:
ieee.csl
--citation-abbreviations ab.json
citation-abbreviations
:
ab.json
--natbib
cite-method
:
natbib
--biblatex
cite-method
:
biblatex
cite-method
can be
citeproc
,
natbib
, or
biblatex
. This only affects
LaTeX output. If you want to use citeproc to format citations, you
should also set ‘citeproc: true’.
If you need control over when the citeproc processing is done
relative to other filters, you should instead use
citeproc
in the list of
filters
(see
Reader options
).
Math rendering in HTML
command line
defaults file
--mathjax
html-math-method
:
method
:
mathjax
--mathml
html-math-method
:
method
:
mathml
--webtex
html-math-method
:
method
:
webtex
--katex
html-math-method
:
method
:
katex
--gladtex
html-math-method
:
method
:
gladtex
In addition to the values listed above,
method
can
have the value
plain
.
If the command line option accepts a URL argument, an
url:
field can be added to
html-math-method:
.
Options for wrapper scripts
command line
defaults file
--dump-args
dump-args
:
true
--ignore-args
ignore-args
:
true
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
docx
output, customize the
default.openxml
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
).
pptx
has no template.
Note that
docx
,
odt
, and
pptx
output can also be customized using
--reference-doc
. Use a reference doc to adjust the
styles in your document; use a template to handle variable
interpolation and customize the presentation of metadata, the
position of the table of contents, boilerplate text, etc.
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
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.
Template syntax
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 preceded 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 a 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
true value, otherwise the
else
section is used (if
present). The following values count as true:
any map
any array containing at least one true value
any nonempty string
boolean True
Note that in YAML metadata (and metadata specified on the
command line using
-M/--metadata
), unquoted
true
and
false
will be interpreted as
Boolean values. But a variable specified on the command line using
-V/--variable
will always be given
a string value. Hence a conditional
if(foo)
will be
triggered if you use
-V foo=false
, but not if you use
-M foo=false
.
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
variable
is a map, the material inside will be
set to the map.
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 }
$for(mymap)$
$it.name$: $it.office$
$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 by using the name of the partial, followed by
()
, for example:
${ styles() }
Partials will be sought in the directory containing the main
template. The file name will be assumed to have the same extension
as the main template if it lacks an extension. When calling the
partial, the full name including file extension can also be
used:
${ styles.html() }
(If a partial is not found in the directory of the template and
the template path is given as a relative path, it 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:
$item.number$ $^$$item.description$ ($item.price$)
(Available til $item.sellby$.)
will produce
00123 A fine bottle of 18-year old
Oban whiskey. ($148)
(Available til March 30, 2020.)
If a variable occurs by itself on a line, preceded by
whitespace and not followed by further text or directives on the
same line, and the variable’s value contains multiple lines, it
will be nested automatically.
Breakable spaces
Normally, spaces in the template itself (as opposed to values
of the interpolated variables) are not breakable, but they can be
made breakable in part of the template by using the
~
keyword (ended with another
~
).
$~$This long line may break if the document is rendered
with a short line length.$~$
Pipes
A pipe transforms the value of a variable or partial. Pipes are
specified using a slash (
/
) between the variable name
(or partial) and the pipe name. Example:
$for(name)$
$name/uppercase$
$endfor$
$for(metadata/pairs)$
- $it.key$: $it.value$
$endfor$
$employee:name()/uppercase$
Pipes may be chained:
$for(employees/pairs)$
$it.key/alpha/uppercase$. $it.name$
$endfor$
Some pipes take parameters:
|----------------------|------------|
$for(employee)$
$it.name.first/uppercase/left 20 "| "$$it.name.salary/right 10 " | " " |"$
$endfor$
|----------------------|------------|
Currently the following pipes 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 text to
uppercase.
lowercase
: Converts text to
lowercase.
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.
first
: Returns the first value of an array, if
applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original
value.
last
: Returns the last value of an array, if
applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original
value.
rest
: Returns all but the first value of an
array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the
original value.
allbutlast
: Returns all but the last value of
an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the
original value.
chomp
: Removes trailing newlines (and
breakable space).
nowrap
: Disables line wrapping on breakable
spaces.
alpha
: Converts textual values that can be
read as an integer into lowercase alphabetic characters
a..z
(mod 26). This can be used to get lettered
enumeration from array indices. To get uppercase letters, chain
with
uppercase
.
roman
: Converts textual values that can be
read as an integer into lowercase roman numerals. 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
,
which allows for multiple authors, or through a
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
.) The page title in HTML is set by
pagetitle
, which is equal to
title
by
default.
subtitle
document subtitle, included in HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and
docx documents
abstract
document summary, included in HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt, AsciiDoc, and
docx documents
abstract-title
title of abstract, currently used only in HTML, EPUB, docx, and
Typst. This will be set automatically to a localized value,
depending on
lang
, but can be manually overridden.
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, EPUB, 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
).
Variables for HTML
document-css
Enables inclusion of most of the
CSS
in the
styles.html
partial
(have a look with
pandoc --print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html
).
Unless you use
--css
, this variable is set to
true
by default. You can disable it with
e.g.
pandoc -M document-css=false
.
mainfont
sets the CSS
font-family
property on the
html
element.
fontsize
sets the base CSS
font-size
, which you’d usually set
to e.g.
20px
, but it also accepts
pt
(12pt = 16px in most browsers).
fontcolor
sets the CSS
color
property on the
html
element.
linkcolor
sets the CSS
color
property on all links.
monofont
sets the CSS
font-family
property on
code
elements.
monobackgroundcolor
sets the CSS
background-color
property on
code
elements and adds extra padding.
linestretch
sets the CSS
line-height
property on the
html
element, which is preferred to be unitless.
maxwidth
sets the CSS
max-width
property (default is 36em).
backgroundcolor
sets the CSS
background-color
property on the
html
element.
margin-left
,
margin-right
,
margin-top
,
margin-bottom
sets the corresponding CSS
padding
properties on the
body
element.
To override or extend some
CSS
for just one document, include for example:
---
header-includes: |
<style>
blockquote {
font-style: italic;
}
tr.even {
background-color: #f0f0f0;
}
td, th {
padding: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 0.5em;
}
tbody {
border-bottom: none;
}
</style>
---
Variables for HTML math
classoption
when using
--katex
, you can render display
math equations flush left using
YAML
metadata
or with
-M classoption=fleqn
.
Variables for HTML slides
These affect HTML output when
producing
slide shows with pandoc
.
institute
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
revealjs-url
base URL for reveal.js documents (defaults to
https://unpkg.com/reveal.js@^5
)
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
)
title-slide-attributes
additional attributes for the title slide of reveal.js slide
shows. See
background in
reveal.js, beamer, and pptx
for an example.
highlightjs-theme
highlight.js theme for code highlighting when using
--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic
with reveal.js (defaults to
monokai
). See the
highlight.js demo page
for
available themes.
All
reveal.js
configuration options
are available as variables. To turn off
boolean flags that default to true in reveal.js, use
0
.
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)
beameroption
add extra beamer option with
\setbeameroption{}
institute
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
logo
logo image for slides
logooptions
options for logo image (e.g.,
width
,
height
)
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
,
colorthemeoptions
,
fontthemeoptions
,
innerthemeoptions
,
outerthemeoptions
options for LaTeX beamer themes (lists)
titlegraphic
image for title slide: can be a list
titlegraphicoptions
options for title slide image (e.g.,
width
,
height
)
shorttitle
,
shortsubtitle
,
shortauthor
,
shortinstitute
,
shortdate
some beamer themes use short versions of the title, subtitle,
author, institute, date
Variables for PowerPoint
These variables control the visual aspects of a slide show that
are not easily controlled 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
...
shorthands
Enable language-specific shorthands when loading
babel
. (By default, pandoc includes
shorthands=off
when loading
babel
,
disabling language-specific shorthands.)
hyperrefoptions
option for
hyperref
package, e.g.
linktoc=all
; repeat for multiple
options:
---
hyperrefoptions:
- linktoc=all
- pdfwindowui
- pdfpagemode=FullScreen
...
indent
if true, pandoc will use 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)
beamerarticle
produce an article from Beamer slides. Note: if you set this
variable, you must specify the beamer writer but use the default
LaTeX
template: for example,
pandoc -Vbeamerarticle -t beamer --template default.latex
.
handout
produce a handout version of Beamer slides (with overlays
condensed into single slides)
csquotes
load
csquotes
package and use
\enquote
or
\enquote*
for quoted text.
csquotesoptions
options to use for
csquotes
package (repeat for
multiple options).
babeloptions
options to pass to the babel package (may be repeated for multiple
options). This defaults to
provide=*
if the main
language isn’t a European language written with Latin or Cyrillic
script or Vietnamese. Most users will not need to adjust the
default setting.
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
.
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
,
CJKsansfont
,
CJKmonofont
font families for use with
xelatex
or
lualatex
: take the name of any system font, using the
fontspec
package.
CJKmainfont
uses the
xecjk
package
if
xelatex
is used, or the
luatexja
package if
lualatex
is used.
mainfontoptions
,
sansfontoptions
,
monofontoptions
,
mathfontoptions
,
CJKoptions
,
luatexjapresetoptions
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
...
mainfontfallback
,
sansfontfallback
,
monofontfallback
fonts to try if a glyph isn’t found in
mainfont
,
sansfont
, or
monofont
respectively.
These are lists. The font name must be followed by a colon and
optionally a set of options, for example:
---
mainfontfallback:
- "FreeSans:"
- "NotoColorEmoji:mode=harf"
...
Font fallbacks currently only work with
lualatex
.
babelfonts
a map of Babel language names (e.g.
chinese
) to the
font to be used with the language:
---
babelfonts:
chinese-hant: "Noto Serif CJK TC"
russian: "Noto Serif"
...
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
boxlinks
add visible box around links (has no effect if
colorlinks
is 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
urlstyle
style for URLs (e.g.,
tt
,
rm
,
sf
, and, the default,
same
)
Front matter
lof
,
lot
include list of figures, list of tables (can also be set using
--lof/--list-of-figures
,
--lot/--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
Other
pdf-trailer-id
the PDF trailer ID; must be two PDF byte strings if set,
conventionally with 16 bytes each. E.g.,
<00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff> <00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff>
.
See the section on
reproducible
builds
.
pdfstandard
PDF standard(s) for the document, e.g.
ua-2
,
a-4f
. Supports PDF/A, PDF/X, and PDF/UA variants.
Requires LuaLaTeX and LaTeX 2023+. Repeat for multiple standards:
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
...
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
)
mainfontfallback
,
sansfontfallback
,
monofontfallback
list of fonts to try, in order, if a glyph is not found in the
main font. Use
\definefallbackfamily
-compatible font
name syntax. Emoji fonts are unsupported.
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
)
urlstyle
typeface style for links without link text,
e.g.
normal
,
bold
,
slanted
,
boldslanted
,
type
,
cap
,
small
whitespace
spacing between paragraphs, e.g.
none
,
small
(using
setupwhitespace
)
includesource
include all source documents as file attachments in the PDF file
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
section
section number in man pages
Variables for Texinfo
version
version of software (used in title and title page)
filename
name of info file to be generated (defaults to a name based on the
texi filename)
Variables for Typst
template
Typst template to use (relative path only).
margin
A dictionary with the fields defined in the Typst documentation:
x
,
y
,
top
,
bottom
,
left
,
right
.
papersize
Paper size:
a4
,
us-letter
, etc.
mainfont
Name of system font to use for the main font.
fontsize
Font size (e.g.,
12pt
).
section-numbering
Schema to use for numbering sections, e.g.
1.A.1
.
page-numbering
Schema to use for numbering pages, e.g.
1
or
i
, or an empty string to omit page numbering.
columns
Number of columns for body text.
thanks
contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title
mathfont
,
codefont
Name of system font to use for math and code, respectively.
linestretch
adjusts line spacing, e.g.
1.25
,
1.5
linkcolor
,
filecolor
,
citecolor
color for external links, internal links, and citation links,
respectively: expects a hexadecimal color code
Variables for ms
fontfamily
A
(Avant Garde),
B
(Bookman),
C
(Helvetica),
HN
(Helvetica Narrow),
P
(Palatino), or
T
(Times New Roman).
This setting does not affect source code, which is always
displayed using monospace Courier. These built-in fonts are
limited in their coverage of characters. Additional fonts may be
installed using the script
install-font.sh
provided by Peter Schaffter and documented in detail on
his
web site
.
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.
$curdir$/$sourcefile$
.
pdf-engine
name of PDF engine if provided using
--pdf-engine
, or the default
engine for the format if PDF output is requested.
curdir
working directory from which pandoc is run.
pandoc-version
pandoc version.
toc
non-null value if
--toc/--table-of-contents
was
specified
toc-title
title of table of contents (works only with EPUB, HTML, revealjs,
opendocument, odt, docx, pptx, beamer, LaTeX). Note that in docx
and pptx a custom
toc-title
will be picked up from
metadata, but cannot be set as a variable.
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
--markdown-headings
).
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
,
html
output formats
markdown
,
latex
,
context
,
org
,
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
<section>
(or
<div>
) 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
,
tex_math_gfm
,
tex_math_single_backslash
,
and
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 are described in more detail in their
respective sections of
Pandoc’s
Markdown
:
raw_html
allows HTML elements which are not representable in pandoc’s AST
to be parsed as raw HTML. By default, this is disabled for HTML
input.
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
,
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
.
native_divs
causes
HTML
div
elements to be parsed as native pandoc Div
blocks. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML, use
-f html-native_divs+raw_html
.
native_spans
causes HTML
span
elements to be parsed as native
pandoc Span inlines. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML,
use
-f html-native_spans+raw_html
. If
you want to drop all
div
s and
span
s when
converting HTML to Markdown, you can use
pandoc -f html-native_divs-native_spans -t markdown
.
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
,
latex
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
,
docx
Extension:
xrefs_name
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are
substituted with cross-references that will use the name or
caption of the referenced item. The original link text is replaced
once the generated document is refreshed. This extension can be
combined with
xrefs_number
in which case numbers will
appear before the name.
Text in cross-references is only made consistent with the
referenced item once the document has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following
formats:
output formats
odt
,
opendocument
Extension:
xrefs_number
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are
substituted with cross-references that will use the number of the
referenced item. The original link text is discarded. This
extension can be combined with
xrefs_name
in which
case the name or caption numbers will appear after the number.
For the
xrefs_number
to be useful heading numbers
must be enabled in the generated document, also table and figure
captions must be enabled using for example the
native_numbering
extension.
Numbers in cross-references are only visible in the final
document once it has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following
formats:
output formats
odt
,
opendocument
Extension:
styles
When converting from docx, add
custom-styles
attributes for all docx styles, regardless of whether pandoc
understands the meanings of these styles. Because attributes
cannot be added directly to paragraphs or text in the pandoc AST,
paragraph styles will cause Divs to be created and character
styles will cause Spans to be created to hold the attributes.
(Table styles will be added to the Table elements directly.) This
extension can be used with
docx custom
styles
.
input formats
docx
Extension:
amuse
In the
muse
input format, this enables Text::Amuse
extensions to Emacs Muse markup.
Extension:
raw_markdown
In the
ipynb
input format, this causes Markdown
cells to be included as raw Markdown blocks (allowing lossless
round-tripping) rather than being parsed. Use this only when you
are targeting
ipynb
or a Markdown-based output
format.
Extension:
citations
(typst)
When the
citations
extension is enabled in
typst
(as it is by default),
typst
citations will be parsed as native pandoc citations, and native
pandoc citations will be rendered as
typst
citations.
Extension:
citations
(org)
When the
citations
extension is enabled in
org
, org-cite and org-ref style citations will be
parsed as native pandoc citations, and org-cite citations will be
used to render native pandoc citations.
Extension:
citations
(docx)
When
citations
is enabled in
docx
,
citations inserted by Zotero or Mendeley or EndNote plugins will
be parsed as native pandoc citations. (Otherwise, the formatted
citations generated by the bibliographic software will be parsed
as regular text.)
Extension:
fancy_lists
(org)
Some aspects of
Pandoc’s
Markdown fancy lists
are also accepted in
org
input, mimicking the option
org-list-allow-alphabetical
in Emacs. As in Org Mode,
enabling this extension allows lowercase and uppercase
alphabetical markers for ordered lists to be parsed in addition to
arabic ones. Note that for Org, this does not include roman
numerals or the
#
placeholder that are enabled by the
extension in Pandoc’s Markdown.
Extension:
element_citations
In the
jats
output formats, this causes reference
items to be replaced with
<element-citation>
elements. These elements are not influenced by CSL styles, but all
information on the item is included in tags.
Extension:
ntb
In the
context
output format this enables the use
of
Natural Tables
(TABLE)
instead of the default
Extreme Tables
(xtables)
. Natural tables allow more fine-grained global
customization but come at a performance penalty compared to
extreme tables.
Extension:
smart_quotes
(org)
Interpret straight quotes as curly quotes during parsing. When
writing
Org, then the
smart_quotes
extension
has the reverse effect: what would have been curly quotes comes
out straight.
This extension is implied if
smart
is enabled.
Extension:
special_strings
(org)
Interpret
---
as em-dashes,
--
as
en-dashes,
\-
as shy hyphen, and
...
as
ellipses.
This extension is implied if
smart
is enabled.
Extension:
tagging
Enabling this extension with
context
output will
produce markup suitable for the production of tagged PDFs. This
includes additional markers for paragraphs and alternative markup
for emphasized text. The
emphasis-command
template
variable is set if the extension is enabled.
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
original 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
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*
Heading identifiers
See also the
auto_identifiers
extension
above.
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
Original 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.
>> Not nested, since `blank_before_blockquote` is enabled by default
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
use 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:
<pre id="mycode" class="haskell numberLines" startFrom="100">
<code>
...
</code>
</pre>
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 [] = []
```
This shortcut form may be combined with attributes:
```haskell {.numberLines}
qsort [] = []
```
Which is equivalent to:
``` {.haskell .numberLines}
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
--syntax-highlighting=none
option.
To set the highlighting style or method, use
--syntax-highlighting
. 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
Inline formatting (such as emphasis) is allowed in the content
(though it can’t cross line boundaries). Block-level formatting
(such as block quotes or lists) is not recognized.
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 original 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 original 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-parenthesis 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.
1
The
fancy_lists
extension also allows
‘
#
’ to be used as an ordered list marker in place of
a numeral:
#. one
#. two
Note: the ‘
#
’ ordered list marker doesn’t work
with
commonmark
.
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.
2
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 (not including the first line) 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.
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.
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.
You can repeat an earlier numbered example by re-using its
label:
(@foo) Sample sentence.
Intervening text...
This theory can explain the case we saw earlier (repeated):
(@foo) Sample sentence.
This only works reliably, though, if the repeated item is in a
list by itself, because each numbered example list will be
numbered continuously from its starting number.
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
<!-- end of list -->
{ 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:
* * * *
---------------
We strongly recommend that horizontal rules be separated from
surrounding text by blank lines. If a horizontal rule is not
followed by a blank line, pandoc may try to interpret the lines
that follow as a YAML metadata block or a table.
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
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:
3
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).
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 can span multiple columns or rows:
+---------------------+----------+
| Property | Earth |
+=============+=======+==========+
| | min | -89.2 °C |
| Temperature +-------+----------+
| 1961-1990 | mean | 14 °C |
| +-------+----------+
| | max | 56.7 °C |
+-------------+-------+----------+
A table header may contain more than one row:
+---------------------+-----------------------+
| Location | Temperature 1961-1990 |
| | in degree Celsius |
| +-------+-------+-------+
| | min | mean | max |
+=====================+=======+=======+=======+
| Antarctica | -89.2 | N/A | 19.8 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
| Earth | -89.2 | 14 | 56.7 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
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 |
+---------------+---------------+--------------------+
A table foot can be defined by enclosing it with separator
lines that use
=
instead of
-
:
+---------------+---------------+
| Fruit | Price |
+===============+===============+
| Bananas | $1.34 |
+---------------+---------------+
| Oranges | $2.10 |
+===============+===============+
| Sum | $3.44 |
+===============+===============+
The foot must always be placed at the very bottom of the
table.
Grid tables can be created easily using Emacs’ table-mode
(
M-x table-insert
).
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 any line
of the Markdown source is longer 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.
Extension:
table_attributes
Attributes may be attached to tables by including them at the
end of the caption. (For the syntax, see
header_attributes
.)
: Here's the caption. {#ident .class key="value"}
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 date
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. The initial line
---
must not be followed by a blank line. 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 JSON may be used as well, because JSON is a subset of
YAML.)
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. If two
metadata blocks attempt to set the same field, the value from the
second block will be taken.
Each metadata block is handled internally as an independent
YAML document. This means, for example, that any YAML anchors
defined in a block cannot be referenced in another block.
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,
and if it contains a backslash escape, then it must be ensured
that it is not treated as a
YAML escape
sequence
. 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.
...
The literal block after the
|
must be indented
relative to the line containing the
|
. If it is not,
the YAML will be invalid and pandoc will not interpret it as
metadata. For an overview of the complex rules governing YAML, see
the
Wikipedia
entry on YAML syntax
.
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:
<p>This is the abstract.</p>
<p>It consists of two paragraphs.</p>
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
, or it will be interpreted as Markdown. For
example:
header-includes:
- |
```{=latex}
\let\oldsection\section
\renewcommand{\section}[1]{\clearpage\oldsection{#1}}
```
Note: the
yaml_metadata_block
extension works with
commonmark
as well as
markdown
(and it
is enabled by default in
gfm
and
commonmark_x
). However, in these formats the
following restrictions apply:
The YAML metadata block must occur at the beginning of the
document (and there can be only one). If multiple files are given
as arguments to pandoc, only the first can be a YAML metadata
block.
The leaf nodes of the YAML structure are parsed in
isolation from each other and from the rest of the document. So,
for example, you can’t use a reference link in these contexts if
the link definition is somewhere else in the document.
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
<em>*hello*</em>
instead of
<strong>hello</strong>
This rule is easier to remember than original Markdown’s rule,
which allows only the following characters to be
backslash-escaped:
\`*_{}[]()>#+-.!
(However, if the
markdown_strict
format is used,
the original Markdown rule will be used.)
A backslash-escaped space is parsed as a nonbreaking space. In
TeX output, it will appear as
~
. In HTML and XML
output, it will appear as a literal unicode nonbreaking space
character (note that it will thus actually look “invisible” in the
generated HTML source; you can still use the
--ascii
command-line option to make it appear as an explicit entity).
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
<br />
. 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 strike out 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.
The text between
^...^
or
~...~
may
not contain spaces or newlines. 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
^
, and also bad interactions with footnotes.) 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}
Underline
To underline text, use the
underline
class:
[Underline]{.underline}
Or, without the
bracketed_spans
extension (but
with
native_spans
):
<span class="underline">Underline</span>
This will work in all output formats that support
underline.
Small caps
To write small caps, use the
smallcaps
class:
[Small caps]{.smallcaps}
Or, without the
bracketed_spans
extension:
<span class="smallcaps">Small caps</span>
For compatibility with other Markdown flavors, CSS is also
supported:
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Small caps</span>
This will work in all output formats that support small
caps.
Highlighting
To highlight text, use the
mark
class:
[Mark]{.mark}
Or, without the
bracketed_spans
extension (but
with
native_spans
):
<span class="mark">Mark</span>
This will work in all output formats that support
highlighting.
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.
For display math, use
$$
delimiters. (In this
case, the delimiters may be separated from the formula by
whitespace. However, there can be no blank lines between the
opening and closing
$$
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 math will appear verbatim surrounded by
latexmath:[...]
. For
asciidoc_legacy
the
bracketed material will also include inline or display math
delimiters.
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
<math>
tags.
Textile
It will be rendered inside
<span class="math">
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 and PowerPoint
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.
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
.
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
Original 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
<table>
<tr>
<td>*one*</td>
<td>[a link](https://google.com)</td>
</tr>
</table>
into
<table>
<tr>
<td><em>one</em></td>
<td><a href="https://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>
,
<style>
,
<pre>
, and
<textarea>
tags
is not interpreted as Markdown.
This departure from original 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.
Extension:
native_divs
Use native pandoc
Div
blocks for content inside
<div>
tags. For the most part this should give
the same output as
markdown_in_html_blocks
, but it
makes it easier to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of
blocks.
Extension:
native_spans
Use native pandoc
Span
blocks for content inside
<span>
tags. For the most part this should give
the same output as
raw_html
, but it makes it easier
to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of inlines.
Extension:
raw_tex
In addition to raw HTML, pandoc allows raw LaTeX, TeX, and
ConTeXt to be included in a document. Inline TeX commands will be
preserved and passed unchanged to the LaTeX and ConTeXt writers.
Thus, for example, you can use LaTeX to include BibTeX
citations:
This result was proved in \cite{jones.1967}.
Note that in LaTeX environments, like
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}\hline
Age & Frequency \\ \hline
18--25 & 15 \\
26--35 & 33 \\
36--45 & 22 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
the material between the begin and end tags will be interpreted
as raw LaTeX, not as Markdown.
For a more explicit and flexible way of including raw TeX in a
Markdown document, see the
raw_attribute
extension
.
Inline LaTeX is ignored in output formats other than Markdown,
LaTeX, Emacs Org mode, and ConTeXt.
Generic raw attribute
Extension:
raw_attribute
Inline spans and fenced code blocks with a special kind of
attribute will be parsed as raw content with the designated
format. For example, the following produces a raw roff
ms
block:
```{=ms}
.MYMACRO
blah blah
```
And the following produces a raw
html
inline
element:
This is `<a>html</a>`{=html}
This can be useful to insert raw xml into
docx
documents, e.g. a pagebreak:
```{=openxml}
<w:p>
<w:r>
<w:br w:type="page"/>
</w:r>
</w:p>
```
The format name should match the target format name (see
-t/--to
, above,
for a list, or use
pandoc --list-output-formats
). Use
openxml
for
docx
output,
opendocument
for
odt
output,
html5
for
epub3
output,
html4
for
epub2
output, and
latex
,
beamer
,
ms
, or
html5
for
pdf
output (depending on what
you use for
--pdf-engine
).
This extension presupposes that the relevant kind of inline
code or fenced code block is enabled. Thus, for example, to use a
raw attribute with a backtick code block,
backtick_code_blocks
must be enabled.
The raw attribute cannot be combined with regular
attributes.
LaTeX macros
Extension:
latex_macros
When this extension is enabled, pandoc will parse LaTeX macro
definitions and apply the resulting macros to all LaTeX math and
raw LaTeX. So, for example, the following will work in all output
formats, not just LaTeX:
\newcommand{\tuple}[1]{\langle #1 \rangle}
$\tuple{a, b, c}$
Note that LaTeX macros will not be applied if they occur inside
a raw span or block marked with the
raw_attribute
extension
.
When
latex_macros
is disabled, the raw LaTeX and
math will not have macros applied. This is usually a better
approach when you are targeting LaTeX or PDF.
Macro definitions in LaTeX will be passed through as raw LaTeX
only if
latex_macros
is not enabled. Macro
definitions in Markdown source (or other formats allowing
raw_tex
) will be passed through regardless of whether
latex_macros
is enabled.
Links
Markdown allows links to be specified in several ways.
Automatic links
If you enclose a URL or email address in pointy brackets, it
will become a link:
<https://google.com>
<
[email protected]
>
Inline links
An inline link consists of the link text in square brackets,
followed by the URL in parentheses. (Optionally, the URL can be
followed by a link title, in quotes.)
This is an [inline link](/url), and here's [one with
a title](https://fsf.org "click here for a good time!").
There can be no space between the bracketed part and the
parenthesized part. The link text can contain formatting (such as
emphasis), but the title cannot.
Email addresses in inline links are not autodetected, so they
have to be prefixed with
mailto
:
[Write me!](mailto:
[email protected]
)
Reference links
An
explicit
reference link has two parts, the link
itself and the link definition, which may occur elsewhere in the
document (either before or after the link).
The link consists of link text in square brackets, followed by
a label in square brackets. (There cannot be space between the two
unless the
spaced_reference_links
extension is
enabled.) The link definition consists of the bracketed label,
followed by a colon and a space, followed by the URL, and
optionally (after a space) a link title either in quotes or in
parentheses. The label must not be parseable as a citation
(assuming the
citations
extension is enabled):
citations take precedence over link labels.
Here are some examples:
[my label 1]: /foo/bar.html "My title, optional"
[my label 2]: /foo
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org (The Free Software Foundation)
[my label 4]: /bar#special 'A title in single quotes'
The URL may optionally be surrounded by angle brackets:
[my label 5]: <http://foo.bar.baz>
The title may go on the next line:
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org
"The Free Software Foundation"
Note that link labels are not case sensitive. So, this will
work:
Here is [my link][FOO]
[Foo]: /bar/baz
In an
implicit
reference link, the second pair of
brackets is empty:
See [my website][].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
Note: In
Markdown.pl
and most other Markdown
implementations, reference link definitions cannot occur in nested
constructions such as list items or block quotes. Pandoc lifts
this arbitrary-seeming restriction. So the following is fine in
pandoc, though not in most other implementations:
> My block [quote].
>
> [quote]: /foo
Extension:
shortcut_reference_links
In a
shortcut
reference link, the second pair of
brackets may be omitted entirely:
See [my website].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
Internal links
To link to another section of the same document, use the
automatically generated identifier (see
Heading identifiers
). For
example:
See the [Introduction](#introduction).
or
See the [Introduction].
[Introduction]: #introduction
Internal links are currently supported for HTML formats
(including HTML slide shows and EPUB), LaTeX, and ConTeXt.
Images
A link immediately preceded by a
!
will be treated
as an image. The link text will be used as the image’s alt
text:

![movie reel]
[movie reel]: movie.gif
Extension:
implicit_figures
An image with nonempty alt text, occurring by itself in a
paragraph, will be rendered as a figure with a caption. The
image’s description will be used as the caption.

How this is rendered depends on the output format. Some output
formats (e.g. RTF) do not yet support figures. In those formats,
you’ll just get an image in a paragraph by itself, with no
caption.
If you just want a regular inline image, just make sure it is
not the only thing in the paragraph. One way to do this is to
insert a nonbreaking space after the image:
\
Note that in reveal.js slide shows, an image in a paragraph by
itself that has the
r-stretch
class will fill the
screen, and the caption and figure tags will be omitted.
To specify an alt text for the image that is different from the
caption, you can use an explicit attribute (assuming the
link_attributes
extension is set):
{alt="description of image"}
For LaTeX output, you can specify a
figure’s
positioning
by adding the
latex-placement
attribute.
{latex-placement="ht"}
Extension:
link_attributes
Attributes can be set on links and images:
An inline {#id .class width=30 height=20px}
and a reference ![image][ref] with attributes.
[ref]: foo.jpg "optional title" {#id .class key=val key2="val 2"}
(This syntax is compatible with
PHP
Markdown Extra
when only
#id
and
.class
are used.)
For HTML and EPUB, all known HTML5 attributes except
width
and
height
(but including
srcset
and
sizes
) are passed through as
is. Unknown attributes are passed through as custom attributes,
with
data-
prepended. The other writers ignore
attributes that are not specifically supported by their output
format.
The
width
and
height
attributes on
images are treated specially. When used without a unit, the unit
is assumed to be pixels. However, any of the following unit
identifiers can be used:
px
,
cm
,
mm
,
in
,
inch
and
%
. There must not be any spaces between the number
and the unit. For example:
{ width=50% }
Dimensions may be converted to a form that is compatible with
the output format (for example, dimensions given in pixels will be
converted to inches when converting HTML to LaTeX). Conversion
between pixels and physical measurements is affected by the
--dpi
option
(by default, 96 dpi is assumed, unless the image itself contains
dpi information).
The
%
unit is generally relative to some
available space. For example the above example will render to the
following.
HTML:
<img href="file.jpg" style="width: 50%;" />
LaTeX:
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth,height=\textheight]{file.jpg}
(If you’re using a custom template, you need to configure
graphicx
as in the default template.)
ConTeXt:
\externalfigure[file.jpg][width=0.5\textwidth]
Some output formats have a notion of a class (
ConTeXt
)
or a unique identifier (LaTeX
\caption
), or both
(HTML).
When no
width
or
height
attributes
are specified, the fallback is to look at the image resolution and
the dpi metadata embedded in the image file.
Divs and Spans
Using the
native_divs
and
native_spans
extensions (see
above
), HTML syntax can be used
as part of Markdown to create native
Div
and
Span
elements in the pandoc AST (as opposed to raw
HTML). However, there is also nicer syntax available:
Extension:
fenced_divs
Allow special fenced syntax for native
Div
blocks.
A Div starts with a fence containing at least three consecutive
colons plus some attributes. The attributes may optionally be
followed by another string of consecutive colons.
Note: the
commonmark
parser doesn’t permit colons
after the attributes.
The attribute syntax is exactly as in fenced code blocks (see
Extension:
fenced_code_attributes
). As with fenced code
blocks, one can use either attributes in curly braces or a single
unbraced word, which will be treated as a class name. The Div ends
with another line containing a string of at least three
consecutive colons. The fenced Div should be separated by blank
lines from preceding and following blocks.
Example:
::::: {#special .sidebar}
Here is a paragraph.
And another.
:::::
Fenced divs can be nested. Opening fences are distinguished
because they
must
have attributes:
::: Warning ::::::
This is a warning.
::: Danger
This is a warning within a warning.
:::
::::::::::::::::::
Fences without attributes are always closing fences. Unlike
with fenced code blocks, the number of colons in the closing fence
need not match the number in the opening fence. However, it can be
helpful for visual clarity to use fences of different lengths to
distinguish nested divs from their parents.
Extension:
bracketed_spans
A bracketed sequence of inlines, as one would use to begin a
link, will be treated as a
Span
with attributes if it
is followed immediately by attributes:
[This is *some text*]{.class key="val"}
Footnotes
Extension:
footnotes
Pandoc’s Markdown allows footnotes, using the following
syntax:
Here is a footnote reference,[^1] and another.[^longnote]
[^1]: Here is the footnote.
[^longnote]: Here's one with 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 like
multi-paragraph list items.
This paragraph won't be part of the note, because it
isn't indented.
The identifiers in footnote references may not contain spaces,
tabs, newlines, or the characters
^
,
[
,
or
]
. 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.). Each footnote should
be separated from surrounding content (including other footnotes)
by blank lines.
Extension:
inline_notes
Inline footnotes are also allowed (though, unlike regular
notes, they cannot contain multiple paragraphs). The syntax is as
follows:
Here is an inline note.^[Inline 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.
Citation syntax
Extension:
citations
To cite a bibliographic item with an identifier foo, use the
syntax
@foo
. Normal citations should be included in
square brackets, with semicolons separating distinct items:
Blah blah [@doe99; @smith2000; @smith2004].
How this is rendered depends on the citation style. In an
author-date style, it might render as
Blah blah (Doe 1999, Smith 2000, 2004).
In a footnote style, it might render as
Blah blah.[^1]
[^1]: John Doe, "Frogs," *Journal of Amphibians* 44 (1999);
Susan Smith, "Flies," *Journal of Insects* (2000);
Susan Smith, "Bees," *Journal of Insects* (2004).
See the
CSL user
documentation
for more information about CSL styles and how
they affect rendering.
Unless a citation key starts with a letter, digit, or
_
, and contains only alphanumerics and single
internal punctuation characters
(
:.#$%&-+?<>~/
), it must be surrounded by
curly braces, which are not considered part of the key. In
@Foo_bar.baz.
, the key is
Foo_bar.baz
because the final period is not
internal
punctuation, so
it is not included in the key. In
@{Foo_bar.baz.}
,
the key is
Foo_bar.baz.
, including the final period.
In
@Foo_bar--baz
, the key is
Foo_bar
because the repeated internal punctuation characters terminate the
key. The curly braces are recommended if you use URLs as keys:
[@{https://example.com/bib?name=foobar&date=2000}, p. 33]
.
Citation items may optionally include a prefix, a locator, and
a suffix. In
Blah blah [see @doe99, pp. 33-35 and *passim*; @smith04, chap. 1].
the first item (
doe99
) has prefix
see
, locator
pp. 33-35
, and suffix
and *passim*
. The second item (
smith04
)
has locator
chap. 1
and no prefix or suffix.
Pandoc uses some heuristics to separate the locator from the
rest of the subject. It is sensitive to the locator terms defined
in the
CSL
locale files
. Either abbreviated or unabbreviated forms are
accepted. In the
en-US
locale, locator terms can be
written in either singular or plural forms, as
book
,
bk.
/
bks.
;
chapter
,
chap.
/
chaps.
;
column
,
col.
/
cols.
;
figure
,
fig.
/
figs.
;
folio
,
fol.
/
fols.
;
number
,
no.
/
nos.
;
line
,
l.
/
ll.
;
note
,
n.
/
nn.
;
opus
,
op.
/
opp.
;
page
,
p.
/
pp.
;
paragraph
,
para.
/
paras.
;
part
,
pt.
/
pts.
;
section
,
sec.
/
secs.
;
sub verbo
,
s.v.
/
s.vv.
;
verse
,
v.
/
vv.
;
volume
,
vol.
/
vols.
;
¶
/
¶¶
;
§
/
§§
. If
no locator term is used, “page” is assumed.
In complex cases, you can force something to be treated as a
locator by enclosing it in curly braces or prevent parsing the
suffix as locator by prepending curly braces:
[@smith{ii, A, D-Z}, with a suffix]
[@smith, {pp. iv, vi-xi, (xv)-(xvii)} with suffix here]
[@smith{}, 99 years later]
A minus sign (
-
) before the
@
will
suppress mention of the author in the citation. This can be useful
when the author is already mentioned in the text:
Smith says blah [-@smith04].
You can also write an author-in-text citation, by omitting the
square brackets:
@smith04 says blah.
@smith04 [p. 33] says blah.
This will cause the author’s name to be rendered, followed by
the bibliographical details. Use this form when you want to make
the citation the subject of a sentence.
When you are using a note style, it is usually better to let
citeproc create the footnotes from citations rather than writing
an explicit note. If you do write an explicit note that contains a
citation, note that normal citations will be put in parentheses,
while author-in-text citations will not. For this reason, it is
sometimes preferable to use the author-in-text style inside notes
when using a note style.
Many CSL styles will format citations differently when the same
source has been cited earlier. In documents with chapters, it is
usually desirable to reset this position information at the
beginning of every chapter. To do this, add the class
reset-citation-positions
to the heading for each
chapter:
# The Beginning {.reset-citation-positions}
Note that this class only has an effect when placed on
top-level headings; it is ignored in nested blocks.
Non-default extensions
The following Markdown syntax extensions are not enabled by
default in pandoc, but may be enabled by adding
+EXTENSION
to the format name, where
EXTENSION
is the name of the extension. Thus, for
example,
markdown+hard_line_breaks
is Markdown with
hard line breaks.
Extension:
rebase_relative_paths
Rewrite relative paths for Markdown links and images, depending
on the path of the file containing the link or image link. For
each link or image, pandoc will compute the directory of the
containing file, relative to the working directory, and prepend
the resulting path to the link or image path.
The use of this extension is best understood by example.
Suppose you have a subdirectory for each chapter of a book,
chap1
,
chap2
,
chap3
. Each
contains a file
text.md
and a number of images used
in the chapter. You would like to have

in
chap1/text.md
refer to
chap1/spider.jpg
and

in
chap2/text.md
refer to
chap2/spider.jpg
. To do this, use
pandoc chap*/*.md -f markdown+rebase_relative_paths
Without this extension, you would have to use

in
chap1/text.md
and

in
chap2/text.md
. Links with relative paths will be
rewritten in the same way as images.
Absolute paths and URLs are not changed. Neither are empty
paths or paths consisting entirely of a fragment, e.g.,
#foo
.
Note that relative paths in reference links and images will be
rewritten relative to the file containing the link reference
definition, not the file containing the reference link or image
itself, if these differ.
Extension:
mark
To highlight out a section of text, begin and end it with with
==
. Thus, for example,
This ==is deleted text.==
Extension:
attributes
Allows attributes to be attached to any inline or block-level
element when parsing
commonmark
. The syntax for the
attributes is the same as that used in
header_attributes
.
Attributes that occur immediately after an inline element
affect that element. If they follow a space, then they belong to
the space. (Hence, this option subsumes
inline_code_attributes
and
link_attributes
.)
Attributes that occur immediately before a block element, on a
line by themselves, affect that element.
Consecutive attribute specifiers may be used, either for
blocks or for inlines. Their attributes will be combined.
Attributes that occur at the end of the text of a Setext or
ATX heading (separated by whitespace from the text) affect the
heading element. (Hence, this option subsumes
header_attributes
.)
Attributes that occur after the opening fence in a fenced code
block affect the code block element. (Hence, this option subsumes
fenced_code_attributes
.)
Attributes that occur at the end of a reference link
definition affect links that refer to that definition.
Note that pandoc’s AST does not currently allow attributes to
be attached to arbitrary elements. Hence a Span or Div container
will be added if needed.
Extension:
old_dashes
Selects the pandoc <= 1.8.2.1 behavior for parsing smart
dashes:
-
before a numeral is an en-dash, and
--
is an em-dash. This option only has an effect if
smart
is enabled. It is selected automatically for
textile
input.
Extension:
angle_brackets_escapable
Allow
<
and
>
to be
backslash-escaped, as they can be in GitHub flavored Markdown but
not original Markdown. This is implied by pandoc’s default
all_symbols_escapable
.
Extension:
lists_without_preceding_blankline
Allow a list to occur right after a paragraph, with no
intervening blank space.
Extension:
four_space_rule
Selects the pandoc <= 2.0 behavior for parsing lists, so
that four spaces indent are needed for list item continuation
paragraphs.
Extension:
spaced_reference_links
Allow whitespace between the two components of a reference
link, for example,
[foo] [bar].
Extension:
hard_line_breaks
Causes all newlines within a paragraph to be interpreted as
hard line breaks instead of spaces.
Extension:
ignore_line_breaks
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than
being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks. This option is
intended for use with East Asian languages where spaces are not
used between words, but text is divided into lines for
readability.
Extension:
east_asian_line_breaks
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than
being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks, when they occur
between two East Asian wide characters. This is a better choice
than
ignore_line_breaks
for texts that include a mix
of East Asian wide characters and other characters.
Extension:
emoji
Parses textual emojis like
:smile:
as Unicode
emoticons.
Extension:
tex_math_gfm
Supports two GitHub-specific formats for math. Inline math:
$`e=mc^2`$
.
Display math:
``` math
e=mc^2
```
Extension:
tex_math_single_backslash
Causes anything between
\(
and
\)
to
be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between
\[
and
\]
to be interpreted as display
TeX math. Note: a drawback of this extension is that it precludes
escaping
(
and
[
.
Extension:
tex_math_double_backslash
Causes anything between
\\(
and
\\)
to be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between
\\[
and
\\]
to be interpreted as display
TeX math.
Extension:
markdown_attribute
By default, pandoc interprets material inside block-level tags
as Markdown. This extension changes the behavior so that Markdown
is only parsed inside block-level tags if the tags have the
attribute
markdown=1
.
Extension:
mmd_title_block
Enables a
MultiMarkdown
style title block at the top of the document, for example:
Title: My title
Author: John Doe
Date: September 1, 2008
Comment: This is a sample mmd title block, with
a field spanning multiple lines.
See the MultiMarkdown documentation for details. If
pandoc_title_block
or
yaml_metadata_block
is enabled, it will take
precedence over
mmd_title_block
.
Extension:
abbreviations
Parses PHP Markdown Extra abbreviation keys, like
*[HTML]: Hypertext Markup Language
Note that the pandoc document model does not support
abbreviations, so if this extension is enabled, abbreviation keys
are simply skipped (as opposed to being parsed as paragraphs).
Extension:
alerts
Supports
GitHub-style
Markdown alerts
, like
> [!TIP]
> Helpful advice for doing things better or more easily.
Extension:
autolink_bare_uris
Makes all absolute URIs into links, even when not surrounded by
pointy braces
<...>
.
Extension:
mmd_link_attributes
Parses MultiMarkdown-style key-value attributes on link and
image references. This extension should not be confused with the
link_attributes
extension.
This is a reference ![image][ref] with MultiMarkdown attributes.
[ref]: https://path.to/image "Image title" width=20px height=30px
id=myId class="myClass1 myClass2"
Extension:
gutenberg
Use
Project Gutenberg
conventions for
plain
output: all-caps for strong
emphasis, surround by underscores for regular emphasis, add extra
blank space around headings.
Extension:
sourcepos
Include source position attributes when parsing
commonmark
. For elements that accept attributes, a
data-pos
attribute is added; other elements are
placed in a surrounding Div or Span element with a
data-pos
attribute.
Extension:
short_subsuperscripts
Parse MultiMarkdown-style subscripts and superscripts, which
start with a ‘~’ or ‘^’ character, respectively, and include the
alphanumeric sequence that follows. For example:
x^2 = 4
or
Oxygen is O~2.
Extension:
wikilinks_title_after_pipe
Pandoc supports multiple Markdown wikilink syntaxes, regardless
of whether the title is before or after the pipe.
Using
--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_after_pipe
results in
[[URL|title]]
while using
--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_before_pipe
results in
[[title|URL]]
Markdown variants
In addition to pandoc’s extended Markdown, the following
Markdown variants are supported:
markdown_phpextra
(PHP Markdown Extra)
markdown_github
(deprecated GitHub-Flavored
Markdown)
markdown_mmd
(MultiMarkdown)
markdown_strict
(Markdown.pl)
commonmark
(CommonMark)
gfm
(Github-Flavored Markdown)
commonmark_x
(CommonMark with many pandoc
extensions)
To see which extensions are supported for a given format, and
which are enabled by default, you can use the command
pandoc --list-extensions=FORMAT
where
FORMAT
is replaced with the name of the
format.
Note that the list of extensions for
commonmark
,
gfm
, and
commonmark_x
are defined
relative to default commonmark. So, for example,
backtick_code_blocks
does not appear as an extension,
since it is enabled by default and cannot be disabled.
Citations
When the
--citeproc
option is used, pandoc
can automatically generate citations and a bibliography in a
number of styles. Basic usage is
pandoc --citeproc myinput.txt
To use this feature, you will need to have
a document containing citations (see
Citation syntax
);
a source of bibliographic data: either an external
bibliography file or a list of
references
in the
document’s YAML metadata;
optionally, a
CSL
citation style.
Specifying bibliographic data
You can specify an external bibliography using the
bibliography
metadata field in a YAML metadata
section or the
--bibliography
command line
argument. If you want to use multiple bibliography files, you can
supply multiple
--bibliography
arguments or set
bibliography
metadata field to YAML array. A
bibliography may have any of these formats:
Format
File extension
BibLaTeX
.bib
BibTeX
.bibtex
CSL JSON
.json
CSL YAML
.yaml
RIS
.ris
Note that
.bib
can be used with both BibTeX and
BibLaTeX files; use the extension
.bibtex
to force
interpretation as BibTeX.
In BibTeX and BibLaTeX databases, pandoc parses LaTeX markup
inside fields such as
title
; in CSL YAML databases,
pandoc Markdown; and in CSL JSON databases, an
HTML-like
markup
:
<i>...</i>
italics
<b>...</b>
bold
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">...</span>
or
<sc>...</sc>
small capitals
<sub>...</sub>
subscript
<sup>...</sup>
superscript
<span class="nocase">...</span>
prevent a phrase from being capitalized as title case
As an alternative to specifying a bibliography file using
--bibliography
or the YAML
metadata field
bibliography
, you can include the
citation data directly in the
references
field of the
document’s YAML metadata. The field should contain an array of
YAML-encoded references, for example:
---
references:
- type: article-journal
id: WatsonCrick1953
author:
- family: Watson
given: J. D.
- family: Crick
given: F. H. C.
issued:
date-parts:
- - 1953
- 4
- 25
title: 'Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for
deoxyribose nucleic acid'
title-short: Molecular structure of nucleic acids
container-title: Nature
volume: 171
issue: 4356
page: 737-738
DOI: 10.1038/171737a0
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0
language: en-GB
...
If both an external bibliography and inline (YAML metadata)
references are provided, both will be used. In case of conflicting
id
s, the inline references will take precedence.
Note that pandoc can be used to produce such a YAML metadata
section from a BibTeX, BibLaTeX, or CSL JSON bibliography:
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t markdown
pandoc chem.json -s -f csljson -t markdown
Indeed, pandoc can convert between any of these citation
formats:
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t csljson
pandoc chem.yaml -s -f markdown -t biblatex
Running pandoc on a bibliography file with the
--citeproc
option will create a
formatted bibliography in the format of your choice:
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.html
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.pdf
Capitalization in titles
If you are using a bibtex or biblatex bibliography, then
observe the following rules:
English titles should be in title case. Non-English titles
should be in sentence case, and the
langid
field in
biblatex should be set to the relevant language. (The following
values are treated as English:
american
,
british
,
canadian
,
english
,
australian
,
newzealand
,
USenglish
, or
UKenglish
.)
As is standard with bibtex/biblatex, proper names should be
protected with curly braces so that they won’t be lowercased in
styles that call for sentence case. For example:
title = {My Dinner with {Andre}}
In addition, words that should remain lowercase (or
camelCase) should be protected:
title = {Spin Wave Dispersion on the {nm} Scale}
Though this is not necessary in bibtex/biblatex, it is
necessary with citeproc, which stores titles internally in
sentence case, and converts to title case in styles that require
it. Here we protect “nm” so that it doesn’t get converted to “Nm”
at this stage.
If you are using a CSL bibliography (either JSON or YAML), then
observe the following rules:
All titles should be in sentence case.
Use the
language
field for non-English titles
to prevent their conversion to title case in styles that call for
this. (Conversion happens only if
language
begins
with
en
or is left empty.)
Protect words that should not be converted to title case
using this syntax:
Spin wave dispersion on the <span class="nocase">nm</span> scale
Conference Papers, Published
vs. Unpublished
For a formally published conference paper, use the biblatex
entry type
inproceedings
(which will be mapped to CSL
paper-conference
).
For an unpublished manuscript, use the biblatex entry type
unpublished
without an
eventtitle
field
(this entry type will be mapped to CSL
manuscript
).
For a talk, an unpublished conference paper, or a poster
presentation, use the biblatex entry type
unpublished
with an
eventtitle
field (this entry type will be
mapped to CSL
speech
). Use the biblatex
type
field to indicate the type, e.g. “Paper”, or
“Poster”.
venue
and
eventdate
may be
useful too, though
eventdate
will not be rendered by
most CSL styles. Note that
venue
is for the event’s
venue, unlike
location
which describes the
publisher’s location; do not use the latter for an unpublished
conference paper.
Specifying a citation style
Citations and references can be formatted using any style
supported by the
Citation
Style Language
, listed in the
Zotero Style Repository
.
These files are specified using the
--csl
option or the
csl
(or
citation-style
) metadata field.
By default, pandoc will use the
Chicago Manual of
Style
author-date format. (You can override this default by
copying a CSL style of your choice to
default.csl
in
your user data directory.) The CSL project provides further
information on
finding and editing
styles
.
The
--citation-abbreviations
option
(or the
citation-abbreviations
metadata field) may be
used to specify a JSON file containing abbreviations of journals
that should be used in formatted bibliographies when
form="short"
is specified. The format of the file can
be illustrated with an example:
{ "default": {
"container-title": {
"Lloyd's Law Reports": "Lloyd's Rep",
"Estates Gazette": "EG",
"Scots Law Times": "SLT"
}
}
}
Citations in note styles
Pandoc’s citation processing is designed to allow you to move
between author-date, numerical, and note styles without modifying
the Markdown source. When you’re using a note style, avoid
inserting footnotes manually. Instead, insert citations just as
you would in an author-date style—for example,
Blah blah [@foo, p. 33].
The footnote will be created automatically. Pandoc will take
care of removing the space and moving the note before or after the
period, depending on the setting of
notes-after-punctuation
, as described below in
Other relevant metadata
fields
.
In some cases you may need to put a citation inside a regular
footnote. Normal citations in footnotes (such as
[@foo, p. 33]
) will be rendered in parentheses.
In-text citations (such as
@foo [p. 33]
) will be
rendered without parentheses. (A comma will be added if
appropriate.) Thus:
[^1]: Some studies [@foo; @bar, p. 33] show that
frubulicious zoosnaps are quantical. For a survey
of the literature, see @baz [chap. 1].
Placement of the bibliography
If the style calls for a list of works cited, it will be placed
in a div with id
refs
, if one exists:
4
::: {#refs}
:::
Otherwise, it will be placed at the end of the document.
Generation of the bibliography can be suppressed by setting
suppress-bibliography: true
in the YAML metadata.
If you wish the bibliography to have a section heading, you can
set
reference-section-title
in the metadata, or put
the heading at the beginning of the div with id
refs
(if you are using it) or at the end of your document:
last paragraph...
# References
The bibliography will be inserted after this heading. Note that
the
unnumbered
class will be added to this heading,
so that the section will not be numbered.
If you want to put the bibliography into a variable in your
template, one way to do that is to put the div with id
refs
into a metadata field, e.g.
---
refs: |
::: {#refs}
:::
...
You can then put the variable
$refs$
into your
template where you want the bibliography to be placed.
Including uncited items in
the bibliography
If you want to include items in the bibliography without
actually citing them in the body text, you can define a dummy
nocite
metadata field and put the citations
there:
---
nocite: |
@item1, @item2
...
@item3
In this example, the document will contain a citation for
item3
only, but the bibliography will contain entries
for
item1
,
item2
, and
item3
.
It is possible to create a bibliography with all the citations,
whether or not they appear in the document, by using a
wildcard:
---
nocite: |
@*
...
For LaTeX output, you can also use
natbib
or
biblatex
to
render the bibliography. In order to do so, specify bibliography
files as outlined above, and add
--natbib
or
--biblatex
argument to pandoc
invocation. Bear in mind that bibliography files have to be in
either BibTeX (for
--natbib
) or BibLaTeX (for
--biblatex
) format.
Other relevant metadata fields
A few other metadata fields affect bibliography formatting:
link-citations
If true, citations will be hyperlinked to the corresponding
bibliography entries (for author-date and numerical styles only).
Defaults to false.
link-bibliography
If true, DOIs, PMCIDs, PMID, and URLs in bibliographies will be
rendered as hyperlinks. (If an entry contains a DOI, PMCID, PMID,
or URL, but none of these fields are rendered by the style, then
the title, or in the absence of a title the whole entry, will be
hyperlinked.) Defaults to true.
lang
The
lang
field will affect how the style is
localized, for example in the translation of labels, the use of
quotation marks, and the way items are sorted. (For backwards
compatibility,
locale
may be used instead of
lang
, but this use is deprecated.)
A BCP 47 language tag is expected: for example,
en
,
de
,
en-US
,
fr-CA
,
ug-Cyrl
. The unicode extension syntax (after
-u-
) may be used to specify options for collation
(sorting) more precisely. Here are some examples:
zh-u-co-pinyin
: Chinese with the Pinyin
collation.
es-u-co-trad
: Spanish with the traditional
collation (with
Ch
sorting after
C
).
fr-u-kb
: French with “backwards” accent sorting
(with
coté
sorting after
côte
).
en-US-u-kf-upper
: English with uppercase letters
sorting before lower (default is lower before upper).
notes-after-punctuation
If true (the default for note styles), pandoc will put footnote
references or superscripted numerical citations after following
punctuation. For example, if the source contains
blah blah [@jones99].
, the result will look like
blah blah.[^1]
, with the note moved after the period
and the space collapsed. If false, the space will still be
collapsed, but the footnote will not be moved after the
punctuation. The option may also be used in numerical styles that
use superscripts for citation numbers (but for these styles the
default is not to move the citation).
Slide shows
You can use pandoc to produce an HTML + JavaScript slide
presentation that can be viewed via a web browser. There are five
ways to do this, using
S5
,
DZSlides
,
Slidy
,
Slideous
, or
reveal.js
. You can also produce a
PDF slide show using LaTeX
beamer
, or
slide shows in Microsoft
PowerPoint
format.
Here’s the Markdown source for a simple slide show,
habits.txt
:
% Habits
% John Doe
% March 22, 2005
# In the morning
## Getting up
- Turn off alarm
- Get out of bed
## Breakfast
- Eat eggs
- Drink coffee
# In the evening
## Dinner
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
------------------

## Going to sleep
- Get in bed
- Count sheep
To produce an HTML/JavaScript slide show, simply type
pandoc -t FORMAT -s habits.txt -o habits.html
where
FORMAT
is either
s5
,
slidy
,
slideous
,
dzslides
,
or
revealjs
.
For Slidy, Slideous, reveal.js, and S5, the file produced by
pandoc with the
-s/--standalone
option embeds a
link to JavaScript and CSS files, which are assumed to be
available at the relative path
s5/default
(for S5),
slideous
(for Slideous),
reveal.js
(for
reveal.js), or at the Slidy website at
w3.org
(for
Slidy). (These paths can be changed by setting the
slidy-url
,
slideous-url
,
revealjs-url
, or
s5-url
variables; see
Variables for HTML
slides
, above.) For DZSlides, the (relatively short)
JavaScript and CSS are included in the file by default.
With all HTML slide formats, the
--self-contained
option can be
used to produce a single file that contains all of the data
necessary to display the slide show, including linked scripts,
stylesheets, images, and videos.
To produce a PDF slide show using beamer, type
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -o habits.pdf
Note that a reveal.js slide show can also be converted to a PDF
by printing it to a file from the browser.
To produce a PowerPoint slide show, type
pandoc habits.txt -o habits.pptx
Structuring the slide show
By default, the
slide level
is the highest heading
level in the hierarchy that is followed immediately by content,
and not another heading, somewhere in the document. In the example
above, level-1 headings are always followed by level-2 headings,
which are followed by content, so the slide level is 2. This
default can be overridden using the
--slide-level
option.
The document is carved up into slides according to the
following rules:
A horizontal rule always starts a new slide.
A heading at the slide level always starts a new
slide.
Headings
below
the slide level in the hierarchy
create headings
within
a slide. (In beamer, a “block”
will be created. If the heading has the class
example
, an
exampleblock
environment
will be used; if it has the class
alert
, an
alertblock
will be used; otherwise a regular
block
will be used.)
Headings
above
the slide level in the hierarchy
create “title slides,” which just contain the section title and
help to break the slide show into sections. Non-slide content
under these headings will be included on the title slide (for HTML
slide shows) or in a subsequent slide with the same title (for
beamer).
A title page is constructed automatically from the
document’s title block, if present. (In the case of beamer, this
can be disabled by commenting out some lines in the default
template.)
These rules are designed to support many different styles of
slide show. If you don’t care about structuring your slides into
sections and subsections, you can either just use level-1 headings
for all slides (in that case, level 1 will be the slide level) or
you can set
--slide-level=0
.
Note: in reveal.js slide shows, if slide level is 2, a
two-dimensional layout will be produced, with level-1 headings
building horizontally and level-2 headings building vertically. It
is not recommended that you use deeper nesting of section levels
with reveal.js unless you set
--slide-level=0
(which lets
reveal.js produce a one-dimensional layout and only interprets
horizontal rules as slide boundaries).
PowerPoint layout choice
When creating slides, the pptx writer chooses from a number of
pre-defined layouts, based on the content of the slide:
Title Slide
This layout is used for the initial slide, which is generated and
filled from the metadata fields
date
,
author
, and
title
, if they are present.
Section Header
This layout is used for what pandoc calls “title slides”, i.e.
slides which start with a header which is above the slide level in
the hierarchy.
Two Content
This layout is used for two-column slides, i.e. slides containing
a div with class
columns
which contains at least two
divs with class
column
.
Comparison
This layout is used instead of “Two Content” for any two-column
slides in which at least one column contains text followed by
non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Content with Caption
This layout is used for any non-two-column slides which contain
text followed by non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Blank
This layout is used for any slides which only contain blank
content, e.g. a slide containing only speaker notes, or a slide
containing only a non-breaking space.
Title and Content
This layout is used for all slides which do not match the criteria
for another layout.
These layouts are chosen from the default pptx reference doc
included with pandoc, unless an alternative reference doc is
specified using
--reference-doc
.
Incremental lists
By default, these writers produce 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, put it in a
div
block with class
incremental
or
nonincremental
. So, for example, using the
fenced div
syntax, the following would be incremental
regardless of the document default:
::: incremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
or
::: nonincremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
While using
incremental
and
nonincremental
divs is the recommended method of
setting incremental lists on a per-case basis, an older method is
also supported: putting lists inside a blockquote will depart from
the document default (that is, it will display incrementally
without the
-i
option and all at once with the
-i
option):
> - Eat spaghetti
> - Drink wine
Both methods allow incremental and nonincremental lists to be
mixed in a single document.
If you want to include a block-quoted list, you can work around
this behavior by putting the list inside a fenced div, so that it
is not the direct child of the block quote:
> ::: wrapper
> - a
> - list in a quote
> :::
Inserting pauses
You can add “pauses” within a slide by including a paragraph
containing three dots, separated by spaces:
# Slide with a pause
content before the pause
. . .
content after the pause
Note: this feature is not yet implemented for PowerPoint
output.
Styling the slides
You can change the style of HTML slides by putting customized
CSS files in
$DATADIR/s5/default
(for S5),
$DATADIR/slidy
(for Slidy), or
$DATADIR/slideous
(for Slideous), where
$DATADIR
is the user data directory (see
--data-dir
, above). The originals
may be found in pandoc’s system data directory (generally
$CABALDIR/pandoc-VERSION/s5/default
). Pandoc will
look there for any files it does not find in the user data
directory.
For dzslides, the CSS is included in the HTML file itself, and
may be modified there.
All
reveal.js
configuration options
can be set through variables. For
example, themes can be used by setting the
theme
variable:
-V theme=moon
Or you can specify a custom stylesheet using the
--css
option.
To style beamer slides, you can specify a
theme
,
colortheme
,
fonttheme
,
innertheme
, and
outertheme
, using the
-V
option:
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -V theme:Warsaw -o habits.pdf
Note that heading attributes will turn into slide attributes
(on a
<div>
or
<section>
) in
HTML slide formats, allowing you to style individual slides. In
beamer, a number of heading classes and attributes are recognized
as frame options and will be passed through as options to the
frame: see
Frame attributes
in beamer
, below.
Speaker notes
Speaker notes are supported in reveal.js, PowerPoint (pptx),
and beamer output. You can add notes to your Markdown document
thus:
::: notes
This is my note.
- It can contain Markdown
- like this list
:::
To show the notes window in reveal.js, press
s
while viewing the presentation. Speaker notes in PowerPoint will
be available, as usual, in handouts and presenter view.
Notes are not yet supported for other slide formats, but the
notes will not appear on the slides themselves.
Speaker notes on the title
slide (PowerPoint)
For PowerPoint output, the title slide is generated from the
document’s YAML metadata block. To add speaker notes to this
slide, use a
notes
field in the metadata:
---
title: My Presentation
author: Jane Doe
notes: |
Welcome everyone to this presentation.
Remember to introduce yourself and mention the key topics.
---
The
notes
field can contain multiple paragraphs
and Markdown formatting.
Columns
To put material in side by side columns, you can use a native
div container with class
columns
, containing two or
more div containers with class
column
and a
width
attribute:
:::::::::::::: {.columns}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
Note: Specifying column widths does not currently work for
PowerPoint.
Additional columns
attributes in beamer
The div containers with classes
columns
and
column
can optionally have an
align
attribute. The class
columns
can optionally have a
totalwidth
attribute or an
onlytextwidth
class.
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=center totalwidth=8em}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%" align=bottom}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
The
align
attributes on
columns
and
column
can be used with the values
top
,
top-baseline
,
center
and
bottom
to vertically align the columns. It defaults
to
top
in
columns
.
The
totalwidth
attribute limits the width of the
columns to the given value.
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=top .onlytextwidth}
::: {.column width="40%" align=center}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
The class
onlytextwidth
sets the
totalwidth
to
\textwidth
.
See Section 12.7 of the
Beamer
User’s Guide
for more details.
Frame attributes in beamer
Sometimes it is necessary to add the LaTeX
[fragile]
option to a frame in beamer (for example,
when using the
minted
environment). This can be
forced by adding the
fragile
class to the heading
introducing the slide:
# Fragile slide {.fragile}
All of the other frame attributes described in Section 8.1 of
the
Beamer
User’s Guide
may also be used:
allowdisplaybreaks
,
allowframebreaks
,
b
,
c
,
s
,
t
,
environment
,
label
,
plain
,
shrink
,
standout
,
noframenumbering
,
squeeze
.
allowframebreaks
is recommended especially for
bibliographies, as it allows multiple slides to be created if the
content overfills the frame:
# References {.allowframebreaks}
In addition, the
frameoptions
attribute may be
used to pass arbitrary frame options to a beamer slide:
# Heading {frameoptions="squeeze,shrink,customoption=foobar"}
Background in reveal.js,
beamer, and pptx
Background images can be added to self-contained reveal.js
slide shows, beamer slide shows, and pptx slide shows.
On all slides (beamer, reveal.js,
pptx)
With beamer and reveal.js, the configuration option
background-image
can be used either in the YAML
metadata block or as a command-line variable to get the same image
on every slide.
Note that for reveal.js, the
background-image
will
be used as a
parallaxBackgroundImage
(see below).
For pptx, you can use a
--reference-doc
in which
background images have been set on the
relevant layouts
.
parallaxBackgroundImage
(reveal.js)
For reveal.js, there is also the reveal.js-native option
parallaxBackgroundImage
, which produces a parallax
scrolling background. You must also set
parallaxBackgroundSize
, and can optionally set
parallaxBackgroundHorizontal
and
parallaxBackgroundVertical
to configure the scrolling
behaviour. See the
reveal.js
documentation
for more details about the meaning of these
options.
In reveal.js’s overview mode, the parallaxBackgroundImage will
show up only on the first slide.
On individual slides (reveal.js, pptx)
To set an image for a particular reveal.js or pptx slide, add
{background-image="/path/to/image"}
to the first
slide-level heading on the slide (which may even be empty).
As the
HTML writers pass
unknown attributes through
, other reveal.js background
settings also work on individual slides, including
background-size
,
background-repeat
,
background-color
,
transition
, and
transition-speed
. (The
data-
prefix will
automatically be added.)
Note:
data-background-image
is also supported in
pptx for consistency with reveal.js – if
background-image
isn’t found,
data-background-image
will be checked.
On the title slide (reveal.js, pptx)
To add a background image to the automatically generated title
slide for reveal.js, use the
title-slide-attributes
variable in the YAML metadata block. It must contain a map of
attribute names and values. (Note that the
data-
prefix is required here, as it isn’t added automatically.)
For pptx, pass a
--reference-doc
with the
background image set on the “Title Slide” layout.
Example (reveal.js)
---
title: My Slide Show
parallaxBackgroundImage: /path/to/my/background_image.png
title-slide-attributes:
data-background-image: /path/to/title_image.png
data-background-size: contain
---
## Slide One
Slide 1 has background_image.png as its background.
## {background-image="/path/to/special_image.jpg"}
Slide 2 has a special image for its background, even though the heading has no content.
EPUBs
EPUB Metadata
There are two ways to specify metadata for an EPUB. The first
is to use the
--epub-metadata
option, which
takes as its argument an XML file with
Dublin
Core elements
.
The second way is to use YAML, either in a
YAML metadata block
in a
Markdown document, or in a separate YAML file specified with
--metadata-file
. Here is an
example of a YAML metadata block with EPUB metadata:
---
title:
- type: main
text: My Book
- type: subtitle
text: An investigation of metadata
creator:
- role: author
text: John Smith
- role: editor
text: Sarah Jones
identifier:
- scheme: DOI
text: doi:10.234234.234/33
publisher: My Press
rights: © 2007 John Smith, CC BY-NC
ibooks:
version: 1.3.4
...
The following fields are recognized:
identifier
Either a string value or an object with fields
text
and
scheme
. Valid values for
scheme
are
ISBN-10
,
GTIN-13
,
UPC
,
ISMN-10
,
DOI
,
LCCN
,
GTIN-14
,
ISBN-13
,
Legal deposit number
,
URN
,
OCLC number
,
Co-publisher’s ISBN-13
,
ISMN-13
,
ISBN-A
,
JP e-code
,
OLCC number
,
JP Magazine ID
,
UPC-12+5
,
BNF Control number
,
ISSN-13
,
ARK
,
Digital file internal version number
.
title
Either a string value, or an object with fields
file-as
and
type
, or a list of such
objects. Valid values for
type
are
main
,
subtitle
,
short
,
collection
,
edition
,
extended
.
creator
Either a string value, or an object with fields
role
,
file-as
, and
text
, or a list of such
objects. Valid values for
role
are
MARC
relators
, but pandoc will attempt to translate the
human-readable versions (like “author” and “editor”) to the
appropriate marc relators.
contributor
Same format as
creator
.
date
A string value in
YYYY-MM-DD
format. (Only the year
is necessary.) Pandoc will attempt to convert other common date
formats.
lang
(or legacy:
language
)
A string value in
BCP
47
format. Pandoc will default to the local language if
nothing is specified.
subject
Either a string value, or an object with fields
text
,
authority
, and
term
, or a list of such
objects. Valid values for
authority
are either a
reserved
authority value
(currently
AAT
,
BIC
,
BISAC
,
CLC
,
DDC
,
CLIL
,
EuroVoc
,
MEDTOP
,
LCSH
,
NDC
,
Thema
,
UDC
, and
WGS
) or an absolute IRI
identifying a custom scheme. Valid values for
term
are defined by the scheme.
description
A string value.
type
A string value.
format
A string value.
relation
A string value.
coverage
A string value.
rights
A string value.
belongs-to-collection
A string value. Identifies the name of a collection to which the
EPUB Publication belongs.
group-position
The
group-position
field indicates the numeric
position in which the EPUB Publication belongs relative to other
works belonging to the same
belongs-to-collection
field.
cover-image
A string value (path to cover image).
css
(or legacy:
stylesheet
)
A string value (path to CSS stylesheet).
page-progression-direction
Either
ltr
or
rtl
. Specifies the
page-progression-direction
attribute for the
spine
element
.
accessModes
An array of strings (
schema
).
Defaults to
["textual"]
.
accessModeSufficient
An array of strings (
schema
).
Defaults to
["textual"]
.
accessibilityHazards
An array of strings (
schema
).
Defaults to
["none"]
.
accessibilityFeatures
An array of strings (
schema
).
Defaults to
- "alternativeText"
- "readingOrder"
- "structuralNavigation"
- "tableOfContents"
accessibilitySummary
A string value.
ibooks
iBooks-specific metadata, with the following fields:
version
: (string)
specified-fonts
:
true
|
false
(default
false
)
ipad-orientation-lock
:
portrait-only
|
landscape-only
iphone-orientation-lock
:
portrait-only
|
landscape-only
binding
:
true
|
false
(default
true
)
scroll-axis
:
vertical
|
horizontal
|
default
The
epub:type
attribute
For
epub3
output, you can mark up the heading that
corresponds to an EPUB chapter using the
epub:type
attribute
. For example, to set the attribute to the value
prologue
, use this Markdown:
# My chapter {epub:type=prologue}
Which will result in:
<body epub:type="frontmatter">
<section epub:type="prologue">
<h1>My chapter</h1>
Pandoc will output
<body epub:type="bodymatter">
, unless you use
one of the following values, in which case either
frontmatter
or
backmatter
will be
output.
epub:type
of first section
epub:type
of body
prologue
frontmatter
abstract
frontmatter
acknowledgments
frontmatter
copyright-page
frontmatter
dedication
frontmatter
credits
frontmatter
keywords
frontmatter
imprint
frontmatter
contributors
frontmatter
other-credits
frontmatter
errata
frontmatter
revision-history
frontmatter
titlepage
frontmatter
halftitlepage
frontmatter
seriespage
frontmatter
foreword
frontmatter
preface
frontmatter
frontispiece
frontmatter
appendix
backmatter
colophon
backmatter
bibliography
backmatter
index
backmatter
Linked media
By default, pandoc will download media referenced from any
<img>
,
<audio>
,
<video>
or
<source>
element
present in the generated EPUB, and include it in the EPUB
container, yielding a completely self-contained EPUB. If you want
to link to external media resources instead, use raw HTML in your
source and add
data-external="1"
to the tag with the
src
attribute. For example:
<audio controls="1">
<source src="https://example.com/music/toccata.mp3"
data-external="1" type="audio/mpeg">
</source>
</audio>
If the input format already is HTML then
data-external="1"
will work as expected for
<img>
elements. Similarly, for Markdown,
external images can be declared with
{external=1}
. Note that this only works
for images; the other media elements have no native representation
in pandoc’s AST and require the use of raw HTML.
EPUB styling
By default, pandoc will include some basic styling contained in
its
epub.css
data file. (To see this, use
pandoc --print-default-data-file epub.css
.) To use a
different CSS file, just use the
--css
command line option. A few
inline styles are defined in addition; these are essential for
correct formatting of pandoc’s HTML output.
The
document-css
variable may be set if the more
opinionated styling of pandoc’s default HTML templates is desired
(and in that case the variables defined in
Variables for HTML
may be used to
fine-tune the style).
Chunked HTML
pandoc -t chunkedhtml
will produce a zip archive
of linked HTML files, one for each section of the original
document. Internal links will automatically be adjusted to point
to the right place, images linked to under the working directory
will be incorporated, and navigation links will be added. In
addition, a JSON file
sitemap.json
will be included
describing the hierarchical structure of the files.
If an output file without an extension is specified, then it
will be interpreted as a directory and the zip archive will be
automatically unpacked into it (unless it already exists, in which
case an error will be raised). Otherwise a
.zip
file
will be produced.
The navigation links can be customized by adjusting the
template. By default, a table of contents is included only on the
top page. To include it on every page, set the
toc
variable manually.
Jupyter notebooks
When creating a
Jupyter
notebook
, pandoc will try to infer the notebook structure.
Code blocks with the class
code
will be taken as code
cells, and intervening content will be taken as Markdown cells.
Attachments will automatically be created for images in Markdown
cells. Metadata will be taken from the
jupyter
metadata field. For example:
---
title: My notebook
jupyter:
nbformat: 4
nbformat_minor: 5
kernelspec:
display_name: Python 2
language: python
name: python2
language_info:
codemirror_mode:
name: ipython
version: 2
file_extension: ".py"
mimetype: "text/x-python"
name: "python"
nbconvert_exporter: "python"
pygments_lexer: "ipython2"
version: "2.7.15"
---
# Lorem ipsum
**Lorem ipsum** dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc luctus
bibendum felis dictum sodales.
``` code
print("hello")
```
## Pyout
``` code
from IPython.display import HTML
HTML("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
## Image
This image  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
or
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("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
::: {.output .execute_result execution_count=2}
```{=html}
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
hello
```
:::
::::::
If you include raw HTML or TeX in an output cell, use the
raw 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;
--markdown-headings=setext
will
cause Setext-style headings to be used; and
--preserve-tabs
will prevent tabs
from being turned to spaces.
Vimdoc
Vimdoc writer generates Vim help files and makes use of the
following metadata variables:
abstract
:
"A short description"
author
:
Author
title
:
Title
# Vimdoc-specific
filename
:
"definition-lists.txt"
vimdoc-prefix
:
pandoc
Complete header requires
abstract
,
author
,
title
and
filename
to be set. Compiling file with such metadata produces the
following file (assumes
--standalone
, see
Templates
):
*definition-lists.txt* A short description
Title by Author
Type |gO| to see the table of contents.
[...]
vim:tw=72:sw=4:ts=4:ft=help:norl:et:
If
vimdoc-prefix
is set, all non-command tags are
prefixed with its value, it is used to prevent tag collision: all
headers have a tag (either inferred or explicit) and multiple help
pages can have the same header names, therefore collision is to be
expected. Let our input be the following markdown file:
## Header
`:[range]Fnl {expr}`
{#:Fnl}
: Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b`
{#vim.b}
: Buffer-scoped (
`:h b:`
) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or unset
key returns
`nil`
. Can be indexed with an integer to access variables for a
specific buffer.
[
Span
]
{#span}
: generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not inherently
represent anything.
Convert it to vimdoc:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
Convert it to vimdoc with metadata variable set (e.g. with
-M vimdoc-prefix=pandoc
)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *pandoc-header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *pandoc-vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *pandoc-span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
vim.b
and
Span
got their prefixes but
not
:Fnl
because ex-commands (those starting with
:
) don’t get a prefix, since they are considered
unique across help pages.
In both cases
:help b:
became reference
|b:|
(also works with
:h b:
). Links
pointing to either
https://vimhelp.org/
or
https://neovim.io/doc/user
become references
too.
Vim traditionally wraps at 78, but Pandoc defaults to 72. Use
--columns 78
to match Vim.
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, Man, Typst, 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
--syntax-highlighting
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
--syntax-highlighting
. To get a
JSON version of the
pygments
style, for example:
pandoc -o my.theme --print-highlight-style pygments
Then edit
my.theme
and use it like this:
pandoc --syntax-highlighting my.theme
If you are not satisfied with the built-in highlighting, or you
want to highlight a language that isn’t supported, you can use the
--syntax-definition
option to load
a
KDE-style
XML syntax definition file
. Before writing your own, have a
look at KDE’s
repository
of syntax definitions
.
If you receive an error that pandoc “Could not read
highlighting theme”, check that the JSON file is encoded with
UTF-8 and has no Byte-Order Mark (BOM).
To disable highlighting, use
--syntax-highlighting=none
.
To use a format’s idiomatic syntax highlighting instead of
pandoc’s built-in highlighting, use
--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic
.
Currently,
idiomatic
only affects the following
formats:
In reveal.js, it causes reveal.js’s highlighting plugin to
be used for source code highlighting. The style may be customized
by setting the
highlightjs-theme
variable.
In Typst, it causes Typst’s built-in highlighting to be
used. (This is also the default for Typst.)
In LaTeX, it causes the
listings
package to be used. Note that
listings
does not
support multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you
would need to use a custom template. This issue is fully
documented here:
Encoding
issue with the listings package
.
In other formats,
idiomatic
will have the same
result as
default
.
Custom Styles
Custom styles can be used in the docx, odt and ICML
formats.
Output
By default, pandoc’s odt, 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 doc
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, Span, or Table 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 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.
Styles will be defined in the output file as inheriting from
normal text (docx) or Default Paragraph Style (odt), if the styles
are not yet in your
reference
doc
. 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 or odt output, you don’t need to enable any extensions
for custom styles to work.
For icml output, you can also set an
object-style
in images:
{object-style="fixedSizeImage"}
In InDesign you’ll see that object style given to the image,
and you’ll be able to customize it, or load its definition from a
template of yours.
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
in the docx reader (
-f docx+styles
), you can produce
output that maintains the styles of the input document, using the
custom-style
class. A
custom-style
attribute will be added for each style. Divs will be created to
hold the paragraph styles, and Spans to hold the character styles.
Table styles will be applied directly to the Table.
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 readers and writers
Pandoc can be extended with custom readers and writers written
in
Lua
. (Pandoc includes a Lua
interpreter, so Lua need not be installed separately.)
To use a custom reader or writer, simply specify the path to
the Lua script in place of the input or output format. For
example:
pandoc -t data/sample.lua
pandoc -f my_custom_markup_language.lua -t latex -s
If the script is not found relative to the working directory,
it will be sought in the
custom
subdirectory of the
user data directory (see
--data-dir
).
A custom reader is a Lua script that defines one function,
Reader, which takes a string as input and returns a Pandoc AST.
See the
Lua filters
documentation
for documentation of the functions that are
available for creating pandoc AST elements. For parsing, the
lpeg
parsing
library is available by default. To see a sample custom
reader:
pandoc --print-default-data-file creole.lua
If you want your custom reader to have access to reader options
(e.g. the tab stop setting), you give your Reader function a
second
options
parameter.
A custom writer is a Lua script that defines a function that
specifies how to render each element in a Pandoc AST. See the
djot-writer.lua
for a full-featured example.
Note that custom writers have no default template. If you want
to use
--standalone
with a custom writer,
you will need to specify a template manually using
--template
or add a new default
template with the name
default.NAME_OF_CUSTOM_WRITER.lua
to the
templates
subdirectory of your user data directory
(see
Templates
).
Reproducible builds
Some of the document formats pandoc targets (such as EPUB,
docx, and ODT) include build timestamps in the generated document.
That means that the files generated on successive builds will
differ, even if the source does not. To avoid this, set the
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
environment variable, and the
timestamp will be taken from it instead of the current time.
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
should contain an integer unix
timestamp (specifying the number of seconds since midnight UTC
January 1, 1970).
For reproducible builds with LaTeX, you can either specify the
pdf-trailer-id
in the metadata or leave it undefined,
in which case pandoc will create a trailer-id based on a hash of
the
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
and the document’s
contents.
Some document formats also include a unique identifier. For
EPUB, this can be set explicitly by setting the
identifier
metadata field (see
EPUB Metadata
, above).
Accessible PDFs and PDF
archiving standards
PDF is a flexible format, and using PDF in certain contexts
requires additional conventions. For example, PDFs are not
accessible by default; they define how characters are placed on a
page but do not contain semantic information on the content.
However, it is possible to generate accessible PDFs, which use
tagging to add semantic information to the document.
Pandoc defaults to LaTeX to generate PDF. LaTeX’s
\DocumentMetadata
interface supports PDF standards
and tagging when using LuaLaTeX; set the
pdfstandard
variable to enable this (see below). For older LaTeX
installations, alternative engines must be used.
The PDF standards PDF/A and PDF/UA define further restrictions
intended to optimize PDFs for archiving and accessibility. Tagging
is commonly used in combination with these standards to ensure
best results.
Note, however, that standard compliance depends on many things,
including the colorspace of embedded images. Pandoc cannot check
this, and external programs must be used to ensure that generated
PDFs are in compliance.
LaTeX
Set the
pdfstandard
variable to produce tagged
PDFs conforming to PDF/A, PDF/X, or PDF/UA standards. For
example:
pandoc -V pdfstandard=ua-2 --pdf-engine=lualatex doc.md -o doc.pdf
Multiple standards can be combined:
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
---
The required PDF version is inferred automatically. This
feature requires LuaLaTeX in TeX Live 2025 with LaTeX kernel
2025-06-01 or newer.
ConTeXt
ConTeXt always produces tagged PDFs, but the quality depends on
the input. The default ConTeXt markup generated by pandoc is
optimized for readability and reuse, not tagging. Enable the
tagging
format
extension to force markup that is optimized for tagging. For
example:
pandoc -t context+tagging doc.md -o doc.pdf
A recent
context
version should be used, as older
versions contained a bug that lead to invalid PDF metadata.
WeasyPrint
The HTML-based engine WeasyPrint includes experimental support
for PDF/A and PDF/UA since version 57. Tagged PDFs can created
with
pandoc --pdf-engine=weasyprint \
--pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-variant=pdf/ua-1 ...
The feature is experimental and standard compliance should not
be assumed.
Prince XML
The non-free HTML-to-PDF converter
prince
has
extensive support for various PDF standards as well as tagging.
E.g.:
pandoc --pdf-engine=prince \
--pdf-engine-opt=--tagged-pdf ...
See the prince documentation for more info.
Typst
Typst 0.12 can produce PDF/A-2b:
pandoc --pdf-engine=typst --pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-standard=a-2b ...
Word Processors
Word processors like LibreOffice and MS Word can also be used
to generate standardized and tagged PDF output. Pandoc does not
support direct conversions via these tools. However, pandoc can
convert a document to a
docx
or
odt
file, which can then be opened and converted to PDF with the
respective word processor. See the documentation for
Word
and
LibreOffice
.
Running pandoc as a web server
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to
pandoc-server
, or if you call pandoc with
server
as the first argument, it will start up a web
server with a JSON API. This server exposes most of the conversion
functionality of pandoc. For full documentation, see the
pandoc-server
man page.
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to
pandoc-server.cgi
, it will function as a CGI program
exposing the same API as
pandoc-server
.
pandoc-server
is designed to be maximally secure;
it uses Haskell’s type system to provide strong guarantees that no
I/O will be performed on the server during pandoc conversions.
Running pandoc as a Lua interpreter
Calling the pandoc executable under the name
pandoc-lua
or with
lua
as the first
argument will make it function as a standalone Lua interpreter.
The behavior is mostly identical to that of the
standalone
lua
executable
, version 5.4. All
pandoc.*
packages, as well as the packages
re
and
lpeg
, are available via global
variables. Furthermore, the globals
PANDOC_VERSION
,
PANDOC_STATE
, and
PANDOC_API_VERSION
are
set at startup. For full documentation, see the
pandoc-lua
man page.
A note on security
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.
Several input formats (including LaTeX, Org, RST, and
Typst) support
include
directives that allow the
contents of a file to be included in the output. An untrusted
attacker could use these to view the contents of files on the file
system. (Using the
--sandbox
option can protect
against this threat.)
Several output formats (including RTF, FB2, HTML with
--self-contained
, EPUB, Docx, and
ODT) will embed encoded or raw images into the output file. An
untrusted attacker could exploit this to view the contents of
non-image files on the file system. (Using the
--sandbox
option can protect against this threat, but will also prevent
including images in these formats.)
In reading HTML files, pandoc will attempt to include the
contents of
iframe
elements by fetching content from
the local file or URL specified by
src
. If untrusted
HTML is processed on a server, this has the potential to reveal
anything readable by the process running the server. Using the
-f html+raw_html
will mitigate
this threat by causing the whole
iframe
to be parsed
as a raw HTML block. Using
--sandbox
will also protect
against the threat.
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
for more details. (This corresponds to the use of
the
--sandbox
option on the command
line.)
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. Note that the
commonmark
parser
(including
commonmark_x
and
gfm
) is much
less vulnerable to pathological performance than the
markdown
parser, so it is a better choice when
processing untrusted input.
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 URLs and
attributes. To be safe, you should run all HTML generated from
untrusted user input through an HTML sanitizer.
Authors
Copyright 2006–2024 John MacFarlane (
[email protected]
).
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.
The point of this rule is to ensure that normal
paragraphs starting with people’s initials, like
B. Russell won a Nobel Prize (but not for "On Denoting").
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
↩︎
I have been influenced by the suggestions of
David
Wheeler
.
↩︎
This scheme is due to Michel Fortin, who proposed
it on the
Markdown
discussion list
.
↩︎
Note that if
--file-scope
is used, a div
written this way will be given an identifier of the form
FILE__refs
, to avoid duplicate identifiers (see
--file-scope
). In view of this
possibility, pandoc will place the bibliography in any div whose
identifier is
refs
or
ends with
__refs
.
↩︎ |
| Markdown | [Please help Ukraine\!](https://novaukraine.org/)
[Sponsor](https://github.com/users/jgm/sponsorship)
Pandoc a universal document converter
- [About](https://pandoc.org/index.html)
- [Installing](https://pandoc.org/installing.html)
- [Demos](https://pandoc.org/demos.html)
- [Documentation](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html)
- [Getting started](https://pandoc.org/getting-started.html)
- [User's Guide](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html)
- [User's Guide (PDF)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.pdf)
- [Contributing](https://pandoc.org/CONTRIBUTING.html)
- [FAQ](https://pandoc.org/faqs.html)
- [Press](https://pandoc.org/press.html)
- [Filters](https://pandoc.org/filters.html)
- [Lua filters](https://pandoc.org/lua-filters.html)
- [Custom readers](https://pandoc.org/custom-readers.html)
- [Custom writers](https://pandoc.org/custom-writers.html)
- [pandoc-server](https://pandoc.org/pandoc-server.html)
- [Making an ebook](https://pandoc.org/epub.html)
- [Emacs Org mode support](https://pandoc.org/org.html)
- [JATS support](https://pandoc.org/jats.html)
- [Typst property attributes](https://pandoc.org/typst-property-output.html)
- [Using the Pandoc API](https://pandoc.org/using-the-pandoc-api.html)
- [API documentation](https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc)
- [Help](https://pandoc.org/help.html)
- [Extras](https://pandoc.org/extras.html)
- [Releases](https://pandoc.org/releases.html)
# Pandoc User’s Guide
# Synopsis
`pandoc` \[*options*\] \[*input-file*\]…
# Description
Pandoc is a [Haskell](https://www.haskell.org/) library for converting from one markup format to another, and a command-line tool that uses this library.
Pandoc can convert between numerous markup and word processing formats, including, but not limited to, various flavors of [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/), [HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/), [LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/) and [Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML). For the full lists of input and output formats, see the [`--from`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) and [`--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) [options below](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-options). Pandoc can also produce [PDF](https://www.adobe.com/pdf/) output: see [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#creating-a-pdf), below.
Pandoc’s enhanced version of Markdown includes syntax for [tables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#tables), [definition lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#definition-lists), [metadata blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#metadata-blocks), [footnotes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#footnotes), [citations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations), [math](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math), and much more. See below under [Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown).
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 (an *abstract syntax tree* or AST), 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. Users can also run custom [pandoc filters](https://pandoc.org/filters.html) to modify the intermediate AST.
Because pandoc’s intermediate representation of a document is less expressive than many of the formats it converts between, one should not expect perfect conversions between every format and every other. Pandoc attempts to preserve the structural elements of a document, but not formatting details such as margin size. And some document elements, such as complex tables, may not fit into pandoc’s simple document model. While conversions from pandoc’s Markdown to all formats aspire to be perfect, conversions from formats more expressive than pandoc’s Markdown can be expected to be lossy.
## Using pandoc
If no *input-files* are specified, input is read from *stdin*. Output goes to *stdout* by default. For output to a file, use the [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) option:
```
pandoc -o output.html input.txt
```
By default, pandoc produces a document fragment. To produce a standalone document (e.g. a valid HTML file including `<head>` and `<body>`), use the [`-s`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) or [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) flag:
```
pandoc -s -o output.html input.txt
```
For more information on how standalone documents are produced, see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates) below.
If multiple input files are given, pandoc will concatenate them all (with blank lines between them) before parsing. (Use [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[) to parse files individually.)
## Specifying formats
The format of the input and output can be specified explicitly using command-line options. The input format can be specified using the [`-f/--from`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) option, the output format using the [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) option. 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 input and output formats are listed below under [Options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options) (see [`-f`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) for input formats and [`-t`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) for output formats). You can also use `pandoc --list-input-formats` and `pandoc --list-output-formats` to print lists of supported formats.
If the input or output format is not specified explicitly, pandoc will attempt to guess it from the extensions of the 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.
## Character encoding
Pandoc uses the UTF-8 character encoding for both input and output. If your local character encoding is not UTF-8, you should pipe input and output through [`iconv`](https://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/):
```
iconv -t utf-8 input.txt | pandoc | iconv -f utf-8
```
Note that in some output formats (such as HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt, RTF, OPML, DocBook, and Texinfo), information about the character encoding is included in the document header, which will only be included if you use the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option.
## Creating a PDF
To produce a PDF, specify an output file with a `.pdf` extension:
```
pandoc test.txt -o test.pdf
```
By default, pandoc will use LaTeX to create the PDF, which requires that a LaTeX engine be installed (see [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) below). Alternatively, pandoc can use ConTeXt, roff ms, or HTML as an intermediate format. To do this, specify an output file with a `.pdf` extension, as before, but add the [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) option or [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) to the command line. The tool used to generate the PDF from the intermediate format may be specified using [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine).
You can control the PDF style using variables, depending on the intermediate format used: see [variables for LaTeX](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-latex), [variables for ConTeXt](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-context), [variables for `wkhtmltopdf`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-wkhtmltopdf), [variables for ms](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-ms). When HTML is used as an intermediate format, the output can be styled using [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css).
To debug the PDF creation, it can be useful to look at the intermediate representation: instead of [`-o test.pdf`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output), use for example [`-s -o test.tex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) to output the generated LaTeX. You can then test it with `pdflatex test.tex`.
When using LaTeX, the following packages need to be available (they are included with all recent versions of [TeX Live](https://www.tug.org/texlive/)): [`amsfonts`](https://ctan.org/pkg/amsfonts), [`amsmath`](https://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath), [`lm`](https://ctan.org/pkg/lm), [`unicode-math`](https://ctan.org/pkg/unicode-math), [`iftex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/iftex), [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) (if the [`--listings`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--listings[) option is used), [`fancyvrb`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fancyvrb), [`longtable`](https://ctan.org/pkg/longtable), [`booktabs`](https://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs), [`multirow`](https://ctan.org/pkg/multirow) (if the document contains a table with cells that cross multiple rows), [`graphicx`](https://ctan.org/pkg/graphicx) (if the document contains images), [`bookmark`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bookmark), [`xcolor`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor), [`soul`](https://ctan.org/pkg/soul), [`geometry`](https://ctan.org/pkg/geometry) (with the `geometry` variable set), [`setspace`](https://ctan.org/pkg/setspace) (with `linestretch`), and [`babel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/babel) (with `lang`). If `CJKmainfont` is set, [`xeCJK`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xecjk) is needed if `xelatex` is used, else [`luatexja`](https://ctan.org/pkg/luatexja) is needed if `lualatex` is used. [`framed`](https://ctan.org/pkg/framed) is required if code is highlighted in a scheme that use a colored background. The use of `xelatex` or `lualatex` as the PDF engine requires [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec). `lualatex` uses [`selnolig`](https://ctan.org/pkg/selnolig) and [`lua-ul`](https://ctan.org/pkg/lua-ul). `xelatex` uses [`bidi`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bidi) (with the `dir` variable set). If the `mathspec` variable is set, `xelatex` will use [`mathspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/mathspec) instead of [`unicode-math`](https://ctan.org/pkg/unicode-math). The [`csquotes`](https://ctan.org/pkg/csquotes) package will be used for [typography](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#typography) if the `csquotes` variable or metadata field is set to a true value. The [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib), [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex), [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex), and [`biber`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biber) packages can optionally be used for [citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering). If math with `\cancel`, `\bcancel`, or `\xcancel` is used, the [`cancel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/cancel) package is needed. The following packages will be used to improve output quality if present, but pandoc does not require them to be present: [`upquote`](https://ctan.org/pkg/upquote) (for straight quotes in verbatim environments), [`microtype`](https://ctan.org/pkg/microtype) (for better spacing adjustments), [`parskip`](https://ctan.org/pkg/parskip) (for better inter-paragraph spaces), [`xurl`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xurl) (for better line breaks in URLs), and [`footnotehyper`](https://ctan.org/pkg/footnotehyper) or [`footnote`](https://ctan.org/pkg/footnote) (to allow footnotes in tables).
## Reading from the Web
Instead of an input file, an absolute URI may be given. In this case pandoc will fetch the content using HTTP:
```
pandoc -f html -t markdown https://www.fsf.org
```
It is possible to supply a custom User-Agent string or other header when requesting a document from a URL:
```
pandoc -f html -t markdown --request-header User-Agent:"Mozilla/5.0" \
https://www.fsf.org
```
# Options
## General options
`-f` *FORMAT*, `-r` *FORMAT*, `--from=`*FORMAT*, `--read=`*FORMAT*
Specify input format. *FORMAT* can be:
- `asciidoc` ([AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) markup)
- `bibtex` ([BibTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) bibliography)
- `biblatex` ([BibLaTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) bibliography)
- `bits` ([BITS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/extensions/bits/) XML, alias for `jats`)
- `commonmark` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown with extensions)
- `creole` ([Creole 1.0](http://www.wikicreole.org/wiki/Creole1.0))
- `csljson` ([CSL JSON](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html) bibliography)
- `csv` ([CSV](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180) table)
- `tsv` ([TSV](https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/text/tab-separated-values) table)
- `djot` ([Djot markup](https://djot.net/))
- `docbook` ([DocBook](https://docbook.org/))
- `docx` ([Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML))
- `dokuwiki` ([DokuWiki markup](https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki))
- `endnotexml` ([EndNote XML bibliography](https://support.clarivate.com/Endnote/s/article/EndNote-XML-Document-Type-Definition))
- `epub` ([EPUB](http://idpf.org/epub))
- `fb2` ([FictionBook2](http://www.fictionbook.org/index.php/Eng:XML_Schema_Fictionbook_2.1) e-book)
- `gfm` ([GitHub-Flavored Markdown](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/)), or the deprecated and less accurate `markdown_github`; use [`markdown_github`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants) only if you need extensions not supported in [`gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants).
- `haddock` ([Haddock markup](https://www.haskell.org/haddock/doc/html/ch03s08.html))
- `html` ([HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/))
- `ipynb` ([Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/))
- `jats` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML)
- `jira` ([Jira](https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all)/Confluence wiki markup)
- `json` (JSON version of native AST)
- `latex` ([LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/))
- `markdown` ([Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown))
- `markdown_mmd` ([MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/))
- `markdown_phpextra` ([PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/))
- `markdown_strict` (original unextended [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/))
- `mediawiki` ([MediaWiki markup](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting))
- `man` ([roff man](https://man.cx/groff_man\(7\)))
- `mdoc` ([mdoc](https://mandoc.bsd.lv/man/mdoc.7.html) manual page markup)
- `muse` ([Muse](https://amusewiki.org/library/manual))
- `native` (native Haskell)
- `odt` ([OpenDocument text document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument))
- `opml` ([OPML](https://opml.org/spec2.opml))
- `org` ([Emacs Org mode](https://orgmode.org/))
- `pod` (Perl’s [Plain Old Documentation](https://perldoc.perl.org/perlpod))
- `pptx` ([PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint))
- `ris` ([RIS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIS_\(file_format\)) bibliography)
- `rtf` ([Rich Text Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format))
- `rst` ([reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html))
- `t2t` ([txt2tags](https://txt2tags.org/))
- `textile` ([Textile](https://textile-lang.com/))
- `tikiwiki` ([TikiWiki markup](https://doc.tiki.org/Wiki-Syntax-Text#The_Markup_Language_Wiki-Syntax))
- `twiki` ([TWiki markup](https://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/TextFormattingRules))
- `typst` ([typst](https://typst.app/))
- `vimwiki` ([Vimwiki](https://vimwiki.github.io/))
- `xlsx` ([Excel spreadsheet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel#File_formats))
- `xml` (XML version of native AST)
- the path of a custom Lua reader, see [Custom readers and writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-readers-and-writers) below
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending `+EXTENSION` or `-EXTENSION` to the format name. See [Extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extensions) below, for a list of extensions and their names. See [`--list-input-formats`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-input-formats) and [`--list-extensions`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-extensions), below.
`-t` *FORMAT*, `-w` *FORMAT*, `--to=`*FORMAT*, `--write=`*FORMAT*
Specify output format. *FORMAT* can be:
- `ansi` (text with [ANSI escape codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code), for terminal viewing)
- `asciidoc` (modern [AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) as interpreted by [AsciiDoctor](https://asciidoctor.org/))
- `asciidoc_legacy` ([AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) as interpreted by [`asciidoc-py`](https://github.com/asciidoc-py/asciidoc-py)).
- `asciidoctor` (deprecated synonym for `asciidoc`)
- `bbcode` [BBCode](https://www.bbcode.org/reference.php)
- `bbcode_fluxbb` [BBCode (FluxBB)](https://web.archive.org/web/20210623155046/https://fluxbb.org/forums/help.php#bbcode)
- `bbcode_phpbb` [BBCode (phpBB)](https://www.phpbb.com/community/help/bbcode)
- `bbcode_steam` [BBCode (Steam)](https://steamcommunity.com/comment/ForumTopic/formattinghelp)
- `bbcode_hubzilla` [BBCode (Hubzilla)](https://hubzilla.org/help/member/bbcode)
- `bbcode_xenforo` [BBCode (xenForo)](https://www.xenfocus.com/community/help/bb-codes/)
- `beamer` ([LaTeX beamer](https://ctan.org/pkg/beamer) slide show)
- `bibtex` ([BibTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) bibliography)
- `biblatex` ([BibLaTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) bibliography)
- `chunkedhtml` (zip archive of multiple linked HTML files)
- `commonmark` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown with extensions)
- `context` ([ConTeXt](https://www.contextgarden.net/))
- `csljson` ([CSL JSON](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html) bibliography)
- `djot` ([Djot markup](https://djot.net/))
- `docbook` or `docbook4` ([DocBook](https://docbook.org/) 4)
- `docbook5` (DocBook 5)
- `docx` ([Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML))
- `dokuwiki` ([DokuWiki markup](https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki))
- `epub` or `epub3` ([EPUB](http://idpf.org/epub) v3 book)
- `epub2` (EPUB v2)
- `fb2` ([FictionBook2](http://www.fictionbook.org/index.php/Eng:XML_Schema_Fictionbook_2.1) e-book)
- `gfm` ([GitHub-Flavored Markdown](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/)), or the deprecated and less accurate `markdown_github`; use [`markdown_github`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants) only if you need extensions not supported in [`gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants).
- `haddock` ([Haddock markup](https://www.haskell.org/haddock/doc/html/ch03s08.html))
- `html` or `html5` ([HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/), i.e. [HTML5](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/)/XHTML [polyglot markup](https://www.w3.org/TR/html-polyglot/))
- `html4` ([XHTML](https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/) 1.0 Transitional)
- `icml` ([InDesign ICML](https://web.archive.org/web/20211006210211/https://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/indesign/sdk/cs6/idml/idml-cookbook.pdf))
- `ipynb` ([Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/))
- `jats_archiving` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Archiving and Interchange Tag Set)
- `jats_articleauthoring` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Article Authoring Tag Set)
- `jats_publishing` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Journal Publishing Tag Set)
- `jats` (alias for `jats_archiving`)
- `jira` ([Jira](https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all)/Confluence wiki markup)
- `json` (JSON version of native AST)
- `latex` ([LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/))
- `man` ([roff man](https://man.cx/groff_man\(7\)))
- `markdown` ([Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown))
- `markdown_mmd` ([MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/))
- `markdown_phpextra` ([PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/))
- `markdown_strict` (original unextended [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/))
- `markua` ([Markua](https://leanpub.com/markua/read))
- `mediawiki` ([MediaWiki markup](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting))
- `ms` ([roff ms](https://man.cx/groff_ms\(7\)))
- `muse` ([Muse](https://amusewiki.org/library/manual))
- `native` (native Haskell)
- `odt` ([OpenDocument text document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument))
- `opml` ([OPML](https://opml.org/spec2.opml))
- `opendocument` ([OpenDocument XML](https://www.oasis-open.org/2021/06/16/opendocument-v1-3-oasis-standard-published/))
- `org` ([Emacs Org mode](https://orgmode.org/))
- `pdf` ([PDF](https://www.adobe.com/pdf/))
- `plain` (plain text)
- `pptx` ([PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint) slide show)
- `rst` ([reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html))
- `rtf` ([Rich Text Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format))
- `texinfo` ([GNU Texinfo](https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/))
- `textile` ([Textile](https://textile-lang.com/))
- `slideous` ([Slideous](https://goessner.net/articles/slideous/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `slidy` ([Slidy](https://www.w3.org/Talks/Tools/Slidy2/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `dzslides` ([DZSlides](https://paulrouget.com/dzslides/) HTML5 + JavaScript slide show)
- `revealjs` ([reveal.js](https://revealjs.com/) HTML5 + JavaScript slide show)
- `s5` ([S5](https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `tei` ([TEI Simple](https://github.com/TEIC/TEI-Simple))
- `typst` ([typst](https://typst.app/))
- `vimdoc` ([Vimdoc](https://vimhelp.org/helphelp.txt.html#help-writing))
- `xml` (XML version of native AST)
- `xwiki` ([XWiki markup](https://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Documentation/UserGuide/Features/XWikiSyntax/))
- `zimwiki` ([ZimWiki markup](https://zim-wiki.org/manual/Help/Wiki_Syntax.html))
- the path of a custom Lua writer, see [Custom readers and writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-readers-and-writers) below
Note that `odt`, `docx`, `epub`, and `pdf` output will not be directed to *stdout* unless forced with [`-o -`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output).
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending `+EXTENSION` or `-EXTENSION` to the format name. See [Extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extensions) below, for a list of extensions and their names. See [`--list-output-formats`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-output-formats) and [`--list-extensions`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-extensions), below.
`-o` *FILE*, `--output=`*FILE*
Write output to *FILE* instead of *stdout*. If *FILE* is `-`, output will go to *stdout*, even if a non-textual format (`docx`, `odt`, `epub2`, `epub3`) is specified. If the output format is `chunkedhtml` and *FILE* has no extension, then instead of producing a `.zip` file pandoc will create a directory *FILE* and unpack the zip archive there (unless *FILE* already exists, in which case an error will be raised).
`--data-dir=`*DIRECTORY*
Specify the user data directory to search for pandoc data files. If this option is not specified, the default user data directory will be used. On \*nix and macOS systems this will be the `pandoc` subdirectory of the XDG data directory (by default, `$HOME/.local/share`, overridable by setting the `XDG_DATA_HOME` environment variable). If that directory does not exist and `$HOME/.pandoc` exists, it will be used (for backwards compatibility). On Windows the default user data directory is `%APPDATA%\pandoc`. You can find the default user data directory on your system by looking at the output of `pandoc --version`. Data files placed in this directory (for example, `reference.odt`, `reference.docx`, `epub.css`, `templates`) will override pandoc’s normal defaults. (Note that the user data directory is not created by pandoc, so you will need to create it yourself if you want to make use of it.)
`-d` *FILE*, `--defaults=`*FILE*
Specify a set of default option settings. *FILE* is a YAML or JSON file whose fields correspond to command-line option settings. All options for document conversion, including input and output files, can be set using a defaults file. The file will be searched for first in the working directory, and then in the `defaults` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). The `.yaml` extension will be added if *FILE* lacs an extension. See the section [Defaults files](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#defaults-files) for more information on the file format. Settings from the defaults file may be overridden or extended by subsequent options on the command line.
`--bash-completion`
Generate a bash completion script. To enable bash completion with pandoc, add this to your `.bashrc`:
```
eval "$(pandoc --bash-completion)"
```
`--verbose`
Give verbose debugging output.
`--quiet`
Suppress warning messages.
`--fail-if-warnings[=true|false]`
Exit with error status if there are any warnings.
`--log=`*FILE*
Write log messages in machine-readable JSON format to *FILE*. All messages above DEBUG level will be written, regardless of verbosity settings ([`--verbose`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--verbose), [`--quiet`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--quiet)).
`--list-input-formats`
List supported input formats, one per line.
`--list-output-formats`
List supported output formats, one per line.
`--list-extensions`\[`=`*FORMAT*\]
List supported extensions for *FORMAT*, one per line, preceded by a `+` or `-` indicating whether it is enabled by default in *FORMAT*. If *FORMAT* is not specified, defaults for pandoc’s Markdown are given.
`--list-highlight-languages`
List supported languages for syntax highlighting, one per line.
`--list-highlight-styles`
List supported styles for syntax highlighting, one per line. See [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting).
`-v`, `--version`
Print version.
`-h`, `--help`
Show usage message.
## Reader options
`--shift-heading-level-by=`*NUMBER*
Shift heading levels by a positive or negative integer. For example, with [`--shift-heading-level-by=-1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by), level 2 headings become level 1 headings, and level 3 headings become level 2 headings. Headings cannot have a level less than 1, so a heading that would be shifted below level 1 becomes a regular paragraph. Exception: with a shift of -N, a level-N heading at the beginning of the document replaces the metadata title. [`--shift-heading-level-by=-1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by) is a good choice when converting HTML or Markdown documents that use an initial level-1 heading for the document title and level-2+ headings for sections. [`--shift-heading-level-by=1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by) may be a good choice for converting Markdown documents that use level-1 headings for sections to HTML, since pandoc uses a level-1 heading to render the document title.
`--base-header-level=`*NUMBER*
*Deprecated. Use [`--shift-heading-level-by`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by)\=X instead, where X = NUMBER - 1.* Specify the base level for headings (defaults to 1).
`--indented-code-classes=`*CLASSES*
Specify classes to use for indented code blocks—for example, `perl,numberLines` or `haskell`. Multiple classes may be separated by spaces or commas.
`--default-image-extension=`*EXTENSION*
Specify a default extension to use when image paths/URLs have no extension. This allows you to use the same source for formats that require different kinds of images. Currently this option only affects the Markdown and LaTeX readers.
`--file-scope[=true|false]`
Parse each file individually before combining for multifile documents. This will allow footnotes in different files with the same identifiers to work as expected. If this option is set, footnotes and links will not work across files. Reading binary files (docx, odt, epub) implies [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[).
If two or more files are processed using [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[), prefixes based on the filenames will be added to identifiers in order to disambiguate them, and internal links will be adjusted accordingly. For example, a header with identifier `foo` in `subdir/file1.txt` will have its identifier changed to `subdir__file1.txt__foo`.
`-F` *PROGRAM*, `--filter=`*PROGRAM*
Specify an executable to be used as a filter transforming the pandoc AST after the input is parsed and before the output is written. The executable should read JSON from stdin and write JSON to stdout. The JSON must be formatted like pandoc’s own JSON input and output. The name of the output format will be passed to the filter as the first argument. Hence,
```
pandoc --filter ./caps.py -t latex
```
is equivalent to
```
pandoc -t json | ./caps.py latex | pandoc -f json -t latex
```
The latter form may be useful for debugging filters.
Filters may be written in any language. `Text.Pandoc.JSON` exports `toJSONFilter` to facilitate writing filters in Haskell. Those who would prefer to write filters in python can use the module [`pandocfilters`](https://github.com/jgm/pandocfilters), installable from PyPI. There are also pandoc filter libraries in [PHP](https://github.com/vinai/pandocfilters-php), [perl](https://metacpan.org/pod/Pandoc::Filter), and [JavaScript/node.js](https://github.com/mvhenderson/pandoc-filter-node).
In order of preference, pandoc will look for filters in
1. a specified full or relative path (executable or non-executable),
2. `$DATADIR/filters` (executable or non-executable) where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above),
3. `$PATH` (executable only).
Filters, Lua-filters, and citeproc processing are applied in the order specified on the command line.
`-L` *SCRIPT*, `--lua-filter=`*SCRIPT*
Transform the document in a similar fashion as JSON filters (see [`--filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--filter)), but use pandoc’s built-in Lua filtering system. The given Lua script is expected to return a list of Lua filters which will be applied in order. Each Lua filter must contain element-transforming functions indexed by the name of the AST element on which the filter function should be applied.
The `pandoc` Lua module provides helper functions for element creation. It is always loaded into the script’s Lua environment.
See the [Lua filters documentation](https://pandoc.org/lua-filters.html) for further details.
In order of preference, pandoc will look for Lua filters in
1. a specified full or relative path,
2. `$DATADIR/filters` where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above).
Filters, Lua filters, and citeproc processing are applied in the order specified on the command line.
`-M` *KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\], `--metadata=`*KEY*\[`:`*VAL*\]
Set the metadata field *KEY* to the value *VAL*. A value specified on the command line overrides a value specified in the document using [YAML metadata blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block). Values will be parsed as YAML boolean or string values. If no value is specified, the value will be treated as Boolean true. Like [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) causes template variables to be set. But unlike [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) affects the metadata of the underlying document (which is accessible from filters and may be printed in some output formats) and metadata values will be escaped when inserted into the template.
`--metadata-file=`*FILE*
Read metadata from the supplied YAML (or JSON) file. This option can be used with every input format, but string scalars in the metadata file will always be parsed as Markdown. (If the input format is Markdown or a Markdown variant, then the same variant will be used to parse the metadata file; if it is a non-Markdown format, pandoc’s default Markdown extensions will be used.) This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple metadata files; values in files specified later on the command line will be preferred over those specified in earlier files. Metadata values specified inside the document, or by using [`-M`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata), overwrite values specified with this option. The file will be searched for first in the working directory, and then in the `metadata` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)).
`-p`, `--preserve-tabs[=true|false]`
Preserve tabs instead of converting them to spaces. (By default, pandoc converts tabs to spaces before parsing its input.) Note that this will only affect tabs in literal code spans and code blocks. Tabs in regular text are always treated as spaces.
`--tab-stop=`*NUMBER*
Specify the number of spaces per tab (default is 4).
`--track-changes=accept`\|`reject`\|`all`
Specifies what to do with insertions, deletions, and comments produced by the MS Word “Track Changes” feature. `accept` (the default) processes all the insertions and deletions. `reject` ignores them. Both `accept` and `reject` ignore comments. `all` includes all insertions, deletions, and comments, wrapped in spans with `insertion`, `deletion`, `comment-start`, and `comment-end` classes, respectively. The author and time of change is included. `all` is useful for scripting: only accepting changes from a certain reviewer, say, or before a certain date. If a paragraph is inserted or deleted, `track-changes=all` produces a span with the class `paragraph-insertion`/`paragraph-deletion` before the affected paragraph break. This option only affects the docx reader.
`--extract-media=`*DIR*\|*FILE*`.zip`
Extract images and other media contained in or linked from the source document to the path *DIR*, creating it if necessary, and adjust the images references in the document so they point to the extracted files. Media are downloaded, read from the file system, or extracted from a binary container (e.g. docx), as needed. The original file paths are used if they are relative paths not containing `..`. Otherwise filenames are constructed from the SHA1 hash of the contents.
If the path given ends in `.zip`, then instead of creating a directory, pandoc will create a zip archive containing the media files.
`--abbreviations=`*FILE*
Specifies a custom abbreviations file, with abbreviations one to a line. If this option is not specified, pandoc will read the data file `abbreviations` from the user data directory or fall back on a system default. To see the system default, use `pandoc --print-default-data-file=abbreviations`. The only use pandoc makes of this list is in the Markdown reader. Strings found in this list will be followed by a nonbreaking space, and the period will not produce sentence-ending space in formats like LaTeX. The strings may not contain spaces.
`--trace[=true|false]`
Print diagnostic output tracing parser progress to stderr. This option is intended for use by developers in diagnosing performance issues.
## General writer options
`-s`, `--standalone`
Produce output with an appropriate header and footer (e.g. a standalone HTML, LaTeX, TEI, or RTF file, not a fragment). This option is set automatically for `pdf`, `epub`, `epub3`, `fb2`, `docx`, and `odt` output. For `native` output, this option causes metadata to be included; otherwise, metadata is suppressed.
`--template=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Use the specified file as a custom template for the generated document. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). See [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates), below, for a description of template syntax. If the template is not found, pandoc will search for it in the `templates` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). If no extension is specified and an extensionless template is not found, pandoc will look for a template with an extension corresponding to the writer, so that [`--template=special`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--template) looks for `special.html` for HTML output. If this option is not used, a default template appropriate for the output format will be used (see [`-D/--print-default-template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-template)).
`-V` *KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\], `--variable=`*KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\]
Set the template variable *KEY* to the string value *VAL* when rendering the document in standalone mode. Either `:` or `=` may be used to separate *KEY* from *VAL*. If no *VAL* is specified, the key will be given the value `true`. Structured values (lists, maps) cannot be assigned using this option, but they can be assigned in the `variables` section of a [defaults file](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#defaults-files) or using the [`--variable-json`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) option. If the variable already has a *list* value, the value will be added to the list. If it already has another kind of value, it will be made into a list containing the previous and the new value. For example, [`-V keyword=Joe -V author=Sue`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) makes `author` contain a list of strings: `Joe` and `Sue`.
`--variable-json=`*KEY*\[`=`:*JSON*\]
Set the template variable *KEY* to the value specified by a JSON string (this may be a boolean, a string, a list, or a mapping; a number will be treated as a string). For example, [`--variable-json foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) will give `foo` the boolean false value, while [`--variable-json foo='"false"'`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) will give it the string value `"false"`. Either `:` or `=` may be used to separate *KEY* from *VAL*. If the variable already has a value, this value will be replaced.
`--sandbox[=true|false]`
Run pandoc in a sandbox, limiting IO operations in readers and writers to reading the files specified on the command line. Note that this option does not limit IO operations by filters or in the production of PDF documents. But it does offer security against, for example, disclosure of files through the use of `include` directives. Anyone using pandoc on untrusted user input should use this option.
Note: some readers and writers (e.g., `docx`) need access to data files. If these are stored on the file system, then pandoc will not be able to find them when run in [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) mode and will raise an error. For these applications, we recommend using a pandoc binary compiled with the `embed_data_files` option, which causes the data files to be baked into the binary instead of being stored on the file system.
`-D` *FORMAT*, `--print-default-template=`*FORMAT*
Print the system default template for an output *FORMAT*. (See [`-t`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) for a list of possible *FORMAT*s.) Templates in the user data directory are ignored. This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-default-template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-template) on the command line.
Note that some of the default templates use partials, for example `styles.html`. To print the partials, use [`--print-default-data-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file): for example, [`--print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file).
`--print-default-data-file=`*FILE*
Print a system default data file. Files in the user data directory are ignored. This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-default-data-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file) on the command line.
`--eol=crlf`\|`lf`\|`native`
Manually specify line endings: `crlf` (Windows), `lf` (macOS/Linux/UNIX), or `native` (line endings appropriate to the OS on which pandoc is being run). The default is `native`.
`--dpi`\=*NUMBER*
Specify the default dpi (dots per inch) value for conversion from pixels to inch/centimeters and vice versa. (Technically, the correct term would be ppi: pixels per inch.) The default is 96dpi. When images contain information about dpi internally, the encoded value is used instead of the default specified by this option.
`--wrap=auto`\|`none`\|`preserve`
Determine how text is wrapped in the output (the source code, not the rendered version). With `auto` (the default), pandoc will attempt to wrap lines to the column width specified by [`--columns`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--columns) (default 72). With `none`, pandoc will not wrap lines at all. With `preserve`, pandoc will attempt to preserve the wrapping from the source document (that is, where there are nonsemantic newlines in the source, there will be nonsemantic newlines in the output as well). In `ipynb` output, this option affects wrapping of the contents of Markdown cells.
`--columns=`*NUMBER*
Specify length of lines in characters. This affects text wrapping in the generated source code (see [`--wrap`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--wrap)). It also affects calculation of column widths for plain text tables (see [Tables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#tables) below).
`--toc[=true|false]`, `--table-of-contents[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated table of contents (or, in the case of `latex`, `context`, `docx`, `odt`, `opendocument`, `rst`, or `ms`, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it has no effect on `man`, `docbook4`, `docbook5`, or `jats` output.
Note that if you are producing a PDF via `ms` and using (the default) `pdfroff` as a [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), the table of contents will appear at the beginning of the document, before the title. If you would prefer it to be at the end of the document, use the option [`--pdf-engine-opt=--no-toc-relocation`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine-opt). If `groff` is used as the [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), the table of contents will always appear at the end of the document.
`--toc-depth=`*NUMBER*
Specify the number of section levels to include in the table of contents. The default is 3 (which means that level-1, 2, and 3 headings will be listed in the contents).
`--lof[=true|false]`, `--list-of-figures[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated list of figures (or, in some formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it only has an effect on `latex`, `context`, and `docx` output.
`--lot[=true|false]`, `--list-of-tables[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated list of tables (or, in some formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it only has an effect on `latex`, `context`, and `docx` output.
`--strip-comments[=true|false]`
Strip out HTML comments in the Markdown or Textile source, rather than passing them on to Markdown, Textile or HTML output as raw HTML. This does not apply to HTML comments inside raw HTML blocks when the `markdown_in_html_blocks` extension is not set.
`--syntax-highlighting=default|none|idiomatic|`*STYLE*`|`*FILE*
The method to use for code syntax highlighting. Setting a specific *STYLE* causes highlighting to be performed with the internal highlighting engine, using KDE syntax definitions and styles. The `idiomatic` method uses a format-specific highlighter if one is available, or the default style if the target format has no idiomatic highlighting method. Setting this option to `none` disables all syntax highlighting. The `default` method uses a format-specific default.
The default for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, Man, and LaTeX output is to use the internal highlighter with the default style; for Typst it is to use Typst’s own syntax highlighting system.
Style options are `pygments` (the default), `kate`, `monochrome`, `breezeDark`, `espresso`, `zenburn`, `haddock`, and `tango`. For more information on syntax highlighting in pandoc, see [Syntax highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#syntax-highlighting), below. See also [`--list-highlight-styles`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-highlight-styles).
Instead of a *STYLE* name, a JSON file with extension `.theme` may be supplied. This will be parsed as a KDE syntax highlighting theme and (if valid) used as the highlighting style.
To generate the JSON version of an existing style, use [`--print-highlight-style`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style).
`--no-highlight`
*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) instead.*
Disables syntax highlighting for code blocks and inlines, even when a language attribute is given.
`--highlight-style=`*STYLE*\|*FILE*
*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting)*STYLE*\|*FILE* instead.*
Specifies the coloring style to be used in highlighted source code.
`--print-highlight-style=`*STYLE*\|*FILE*
Prints a JSON version of a highlighting style, which can be modified, saved with a `.theme` extension, and used with [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-highlight-style`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style) on the command line.
`--syntax-definition=`*FILE*
Instructs pandoc to load a KDE XML syntax definition file, which will be used for syntax highlighting of appropriately marked code blocks. This can be used to add support for new languages or to use altered syntax definitions for existing languages. This option may be repeated to add multiple syntax definitions.
`-H` *FILE*, `--include-in-header=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Include contents of *FILE*, verbatim, at the end of the header. This can be used, for example, to include special CSS or JavaScript in HTML documents. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files in the header. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone).
`-B` *FILE*, `--include-before-body=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Include contents of *FILE*, 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. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). Note that if the output format is `odt`, this file must be in OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of the document, and if the output is `docx`, this file must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
`-A` *FILE*, `--include-after-body=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Include contents of *FILE*, verbatim, at the end of the document body (before the `</body>` tag in HTML, or the `\end{document}` command in LaTeX). This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). Note that if the output format is `odt`, this file must be in OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of the document, and if the output is `docx`, this file must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
`--resource-path=`*SEARCHPATH*
List of paths to search for images and other resources. The paths should be separated by `:` on Linux, UNIX, and macOS systems, and by `;` on Windows. If [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is not specified, the default resource path is the working directory. Note that, if [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is specified, the working directory must be explicitly listed or it will not be searched. For example: [`--resource-path=.:test`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) will search the working directory and the `test` subdirectory, in that order. This option can be used repeatedly. Search path components that come later on the command line will be searched before those that come earlier, so [`--resource-path foo:bar --resource-path baz:bim`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is equivalent to [`--resource-path baz:bim:foo:bar`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path). Note that this option only has an effect when pandoc itself needs to find an image (e.g., in producing a PDF or docx, or when [`--embed-resources`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--embed-resources[) is used.) It will not cause image paths to be rewritten in other cases (e.g., when pandoc is generating LaTeX or HTML).
`--request-header=`*NAME*`:`*VAL*
Set the request header *NAME* to the value *VAL* when making HTTP requests (for example, when a URL is given on the command line, or when resources used in a document must be downloaded). If you’re behind a proxy, you also need to set the environment variable `http_proxy` to `http://...`.
`--no-check-certificate[=true|false]`
Disable the certificate verification to allow access to unsecure HTTP resources (for example when the certificate is no longer valid or self signed).
## Options affecting specific writers
`--self-contained[=true|false]`
*Deprecated synonym for [`--embed-resources --standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--embed-resources[).*
`--embed-resources[=true|false]`
Produce a standalone HTML file with no external dependencies, using `data:` URIs to incorporate the contents of linked scripts, stylesheets, images, and videos. The resulting file should be “self-contained,” in the sense that it needs no external files and no net access to be displayed properly by a browser. This option works only with HTML output formats, including `html4`, `html5`, `html+lhs`, `html5+lhs`, `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, and `revealjs`. Scripts, images, and stylesheets at absolute URLs will be downloaded; those at relative URLs will be sought relative to the working directory (if the first source file is local) or relative to the base URL (if the first source file is remote). Elements with the attribute `data-external="1"` will be left alone; the documents they link to will not be incorporated in the document. Limitation: resources that are loaded dynamically through JavaScript cannot be incorporated; as a result, fonts may be missing when [`--mathjax`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--mathjax) is used, and some advanced features (e.g. zoom or speaker notes) may not work in an offline “self-contained” `reveal.js` slide show.
For SVG images, `img` tags with `data:` URIs are used, unless the image has the class `inline-svg`, in which case an inline SVG element is inserted. This approach is recommended when there are many occurrences of the same SVG in a document, as `<use>` elements will be used to reduce duplication.
`--link-images[=true|false]`
Include links to images instead of embedding the images in ODT. (This option currently only affects ODT output.)
`--html-q-tags[=true|false]`
Use `<q>` tags for quotes in HTML. (This option only has an effect if the `smart` extension is enabled for the input format used.)
`--ascii[=true|false]`
Use only ASCII characters in output. Currently supported for XML and HTML formats (which use entities instead of UTF-8 when this option is selected), CommonMark, gfm, and Markdown (which use entities), roff man and ms (which use hexadecimal escapes), and to a limited degree LaTeX (which uses standard commands for accented characters when possible).
`--reference-links[=true|false]`
Use reference-style links, rather than inline links, in writing Markdown or reStructuredText. By default inline links are used. The placement of link references is affected by the [`--reference-location`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-location) option.
`--reference-location=block`\|`section`\|`document`
Specify whether footnotes (and references, if `reference-links` is set) are placed at the end of the current (top-level) block, the current section, or the document. The default is `document`. Currently this option only affects the `markdown`, `muse`, `html`, `epub`, `slidy`, `s5`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, and `revealjs` writers. In slide formats, specifying [`--reference-location=section`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-location) will cause notes to be rendered at the bottom of a slide.
`--figure-caption-position=above`\|`below`
Specify whether figure captions go above or below figures (default is `below`). This option only affects HTML, LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
`--table-caption-position=above`\|`below`
Specify whether table captions go above or below tables (default is `above`). This option only affects HTML, LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
`--markdown-headings=setext`\|`atx`
Specify whether to use ATX-style (`#`\-prefixed) or Setext-style (underlined) headings for level 1 and 2 headings in Markdown output. (The default is `atx`.) ATX-style headings are always used for levels 3+. This option also affects Markdown cells in `ipynb` output.
`--list-tables[=true|false]`
Render tables as list tables in RST output.
`--top-level-division=default`\|`section`\|`chapter`\|`part`
Treat top-level headings as the given division type in LaTeX, ConTeXt, DocBook, and TEI output. The hierarchy order is part, chapter, then section; all headings are shifted such that the top-level heading becomes the specified type. The default behavior is to determine the best division type via heuristics: unless other conditions apply, `section` is chosen. When the `documentclass` variable is set to `report`, `book`, or `memoir` (unless the `article` option is specified), `chapter` is implied as the setting for this option. If `beamer` is the output format, specifying either `chapter` or `part` will cause top-level headings to become `\part{..}`, while second-level headings remain as their default type.
In Docx output, this option adds section breaks before first-level headings if `chapter` is selected, and before first- and second-level headings if `part` is selected. Footnote numbers will restart with each section break unless the reference doc modifies this.
`-N`, `--number-sections=[true|false]`
Number section headings in LaTeX, ConTeXt, HTML, Docx, ms, or EPUB output. By default, sections are not numbered. Sections with class `unnumbered` will never be numbered, even if [`--number-sections`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections) is specified.
`--number-offset=`*NUMBER*\[`,`*NUMBER*`,`*…*\]
Offsets for section heading numbers. The first number is added to the section number for level-1 headings, the second for level-2 headings, and so on. So, for example, if you want the first level-1 heading in your document to be numbered “6” instead of “1”, specify [`--number-offset=5`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset). If your document starts with a level-2 heading which you want to be numbered “1.5”, specify [`--number-offset=1,4`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset). [`--number-offset`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset) only directly affects the number of the first section heading in a document; subsequent numbers increment in the normal way. Implies [`--number-sections`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections). Currently this feature only affects HTML and Docx output.
`--listings[=true|false]`
\*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) or [`--syntax-highlighting=default`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) instead.
Use the [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) package for LaTeX code blocks. The package does not support multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you would need to use a custom template. This issue is fully documented here: [Encoding issue with the listings package](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Encoding_issue).
`-i`, `--incremental[=true|false]`
Make list items in slide shows display incrementally (one by one). The default is for lists to be displayed all at once.
`--slide-level=`*NUMBER*
Specifies that headings with the specified level create slides (for `beamer`, `revealjs`, `pptx`, `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`). Headings above this level in the hierarchy are used to divide the slide show into sections; headings below this level create subheads within a slide. Valid values are 0-6. If a slide level of 0 is specified, slides will not be split automatically on headings, and horizontal rules must be used to indicate slide boundaries. If a slide level is not specified explicitly, the slide level will be set automatically based on the contents of the document; see [Structuring the slide show](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#structuring-the-slide-show).
`--section-divs[=true|false]`
Wrap sections in `<section>` tags (or `<div>` tags for `html4`), and attach identifiers to the enclosing `<section>` (or `<div>`) rather than the heading itself (see [Heading identifiers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#heading-identifiers), below). This option only affects HTML output (and does not affect HTML slide formats).
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. This option only affects HTML (including HTML slide shows) and EPUB output. It should be used together with [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone), because the link to the stylesheet goes in the document header.
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). If it is not found there, sensible defaults will be used.
`--reference-doc=`*FILE*\|*URL*
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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
- AbstractTitle
- Bibliography
- Heading 1
- Heading 2
- Heading 3
- Heading 4
- Heading 5
- Heading 6
- Heading 7
- Heading 8
- Heading 9
- Block Text \[for block quotes\]
- Footnote Block Text \[for block quotes in footnotes\]
- Source Code
- Footnote Text
- Definition Term
- Definition
- Caption
- Table Caption
- Image Caption
- Figure
- Captioned Figure
- TOC Heading
Character styles:
- Default Paragraph Font
- Verbatim Char
- Footnote Reference
- Hyperlink
- Section Number
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 contain layouts with the following names (as seen within PowerPoint):
- Title Slide
- Title and Content
- Section Header
- Two Content
- Comparison
- Content with Caption
- Blank
For each name, the first layout found with that name will be used. If no layout is found with one of the names, pandoc will output a warning and use the layout with that name from the default reference doc instead. (How these layouts are used is described in [PowerPoint layout choice](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#powerpoint-layout-choice).)
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 layouts with the names listed above).
`--split-level=`*NUMBER*
Specify the heading level at which to split an EPUB or chunked HTML document into separate files. The default is to split into chapters at level-1 headings. In the case of EPUB, 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. For chunked HTML, this option determines how much content goes in each “chunk.”
`--chunk-template=`*PATHTEMPLATE*
Specify a template for the filenames in a `chunkedhtml` document. In the template, `%n` will be replaced by the chunk number (padded with leading 0s to 3 digits), `%s` with the section number of the chunk, `%h` with the heading text (with formatting removed), `%i` with the section identifier. For example, `section-%s-%i.html` might be resolved to `section-1.1-introduction.html`. The characters `/` and `\` are not allowed in chunk templates and will be ignored. The default is `%s-%i.html`.
`--epub-chapter-level=`*NUMBER*
*Deprecated synonym for [`--split-level`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--split-level).*
`--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-metadata), below).
`--epub-title-page=true`\|`false`
Determines whether a the title page is included in the EPUB (default is `true`).
`--epub-metadata=`*FILE*
Look in the specified XML file for metadata for the EPUB. The file should contain a series of [Dublin Core elements](https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/). For example:
```
<dc:rights>Creative Commons</dc:rights>
<dc:language>es-AR</dc:language>
```
By default, pandoc will include the following metadata elements: `<dc:title>` (from the document title), `<dc:creator>` (from the document authors), `<dc:date>` (from the document date, which should be in [ISO 8601 format](https://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime)), `<dc:language>` (from the `lang` variable, or, if is not set, the locale), and `<dc:identifier id="BookId">` (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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css)):
```
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Regular.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: normal;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf");
}
body { font-family: "DejaVuSans"; }
```
`--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`, `pagedjs-cli`, `prince`, `context`, `groff`, `pdfroff`, and `typst`. If the engine is not in your PATH, the full path of the engine may be specified here. If this option is not specified, pandoc uses the following defaults depending on the output format specified using [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to):
- [`-t latex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) or none: `pdflatex` (other options: `xelatex`, `lualatex`, `tectonic`, `latexmk`)
- [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `context`
- [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `weasyprint` (other options: `prince`, `wkhtmltopdf`, `pagedjs-cli`; see [print-css.rocks](https://print-css.rocks/) for a good introduction to PDF generation from HTML/CSS)
- [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `pdfroff`
- [`-t typst`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `typst`
This option is normally intended to be used when a PDF file is specified as [`-o/--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output). However, it may still have an effect when other output formats are requested. For example, `ms` output will include `.pdfhref` macros only if a [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) is selected, and the macros will be differently encoded depending on whether `groff` or `pdfroff` is specified.
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine-opt). Note that no check for duplicate options is done.
## Citation rendering
`-C`, `--citeproc`
Process the citations in the file, replacing them with rendered citations and adding a bibliography. Citation processing will not take place unless bibliographic data is supplied, either through an external file specified using the [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) option or the `bibliography` field in metadata, or via a `references` section in metadata containing a list of citations in CSL YAML format with Markdown formatting. The style is controlled by a [CSL](https://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html) stylesheet specified using the [`--csl`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--csl) option or the `csl` field in metadata. (If no stylesheet is specified, the `chicago-author-date` style will be used by default.) The citation processing transformation may be applied before or after filters or Lua filters (see [`--filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--filter), [`--lua-filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lua-filter)): these transformations are applied in the order they appear on the command line. For more information, see the section on [Citations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations).
Note: if this option is specified, the `citations` extension will be disabled automatically in the writer, to ensure that the citeproc-generated citations will be rendered instead of the format’s own citation syntax.
`--bibliography=`*FILE*
Set the `bibliography` field in the document’s metadata to *FILE*, overriding any value set in the metadata. If you supply this argument multiple times, each *FILE* will be added to bibliography. If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)).
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).) If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)) and finally in the `csl` subdirectory of the pandoc user data directory.
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).) If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)) and finally in the `csl` subdirectory of the pandoc user data directory.
`--natbib`
Use [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib) for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex).
`--biblatex`
Use [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) or [`biber`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biber).
## Math rendering in HTML
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--mathjax) or another of the following options.
`--mathjax`\[`=`*URL*\]
Use [MathJax](https://www.mathjax.org/) to display embedded TeX math in HTML output. TeX math will be put between `\(...\)` (for inline math) or `\[...\]` (for display math) and wrapped in `<span>` 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](https://www.w3.org/Math/) (in `epub3`, `docbook4`, `docbook5`, `jats`, `html4` and `html5`). This is the default in `odt` output. MathML is supported natively by the main web browsers and select e-book readers.
`--webtex`\[`=`*URL*\]
Convert TeX formulas to `<img>` 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?`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--webtex). If no URL is specified, the CodeCogs URL generating PNGs will be used (`https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?`). Note: the [`--webtex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://github.com/Khan/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 `<eq>` tags in HTML output. The resulting HTML can then be processed by [GladTeX](https://humenda.github.io/GladTeX/) to produce SVG images of the typeset formulas and an HTML file with these images embedded.
```
pandoc -s --gladtex input.md -o myfile.htex
gladtex -d image_dir myfile.htex
# produces myfile.html and images in image_dir
```
## Options for wrapper scripts
`--dump-args[=true|false]`
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) 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[=true|false]`
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 |
|---|---|
| 1 | PandocIOError |
| 3 | PandocFailOnWarningError |
| 4 | PandocAppError |
| 5 | PandocTemplateError |
| 6 | PandocOptionError |
| 21 | PandocUnknownReaderError |
| 22 | PandocUnknownWriterError |
| 23 | PandocUnsupportedExtensionError |
| 24 | PandocCiteprocError |
| 25 | PandocBibliographyError |
| 31 | PandocEpubSubdirectoryError |
| 43 | PandocPDFError |
| 44 | PandocXMLError |
| 47 | PandocPDFProgramNotFoundError |
| 61 | PandocHttpError |
| 62 | PandocShouldNeverHappenError |
| 63 | PandocSomeError |
| 64 | PandocParseError |
| 66 | PandocMakePDFError |
| 67 | PandocSyntaxMapError |
| 83 | PandocFilterError |
| 84 | PandocLuaError |
| 89 | PandocNoScriptingEngine |
| 91 | PandocMacroLoop |
| 92 | PandocUTF8DecodingError |
| 93 | PandocIpynbDecodingError |
| 94 | PandocUnsupportedCharsetError |
| 95 | PandocInputNotTextError |
| 97 | PandocCouldNotFindDataFileError |
| 98 | PandocCouldNotFindMetadataFileError |
| 99 | PandocResourceNotFound |
# Defaults files
The [`--defaults`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--defaults) option may be used to specify a package of options, in the form of a YAML or JSON file. Examples in this section will be given in YAML, but the equivalent forms in JSON will also work.
Fields that are omitted will just have their regular default values. So a defaults file can be as simple as one line:
```
verbosity: INFO
```
or in JSON:
```
{ "verbosity": "INFO" }
```
In fields that expect a file path (or list of file paths), the following syntax may be used to interpolate environment variables:
```
csl: ${HOME}/mycsldir/special.csl
```
`${USERDATA}` may also be used; this will always resolve to the user data directory that is current when the defaults file is parsed, regardless of the setting of the environment variable `USERDATA`.
`${.}` will resolve to the directory containing the defaults file itself. This allows you to refer to resources contained in that directory:
```
epub-cover-image: ${.}/cover.jpg
epub-metadata: ${.}/meta.xml
resource-path:
- . # the working directory from which pandoc is run
- ${.}/images # the images subdirectory of the directory
# containing this defaults file
```
This environment variable interpolation syntax *only* works in fields that expect file paths.
Defaults 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`.
When multiple defaults are used, their contents will be combined.
Note that, where command-line arguments may be repeated ([`--metadata-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata-file), [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css), [`--include-in-header`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-in-header), [`--include-before-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-before-body), [`--include-after-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-after-body), [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata), [`--syntax-definition`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-definition)), the values specified on the command line will combine with values specified in the defaults file, rather than replacing them.
The following tables show the mapping between the command line and defaults file entries.
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
The value of `input-files` may be left empty to indicate input from stdin, and it can be an empty sequence `[]` for no input.
## General options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
Options specified in a defaults file itself always have priority over those in another file included with a `defaults:` entry.
`verbosity` can have the values `ERROR`, `WARNING`, or `INFO`.
## Reader options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
Metadata values specified in a defaults file are parsed as literal string text, not Markdown.
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 are run in the order specified. To include the built-in citeproc filter, use either `citeproc` or `{type: citeproc}`.
## General writer options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
## Options affecting specific writers
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
## Citation rendering
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
`cite-method` can be `citeproc`, `natbib`, or `biblatex`. This only affects LaTeX output. If you want to use citeproc to format citations, you should also set ‘citeproc: true’.
If you need control over when the citeproc processing is done relative to other filters, you should instead use `citeproc` in the list of `filters` (see [Reader options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reader-options-1)).
## Math rendering in HTML
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
In addition to the values listed above, `method` can have the value `plain`.
If the command line option accepts a URL argument, an `url:` field can be added to `html-math-method:`.
## Options for wrapper scripts
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
# Templates
When the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above). *Exceptions:*
- For `odt` output, customize the `default.opendocument` template.
- For `docx` output, customize the `default.openxml` template.
- For `pdf` output, customize the `default.latex` template (or the `default.context` template, if you use [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or the `default.ms` template, if you use [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or the `default.html` template, if you use [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to)).
- `pptx` has no template.
Note that `docx`, `odt`, and `pptx` output can also be customized using `--reference-doc`. Use a reference doc to adjust the styles in your document; use a template to handle variable interpolation and customize the presentation of metadata, the position of the table of contents, boilerplate text, etc.
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block) or with the [`-M/--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) option. In addition, some variables are given default values by pandoc. See [Variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates) repository and merge in changes after each pandoc release.
## 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 `${`…`}` may be used as delimiters. The styles may also be mixed in the same template, but the opening and closing delimiter must match in each case. The opening delimiter may be followed by one or more spaces or tabs, which will be ignored. The closing delimiter may be preceded by one or more spaces or tabs, which will be ignored.
To include a literal `$` 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 a 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 true value, otherwise the `else` section is used (if present). The following values count as true:
- any map
- any array containing at least one true value
- any nonempty string
- boolean True
Note that in YAML metadata (and metadata specified on the command line using [`-M/--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata)), unquoted `true` and `false` will be interpreted as Boolean values. But a variable specified on the command line using [`-V/--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) will always be given a string value. Hence a conditional `if(foo)` will be triggered if you use [`-V foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), but not if you use [`-M foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).
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 `variable` is a map, the material inside will be set to the map.
- 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 }
$for(mymap)$
$it.name$: $it.office$
$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 by using the name of the partial, followed by `()`, for example:
```
${ styles() }
```
Partials will be sought in the directory containing the main template. The file name will be assumed to have the same extension as the main template if it lacks an extension. When calling the partial, the full name including file extension can also be used:
```
${ styles.html() }
```
(If a partial is not found in the directory of the template and the template path is given as a relative path, it 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:
```
$item.number$ $^$$item.description$ ($item.price$)
(Available til $item.sellby$.)
```
will produce
```
00123 A fine bottle of 18-year old
Oban whiskey. ($148)
(Available til March 30, 2020.)
```
If a variable occurs by itself on a line, preceded by whitespace and not followed by further text or directives on the same line, and the variable’s value contains multiple lines, it will be nested automatically.
### Breakable spaces
Normally, spaces in the template itself (as opposed to values of the interpolated variables) are not breakable, but they can be made breakable in part of the template by using the `~` keyword (ended with another `~`).
```
$~$This long line may break if the document is rendered
with a short line length.$~$
```
### Pipes
A pipe transforms the value of a variable or partial. Pipes are specified using a slash (`/`) between the variable name (or partial) and the pipe name. Example:
```
$for(name)$
$name/uppercase$
$endfor$
$for(metadata/pairs)$
- $it.key$: $it.value$
$endfor$
$employee:name()/uppercase$
```
Pipes may be chained:
```
$for(employees/pairs)$
$it.key/alpha/uppercase$. $it.name$
$endfor$
```
Some pipes take parameters:
```
|----------------------|------------|
$for(employee)$
$it.name.first/uppercase/left 20 "| "$$it.name.salary/right 10 " | " " |"$
$endfor$
|----------------------|------------|
```
Currently the following pipes 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 text to uppercase.
- `lowercase`: Converts text to lowercase.
- `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.
- `first`: Returns the first value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `last`: Returns the last value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `rest`: Returns all but the first value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `allbutlast`: Returns all but the last value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `chomp`: Removes trailing newlines (and breakable space).
- `nowrap`: Disables line wrapping on breakable spaces.
- `alpha`: Converts textual values that can be read as an integer into lowercase alphabetic characters `a..z` (mod 26). This can be used to get lettered enumeration from array indices. To get uppercase letters, chain with `uppercase`.
- `roman`: Converts textual values that can be read as an integer into lowercase roman numerals. 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-pandoc_title_block), which allows for multiple authors, or through a [YAML metadata block](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`.) The page title in HTML is set by `pagetitle`, which is equal to `title` by default.
`subtitle`
document subtitle, included in HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and docx documents
`abstract`
document summary, included in HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt, AsciiDoc, and docx documents
`abstract-title`
title of abstract, currently used only in HTML, EPUB, docx, and Typst. This will be set automatically to a localized value, depending on `lang`, but can be manually overridden.
`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, EPUB, 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](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") 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](https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47) standard), such as `en` or `en-GB`. The [Language subtag lookup](https://r12a.github.io/app-subtags/) tool can look up or verify these tags. This affects most formats, and controls hyphenation in PDF output when using LaTeX (through [`babel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/babel) and [`polyglossia`](https://ctan.org/pkg/polyglossia)) or ConTeXt. Use native pandoc [Divs and Spans](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://www.w3.org/International/articles/inline-bidi-markup/uba-basics). When using LaTeX for bidirectional documents, only the `xelatex` engine is fully supported (use [`--pdf-engine=xelatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine)).
### Variables for HTML
`document-css`
Enables inclusion of most of the [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) in the `styles.html` [partial](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#partials) (have a look with `pandoc --print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html`). Unless you use [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css), this variable is set to `true` by default. You can disable it with e.g. `pandoc -M document-css=false`.
`mainfont`
sets the CSS `font-family` property on the `html` element.
`fontsize`
sets the base CSS `font-size`, which you’d usually set to e.g. `20px`, but it also accepts `pt` (12pt = 16px in most browsers).
`fontcolor`
sets the CSS `color` property on the `html` element.
`linkcolor`
sets the CSS `color` property on all links.
`monofont`
sets the CSS `font-family` property on `code` elements.
`monobackgroundcolor`
sets the CSS `background-color` property on `code` elements and adds extra padding.
`linestretch`
sets the CSS `line-height` property on the `html` element, which is preferred to be unitless.
`maxwidth`
sets the CSS `max-width` property (default is 36em).
`backgroundcolor`
sets the CSS `background-color` property on the `html` element.
`margin-left`, `margin-right`, `margin-top`, `margin-bottom`
sets the corresponding CSS `padding` properties on the `body` element.
To override or extend some [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) for just one document, include for example:
```
---
header-includes: |
<style>
blockquote {
font-style: italic;
}
tr.even {
background-color: #f0f0f0;
}
td, th {
padding: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 0.5em;
}
tbody {
border-bottom: none;
}
</style>
---
```
### Variables for HTML math
`classoption`
when using [`--katex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--katex), you can render display math equations flush left using [YAML metadata](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#layout) or with [`-M classoption=fleqn`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).
### Variables for HTML slides
These affect HTML output when [producing slide shows with pandoc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#slide-shows).
`institute`
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
`revealjs-url`
base URL for reveal.js documents (defaults to `https://unpkg.com/reveal.js@^5`)
`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`)
`title-slide-attributes`
additional attributes for the title slide of reveal.js slide shows. See [background in reveal.js, beamer, and pptx](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#background-in-reveal.js-beamer-and-pptx) for an example.
`highlightjs-theme`
highlight.js theme for code highlighting when using [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) with reveal.js (defaults to `monokai`). See the [highlight.js demo page](https://highlightjs.org/demo) for available themes.
All [reveal.js configuration options](https://revealjs.com/config/) are available as variables. To turn off boolean flags that default to true in reveal.js, use `0`.
### Variables for Beamer slides
These variables change the appearance of PDF slides using [`beamer`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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)
`beameroption`
add extra beamer option with `\setbeameroption{}`
`institute`
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
`logo`
logo image for slides
`logooptions`
options for logo image (e.g., `width`, `height`)
`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`, `colorthemeoptions`, `fontthemeoptions`, `innerthemeoptions`, `outerthemeoptions`
options for LaTeX beamer themes (lists)
`titlegraphic`
image for title slide: can be a list
`titlegraphicoptions`
options for title slide image (e.g., `width`, `height`)
`shorttitle`, `shortsubtitle`, `shortauthor`, `shortinstitute`, `shortdate`
some beamer themes use short versions of the title, subtitle, author, institute, date
### Variables for PowerPoint
These variables control the visual aspects of a slide show that are not easily controlled via templates.
`monofont`
font to use for code.
### Variables for LaTeX
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/article), [`book`](https://ctan.org/pkg/book), and [`report`](https://ctan.org/pkg/report); the [KOMA-Script](https://ctan.org/pkg/koma-script) equivalents, `scrartcl`, `scrbook`, and `scrreprt`, which default to smaller margins; or [`memoir`](https://ctan.org/pkg/memoir)
`geometry`
option for [`geometry`](https://ctan.org/pkg/geometry) package, e.g. `margin=1in`; repeat for multiple options:
```
---
geometry:
- top=30mm
- left=20mm
- heightrounded
...
```
`shorthands`
Enable language-specific shorthands when loading `babel`. (By default, pandoc includes `shorthands=off` when loading `babel`, disabling language-specific shorthands.)
`hyperrefoptions`
option for [`hyperref`](https://ctan.org/pkg/hyperref) package, e.g. `linktoc=all`; repeat for multiple options:
```
---
hyperrefoptions:
- linktoc=all
- pdfwindowui
- pdfpagemode=FullScreen
...
```
`indent`
if true, pandoc will use document class settings for indentation (the default LaTeX template otherwise removes indentation and adds space between paragraphs)
`linestretch`
adjusts line spacing using the [`setspace`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections) option or `numbersections` variable)
`beamerarticle`
produce an article from Beamer slides. Note: if you set this variable, you must specify the beamer writer but use the default *LaTeX* template: for example, `pandoc -Vbeamerarticle -t beamer --template default.latex`.
`handout`
produce a handout version of Beamer slides (with overlays condensed into single slides)
`csquotes`
load `csquotes` package and use `\enquote` or `\enquote*` for quoted text.
`csquotesoptions`
options to use for `csquotes` package (repeat for multiple options).
`babeloptions`
options to pass to the babel package (may be repeated for multiple options). This defaults to `provide=*` if the main language isn’t a European language written with Latin or Cyrillic script or Vietnamese. Most users will not need to adjust the default setting.
#### Fonts
`fontenc`
allows font encoding to be specified through `fontenc` package (with `pdflatex`); default is `T1` (see [LaTeX font encodings guide](https://ctan.org/pkg/encguide))
`fontfamily`
font package for use with `pdflatex`: [TeX Live](https://www.tug.org/texlive/) includes many options, documented in the [LaTeX Font Catalogue](https://tug.org/FontCatalogue/). The default is [Latin Modern](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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](https://ctan.org/pkg/koma-script) classes, such as `scrartcl` or `scrbook`.
`mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont`, `CJKsansfont`, `CJKmonofont`
font families for use with `xelatex` or `lualatex`: take the name of any system font, using the [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec) package. `CJKmainfont` uses the [`xecjk`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xecjk) package if `xelatex` is used, or the [`luatexja`](https://ctan.org/pkg/luatexja) package if `lualatex` is used.
`mainfontoptions`, `sansfontoptions`, `monofontoptions`, `mathfontoptions`, `CJKoptions`, `luatexjapresetoptions`
options to use with `mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont` in `xelatex` and `lualatex`. Allow for any choices available through [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec); repeat for multiple options. For example, to use the [TeX Gyre](http://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre) version of Palatino with lowercase figures:
```
---
mainfont: TeX Gyre Pagella
mainfontoptions:
- Numbers=Lowercase
- Numbers=Proportional
...
```
`mainfontfallback`, `sansfontfallback`, `monofontfallback`
fonts to try if a glyph isn’t found in `mainfont`, `sansfont`, or `monofont` respectively. These are lists. The font name must be followed by a colon and optionally a set of options, for example:
```
---
mainfontfallback:
- "FreeSans:"
- "NotoColorEmoji:mode=harf"
...
```
Font fallbacks currently only work with `lualatex`.
`babelfonts`
a map of Babel language names (e.g. `chinese`) to the font to be used with the language:
```
---
babelfonts:
chinese-hant: "Noto Serif CJK TC"
russian: "Noto Serif"
...
```
`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
`boxlinks`
add visible box around links (has no effect if `colorlinks` is 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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor), including the `dvipsnames`, `svgnames`, and `x11names` lists
`links-as-notes`
causes links to be printed as footnotes
`urlstyle`
style for URLs (e.g., `tt`, `rm`, `sf`, and, the default, `same`)
#### Front matter
`lof`, `lot`
include list of figures, list of tables (can also be set using [`--lof/--list-of-figures`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lof[), [`--lot/--list-of-tables`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lot[))
`thanks`
contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title
`toc`
include table of contents (can also be set using [`--toc/--table-of-contents`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[))
`toc-depth`
level of section to include in table of contents
#### BibLaTeX Bibliographies
These variables function when using BibLaTeX for [citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering).
`biblatexoptions`
list of options for biblatex
`biblio-style`
bibliography style, when used with [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) and [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)
`biblio-title`
bibliography title, when used with [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) and [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)
`bibliography`
bibliography to use for resolving references
`natbiboptions`
list of options for natbib
#### Other
`pdf-trailer-id`
the PDF trailer ID; must be two PDF byte strings if set, conventionally with 16 bytes each. E.g., `<00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff> <00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff>`. See the section on [reproducible builds](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reproducible-builds).
`pdfstandard`
PDF standard(s) for the document, e.g. `ua-2`, `a-4f`. Supports PDF/A, PDF/X, and PDF/UA variants. Requires LuaLaTeX and LaTeX 2023+. Repeat for multiple standards:
```
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
...
```
### Variables for ConTeXt
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/Headers_and_footers)); repeat up to four times for different placement
`indenting`
controls indentation of paragraphs, e.g. `yes,small,next` (see [ConTeXt Indentation](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Text_blocks/Typography/Indentation)); repeat for multiple options
`interlinespace`
adjusts line spacing, e.g. `4ex` (using [`setupinterlinespace`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupinterlinespace)); repeat for multiple options
`layout`
options for page margins and text arrangement (see [ConTeXt Layout](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/Tutorials)); repeat for multiple options
`linkcolor`, `contrastcolor`
color for links outside and inside a page, e.g. `red`, `blue` (see [ConTeXt Color](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Characters_words_and_fonts/Tutorials))
`mainfontfallback`, `sansfontfallback`, `monofontfallback`
list of fonts to try, in order, if a glyph is not found in the main font. Use `\definefallbackfamily`\-compatible font name syntax. Emoji fonts are unsupported.
`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`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setuppagenumbering)); repeat for multiple options
`papersize`
paper size, e.g. `letter`, `A4`, `landscape` (see [ConTeXt Paper Setup](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) or `pdfa: true` in a YAML metadata block), `1b:2005` will be used as default, for reasons of backwards compatibility. Using [`--variable=pdfa`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) 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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Input_and_compilation/PDF/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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Input_and_compilation/PDF/PDFX#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[))
`urlstyle`
typeface style for links without link text, e.g. `normal`, `bold`, `slanted`, `boldslanted`, `type`, `cap`, `small`
`whitespace`
spacing between paragraphs, e.g. `none`, `small` (using [`setupwhitespace`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupwhitespace))
`includesource`
include all source documents as file attachments in the PDF file
### Variables for `wkhtmltopdf`
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#creating-a-pdf) with [`wkhtmltopdf`](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/). The [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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
`section`
section number in man pages
### Variables for Texinfo
`version`
version of software (used in title and title page)
`filename`
name of info file to be generated (defaults to a name based on the texi filename)
### Variables for Typst
`template`
Typst template to use (relative path only).
`margin`
A dictionary with the fields defined in the Typst documentation: `x`, `y`, `top`, `bottom`, `left`, `right`.
`papersize`
Paper size: `a4`, `us-letter`, etc.
`mainfont`
Name of system font to use for the main font.
`fontsize`
Font size (e.g., `12pt`).
`section-numbering`
Schema to use for numbering sections, e.g. `1.A.1`.
`page-numbering`
Schema to use for numbering pages, e.g. `1` or `i`, or an empty string to omit page numbering.
`columns`
Number of columns for body text.
`thanks`
contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title
`mathfont`, `codefont`
Name of system font to use for math and code, respectively.
`linestretch`
adjusts line spacing, e.g. `1.25`, `1.5`
`linkcolor`, `filecolor`, `citecolor`
color for external links, internal links, and citation links, respectively: expects a hexadecimal color code
### Variables for ms
`fontfamily`
`A` (Avant Garde), `B` (Bookman), `C` (Helvetica), `HN` (Helvetica Narrow), `P` (Palatino), or `T` (Times New Roman). This setting does not affect source code, which is always displayed using monospace Courier. These built-in fonts are limited in their coverage of characters. Additional fonts may be installed using the script [`install-font.sh`](https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/bin/install-font.sh) provided by Peter Schaffter and documented in detail on [his web site](https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/momdoc/appendices.html#steps).
`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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-in-header) (may have multiple values)
`include-before`
contents specified by [`-B/--include-before-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-before-body) (may have multiple values)
`include-after`
contents specified by [`-A/--include-after-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. `$curdir$/$sourcefile$`.
`pdf-engine`
name of PDF engine if provided using [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), or the default engine for the format if PDF output is requested.
`curdir`
working directory from which pandoc is run.
`pandoc-version`
pandoc version.
`toc`
non-null value if [`--toc/--table-of-contents`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[) was specified
`toc-title`
title of table of contents (works only with EPUB, HTML, revealjs, opendocument, odt, docx, pptx, beamer, LaTeX). Note that in docx and pptx a custom `toc-title` will be picked up from metadata, but cannot be set as a variable.
# 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) is strict Markdown with footnotes enabled, while [`--from markdown-footnotes-pipe_tables`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown) below (see [Markdown variants](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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 [`--markdown-headings`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--markdown-headings)).
## 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`, `html`
output formats
`markdown`, `latex`, `context`, `org`, `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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 `<section>` (or `<div>`) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_dollars), [`tex_math_gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_gfm), [`tex_math_single_backslash`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_single_backslash), and [`tex_math_double_backslash`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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 are described in more detail in their respective sections of [Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown):
- [`raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_html) allows HTML elements which are not representable in pandoc’s AST to be parsed as raw HTML. By default, this is disabled for HTML input.
- [`raw_tex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-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`, `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`.
- [`native_divs`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_divs) causes HTML `div` elements to be parsed as native pandoc Div blocks. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML, use [`-f html-native_divs+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from).
- [`native_spans`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_spans) causes HTML `span` elements to be parsed as native pandoc Span inlines. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML, use [`-f html-native_spans+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from). If you want to drop all `div`s and `span`s when converting HTML to Markdown, you can use `pandoc -f html-native_divs-native_spans -t markdown`.
## 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`, `latex`
### 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`, `docx`
### Extension: `xrefs_name` ±
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are substituted with cross-references that will use the name or caption of the referenced item. The original link text is replaced once the generated document is refreshed. This extension can be combined with `xrefs_number` in which case numbers will appear before the name.
Text in cross-references is only made consistent with the referenced item once the document has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats:
output formats
`odt`, `opendocument`
### Extension: `xrefs_number` ±
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are substituted with cross-references that will use the number of the referenced item. The original link text is discarded. This extension can be combined with `xrefs_name` in which case the name or caption numbers will appear after the number.
For the `xrefs_number` to be useful heading numbers must be enabled in the generated document, also table and figure captions must be enabled using for example the `native_numbering` extension.
Numbers in cross-references are only visible in the final document once it has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats:
output formats
`odt`, `opendocument`
### Extension: `styles` ±
When converting from docx, add `custom-styles` attributes for all docx styles, regardless of whether pandoc understands the meanings of these styles. Because attributes cannot be added directly to paragraphs or text in the pandoc AST, paragraph styles will cause Divs to be created and character styles will cause Spans to be created to hold the attributes. (Table styles will be added to the Table elements directly.) This extension can be used with [docx custom styles](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-styles).
input formats
`docx`
### Extension: `amuse` ±
In the `muse` input format, this enables Text::Amuse extensions to Emacs Muse markup.
### Extension: `raw_markdown` ±
In the `ipynb` input format, this causes Markdown cells to be included as raw Markdown blocks (allowing lossless round-tripping) rather than being parsed. Use this only when you are targeting `ipynb` or a Markdown-based output format.
### Extension: `citations` (typst) ±
When the `citations` extension is enabled in `typst` (as it is by default), `typst` citations will be parsed as native pandoc citations, and native pandoc citations will be rendered as `typst` citations.
### Extension: `citations` (org) ±
When the `citations` extension is enabled in `org`, org-cite and org-ref style citations will be parsed as native pandoc citations, and org-cite citations will be used to render native pandoc citations.
### Extension: `citations` (docx) ±
When `citations` is enabled in `docx`, citations inserted by Zotero or Mendeley or EndNote plugins will be parsed as native pandoc citations. (Otherwise, the formatted citations generated by the bibliographic software will be parsed as regular text.)
### Extension: `fancy_lists` (org) ±
Some aspects of [Pandoc’s Markdown fancy lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fancy_lists) are also accepted in `org` input, mimicking the option `org-list-allow-alphabetical` in Emacs. As in Org Mode, enabling this extension allows lowercase and uppercase alphabetical markers for ordered lists to be parsed in addition to arabic ones. Note that for Org, this does not include roman numerals or the `#` placeholder that are enabled by the extension in Pandoc’s Markdown.
### Extension: `element_citations` ±
In the `jats` output formats, this causes reference items to be replaced with `<element-citation>` elements. These elements are not influenced by CSL styles, but all information on the item is included in tags.
### Extension: `ntb` ±
In the `context` output format this enables the use of [Natural Tables (TABLE)](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/TABLE) instead of the default [Extreme Tables (xtables)](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/xtables). Natural tables allow more fine-grained global customization but come at a performance penalty compared to extreme tables.
### Extension: `smart_quotes` (org) ±
Interpret straight quotes as curly quotes during parsing. When *writing* Org, then the `smart_quotes` extension has the reverse effect: what would have been curly quotes comes out straight.
This extension is implied if `smart` is enabled.
### Extension: `special_strings` (org) ±
Interpret `---` as em-dashes, `--` as en-dashes, `\-` as shy hyphen, and `...` as ellipses.
This extension is implied if `smart` is enabled.
### Extension: `tagging` ±
Enabling this extension with `context` output will produce markup suitable for the production of tagged PDFs. This includes additional markers for paragraphs and alternative markup for emphasized text. The `emphasis-command` template variable is set if the extension is enabled.
# Pandoc’s Markdown
Pandoc understands an extended and slightly revised version of John Gruber’s [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) syntax. This document explains the syntax, noting differences from original 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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` ±
Original 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://michelf.ca/projects/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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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` ±
Original 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.
>> Not nested, since `blank_before_blockquote` is enabled by default
```
## 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 use 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:
```
<pre id="mycode" class="haskell numberLines" startFrom="100">
<code>
...
</code>
</pre>
```
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 [] = []
```
````
This shortcut form may be combined with attributes:
````
```haskell {.numberLines}
qsort [] = []
```
````
Which is equivalent to:
````
``` {.haskell .numberLines}
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 [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) option. To set the highlighting style or method, use [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). For more information on highlighting, see [Syntax highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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
```
Inline formatting (such as emphasis) is allowed in the content (though it can’t cross line boundaries). Block-level formatting (such as block quotes or lists) is not recognized.
This syntax is borrowed from [reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html).
## 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 original 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 original 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-parenthesis 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.[1](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn1)
The `fancy_lists` extension also allows ‘`#`’ to be used as an ordered list marker in place of a numeral:
```
#. one
#. two
```
Note: the ‘`#`’ ordered list marker doesn’t work with `commonmark`.
### 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](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/) with some extensions.[2](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn2)
```
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 (not including the first line) 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.
### 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.
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.
You can repeat an earlier numbered example by re-using its label:
```
(@foo) Sample sentence.
Intervening text...
This theory can explain the case we saw earlier (repeated):
(@foo) Sample sentence.
```
This only works reliably, though, if the repeated item is in a list by itself, because each numbered example list will be numbered continuously from its starting number.
### 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
<!-- end of list -->
{ 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:
```
* * * *
---------------
```
We strongly recommend that horizontal rules be separated from surrounding text by blank lines. If a horizontal rule is not followed by a blank line, pandoc may try to interpret the lines that follow as a YAML metadata block or a table.
## 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 `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:[3](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn3)
- 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).
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 can span multiple columns or rows:
```
+---------------------+----------+
| Property | Earth |
+=============+=======+==========+
| | min | -89.2 °C |
| Temperature +-------+----------+
| 1961-1990 | mean | 14 °C |
| +-------+----------+
| | max | 56.7 °C |
+-------------+-------+----------+
```
A table header may contain more than one row:
```
+---------------------+-----------------------+
| Location | Temperature 1961-1990 |
| | in degree Celsius |
| +-------+-------+-------+
| | min | mean | max |
+=====================+=======+=======+=======+
| Antarctica | -89.2 | N/A | 19.8 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
| Earth | -89.2 | 14 | 56.7 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
```
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 |
+---------------+---------------+--------------------+
```
A table foot can be defined by enclosing it with separator lines that use `=` instead of `-`:
```
+---------------+---------------+
| Fruit | Price |
+===============+===============+
| Bananas | $1.34 |
+---------------+---------------+
| Oranges | $2.10 |
+===============+===============+
| Sum | $3.44 |
+===============+===============+
```
The foot must always be placed at the very bottom of the table.
Grid tables can be created easily using Emacs’ table-mode (`M-x table-insert`).
### 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](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table). 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 any line of the Markdown source is longer than the column width (see [`--columns`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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.
### Extension: `table_attributes` ±
Attributes may be attached to tables by including them at the end of the caption. (For the syntax, see [`header_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-header_attributes).)
```
: Here's the caption. {#ident .class key="value"}
```
## 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 date 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) ([`-s`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone)) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) or [`-T`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) 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](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") 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. The initial line `---` must not be followed by a blank line. 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 JSON may be used as well, because JSON is a subset of YAML.)
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. If two metadata blocks attempt to set the same field, the value from the second block will be taken.
Each metadata block is handled internally as an independent YAML document. This means, for example, that any YAML anchors defined in a block cannot be referenced in another block.
When pandoc is used with [`-t markdown`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) to create a Markdown document, a YAML metadata block will be produced only if the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option is used. All of the metadata will appear in a single block at the beginning of the document.
Note that [YAML](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") escaping rules must be followed. Thus, for example, if a title contains a colon, it must be quoted, and if it contains a backslash escape, then it must be ensured that it is not treated as a [YAML escape sequence](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2776092). 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.
...
```
The literal block after the `|` must be indented relative to the line containing the `|`. If it is not, the YAML will be invalid and pandoc will not interpret it as metadata. For an overview of the complex rules governing YAML, see the [Wikipedia entry on YAML syntax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML#Syntax).
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:
```
<p>This is the abstract.</p>
<p>It consists of two paragraphs.</p>
```
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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute), or it will be interpreted as Markdown. For example:
```
header-includes:
- |
```{=latex}
\let\oldsection\section
\renewcommand{\section}[1]{\clearpage\oldsection{#1}}
```
```
Note: the `yaml_metadata_block` extension works with `commonmark` as well as `markdown` (and it is enabled by default in `gfm` and `commonmark_x`). However, in these formats the following restrictions apply:
- The YAML metadata block must occur at the beginning of the document (and there can be only one). If multiple files are given as arguments to pandoc, only the first can be a YAML metadata block.
- The leaf nodes of the YAML structure are parsed in isolation from each other and from the rest of the document. So, for example, you can’t use a reference link in these contexts if the link definition is somewhere else in the document.
## 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
```
<em>*hello*</em>
```
instead of
```
<strong>hello</strong>
```
This rule is easier to remember than original Markdown’s rule, which allows only the following characters to be backslash-escaped:
```
\`*_{}[]()>#+-.!
```
(However, if the `markdown_strict` format is used, the original Markdown rule will be used.)
A backslash-escaped space is parsed as a nonbreaking space. In TeX output, it will appear as `~`. In HTML and XML output, it will appear as a literal unicode nonbreaking space character (note that it will thus actually look “invisible” in the generated HTML source; you can still use the [`--ascii`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--ascii[) command-line option to make it appear as an explicit entity).
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 `<br />`. 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 strike out 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.
```
The text between `^...^` or `~...~` may not contain spaces or newlines. 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 `^`, and also bad interactions with footnotes.) 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fenced-code-blocks):
```
`<$>`{.haskell}
```
### Underline
To underline text, use the `underline` class:
```
[Underline]{.underline}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension (but with `native_spans`):
```
<span class="underline">Underline</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support underline.
### Small caps
To write small caps, use the `smallcaps` class:
```
[Small caps]{.smallcaps}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension:
```
<span class="smallcaps">Small caps</span>
```
For compatibility with other Markdown flavors, CSS is also supported:
```
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Small caps</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support small caps.
### Highlighting
To highlight text, use the `mark` class:
```
[Mark]{.mark}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension (but with `native_spans`):
```
<span class="mark">Mark</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support highlighting.
## 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.
For display math, use `$$` delimiters. (In this case, the delimiters may be separated from the formula by whitespace. However, there can be no blank lines between the opening and closing `$$` 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:`](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/roles.html#math).
AsciiDoc
For AsciiDoc output math will appear verbatim surrounded by `latexmath:[...]`. For `asciidoc_legacy` the bracketed material will also include inline or display math delimiters.
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 `<math>` tags.
Textile
It will be rendered inside `<span class="math">` 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 and PowerPoint
It will be rendered using OMML math markup.
FictionBook2
If the [`--webtex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math-rendering-in-html) above.
## 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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` ±
Original 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
```
<table>
<tr>
<td>*one*</td>
<td>[a link](https://google.com)</td>
</tr>
</table>
```
into
```
<table>
<tr>
<td><em>one</em></td>
<td><a href="https://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>`, `<style>`, `<pre>`, and `<textarea>` tags is not interpreted as Markdown.
This departure from original 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.
### Extension: `native_divs` ±
Use native pandoc `Div` blocks for content inside `<div>` tags. For the most part this should give the same output as `markdown_in_html_blocks`, but it makes it easier to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of blocks.
### Extension: `native_spans` ±
Use native pandoc `Span` blocks for content inside `<span>` tags. For the most part this should give the same output as `raw_html`, but it makes it easier to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of inlines.
### Extension: `raw_tex` ±
In addition to raw HTML, pandoc allows raw LaTeX, TeX, and ConTeXt to be included in a document. Inline TeX commands will be preserved and passed unchanged to the LaTeX and ConTeXt writers. Thus, for example, you can use LaTeX to include BibTeX citations:
```
This result was proved in \cite{jones.1967}.
```
Note that in LaTeX environments, like
```
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}\hline
Age & Frequency \\ \hline
18--25 & 15 \\
26--35 & 33 \\
36--45 & 22 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
```
the material between the begin and end tags will be interpreted as raw LaTeX, not as Markdown.
For a more explicit and flexible way of including raw TeX in a Markdown document, see the [`raw_attribute` extension](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute).
Inline LaTeX is ignored in output formats other than Markdown, LaTeX, Emacs Org mode, and ConTeXt.
### Generic raw attribute
### Extension: `raw_attribute` ±
Inline spans and fenced code blocks with a special kind of attribute will be parsed as raw content with the designated format. For example, the following produces a raw roff `ms` block:
````
```{=ms}
.MYMACRO
blah blah
```
````
And the following produces a raw `html` inline element:
```
This is `<a>html</a>`{=html}
```
This can be useful to insert raw xml into `docx` documents, e.g. a pagebreak:
````
```{=openxml}
<w:p>
<w:r>
<w:br w:type="page"/>
</w:r>
</w:p>
```
````
The format name should match the target format name (see [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), above, for a list, or use `pandoc --list-output-formats`). Use `openxml` for `docx` output, `opendocument` for `odt` output, `html5` for `epub3` output, `html4` for `epub2` output, and `latex`, `beamer`, `ms`, or `html5` for `pdf` output (depending on what you use for [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine)).
This extension presupposes that the relevant kind of inline code or fenced code block is enabled. Thus, for example, to use a raw attribute with a backtick code block, `backtick_code_blocks` must be enabled.
The raw attribute cannot be combined with regular attributes.
## LaTeX macros
### Extension: `latex_macros` ±
When this extension is enabled, pandoc will parse LaTeX macro definitions and apply the resulting macros to all LaTeX math and raw LaTeX. So, for example, the following will work in all output formats, not just LaTeX:
```
\newcommand{\tuple}[1]{\langle #1 \rangle}
$\tuple{a, b, c}$
```
Note that LaTeX macros will not be applied if they occur inside a raw span or block marked with the [`raw_attribute` extension](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute).
When `latex_macros` is disabled, the raw LaTeX and math will not have macros applied. This is usually a better approach when you are targeting LaTeX or PDF.
Macro definitions in LaTeX will be passed through as raw LaTeX only if `latex_macros` is not enabled. Macro definitions in Markdown source (or other formats allowing `raw_tex`) will be passed through regardless of whether `latex_macros` is enabled.
## Links
Markdown allows links to be specified in several ways.
### Automatic links
If you enclose a URL or email address in pointy brackets, it will become a link:
```
<https://google.com>
<[email protected]>
```
### Inline links
An inline link consists of the link text in square brackets, followed by the URL in parentheses. (Optionally, the URL can be followed by a link title, in quotes.)
```
This is an [inline link](/url), and here's [one with
a title](https://fsf.org "click here for a good time!").
```
There can be no space between the bracketed part and the parenthesized part. The link text can contain formatting (such as emphasis), but the title cannot.
Email addresses in inline links are not autodetected, so they have to be prefixed with `mailto`:
```
[Write me!](mailto:[email protected])
```
### Reference links
An *explicit* reference link has two parts, the link itself and the link definition, which may occur elsewhere in the document (either before or after the link).
The link consists of link text in square brackets, followed by a label in square brackets. (There cannot be space between the two unless the `spaced_reference_links` extension is enabled.) The link definition consists of the bracketed label, followed by a colon and a space, followed by the URL, and optionally (after a space) a link title either in quotes or in parentheses. The label must not be parseable as a citation (assuming the `citations` extension is enabled): citations take precedence over link labels.
Here are some examples:
```
[my label 1]: /foo/bar.html "My title, optional"
[my label 2]: /foo
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org (The Free Software Foundation)
[my label 4]: /bar#special 'A title in single quotes'
```
The URL may optionally be surrounded by angle brackets:
```
[my label 5]: <http://foo.bar.baz>
```
The title may go on the next line:
```
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org
"The Free Software Foundation"
```
Note that link labels are not case sensitive. So, this will work:
```
Here is [my link][FOO]
[Foo]: /bar/baz
```
In an *implicit* reference link, the second pair of brackets is empty:
```
See [my website][].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
```
Note: In `Markdown.pl` and most other Markdown implementations, reference link definitions cannot occur in nested constructions such as list items or block quotes. Pandoc lifts this arbitrary-seeming restriction. So the following is fine in pandoc, though not in most other implementations:
```
> My block [quote].
>
> [quote]: /foo
```
### Extension: `shortcut_reference_links` ±
In a *shortcut* reference link, the second pair of brackets may be omitted entirely:
```
See [my website].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
```
### Internal links
To link to another section of the same document, use the automatically generated identifier (see [Heading identifiers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#heading-identifiers)). For example:
```
See the [Introduction](#introduction).
```
or
```
See the [Introduction].
[Introduction]: #introduction
```
Internal links are currently supported for HTML formats (including HTML slide shows and EPUB), LaTeX, and ConTeXt.
## Images
A link immediately preceded by a `!` will be treated as an image. The link text will be used as the image’s alt text:
```

![movie reel]
[movie reel]: movie.gif
```
### Extension: `implicit_figures` ±
An image with nonempty alt text, occurring by itself in a paragraph, will be rendered as a figure with a caption. The image’s description will be used as the caption.
```

```
How this is rendered depends on the output format. Some output formats (e.g. RTF) do not yet support figures. In those formats, you’ll just get an image in a paragraph by itself, with no caption.
If you just want a regular inline image, just make sure it is not the only thing in the paragraph. One way to do this is to insert a nonbreaking space after the image:
```
\
```
Note that in reveal.js slide shows, an image in a paragraph by itself that has the `r-stretch` class will fill the screen, and the caption and figure tags will be omitted.
To specify an alt text for the image that is different from the caption, you can use an explicit attribute (assuming the `link_attributes` extension is set):
```
{alt="description of image"}
```
For LaTeX output, you can specify a [figure’s positioning](https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Positioning_images_and_tables#The_figure_environment) by adding the `latex-placement` attribute.
```
{latex-placement="ht"}
```
### Extension: `link_attributes` ±
Attributes can be set on links and images:
```
An inline {#id .class width=30 height=20px}
and a reference ![image][ref] with attributes.
[ref]: foo.jpg "optional title" {#id .class key=val key2="val 2"}
```
(This syntax is compatible with [PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/) when only `#id` and `.class` are used.)
For HTML and EPUB, all known HTML5 attributes except `width` and `height` (but including `srcset` and `sizes`) are passed through as is. Unknown attributes are passed through as custom attributes, with `data-` prepended. The other writers ignore attributes that are not specifically supported by their output format.
The `width` and `height` attributes on images are treated specially. When used without a unit, the unit is assumed to be pixels. However, any of the following unit identifiers can be used: `px`, `cm`, `mm`, `in`, `inch` and `%`. There must not be any spaces between the number and the unit. For example:
```
{ width=50% }
```
- Dimensions may be converted to a form that is compatible with the output format (for example, dimensions given in pixels will be converted to inches when converting HTML to LaTeX). Conversion between pixels and physical measurements is affected by the [`--dpi`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--dpi) option (by default, 96 dpi is assumed, unless the image itself contains dpi information).
- The `%` unit is generally relative to some available space. For example the above example will render to the following.
- HTML: `<img href="file.jpg" style="width: 50%;" />`
- LaTeX: `\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth,height=\textheight]{file.jpg}` (If you’re using a custom template, you need to configure `graphicx` as in the default template.)
- ConTeXt: `\externalfigure[file.jpg][width=0.5\textwidth]`
- Some output formats have a notion of a class ([ConTeXt](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Using_Graphics#Multiple_Image_Settings)) or a unique identifier (LaTeX `\caption`), or both (HTML).
- When no `width` or `height` attributes are specified, the fallback is to look at the image resolution and the dpi metadata embedded in the image file.
## Divs and Spans
Using the `native_divs` and `native_spans` extensions (see [above](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_divs)), HTML syntax can be used as part of Markdown to create native `Div` and `Span` elements in the pandoc AST (as opposed to raw HTML). However, there is also nicer syntax available:
### Extension: `fenced_divs` ±
Allow special fenced syntax for native `Div` blocks. A Div starts with a fence containing at least three consecutive colons plus some attributes. The attributes may optionally be followed by another string of consecutive colons.
Note: the `commonmark` parser doesn’t permit colons after the attributes.
The attribute syntax is exactly as in fenced code blocks (see [Extension: `fenced_code_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_code_attributes)). As with fenced code blocks, one can use either attributes in curly braces or a single unbraced word, which will be treated as a class name. The Div ends with another line containing a string of at least three consecutive colons. The fenced Div should be separated by blank lines from preceding and following blocks.
Example:
```
::::: {#special .sidebar}
Here is a paragraph.
And another.
:::::
```
Fenced divs can be nested. Opening fences are distinguished because they *must* have attributes:
```
::: Warning ::::::
This is a warning.
::: Danger
This is a warning within a warning.
:::
::::::::::::::::::
```
Fences without attributes are always closing fences. Unlike with fenced code blocks, the number of colons in the closing fence need not match the number in the opening fence. However, it can be helpful for visual clarity to use fences of different lengths to distinguish nested divs from their parents.
### Extension: `bracketed_spans` ±
A bracketed sequence of inlines, as one would use to begin a link, will be treated as a `Span` with attributes if it is followed immediately by attributes:
```
[This is *some text*]{.class key="val"}
```
## Footnotes
### Extension: `footnotes` ±
Pandoc’s Markdown allows footnotes, using the following syntax:
```
Here is a footnote reference,[^1] and another.[^longnote]
[^1]: Here is the footnote.
[^longnote]: Here's one with 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 like
multi-paragraph list items.
This paragraph won't be part of the note, because it
isn't indented.
```
The identifiers in footnote references may not contain spaces, tabs, newlines, or the characters `^`, `[`, or `]`. 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.). Each footnote should be separated from surrounding content (including other footnotes) by blank lines.
### Extension: `inline_notes` ±
Inline footnotes are also allowed (though, unlike regular notes, they cannot contain multiple paragraphs). The syntax is as follows:
```
Here is an inline note.^[Inline 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.
## Citation syntax
### Extension: `citations` ±
To cite a bibliographic item with an identifier foo, use the syntax `@foo`. Normal citations should be included in square brackets, with semicolons separating distinct items:
```
Blah blah [@doe99; @smith2000; @smith2004].
```
How this is rendered depends on the citation style. In an author-date style, it might render as
```
Blah blah (Doe 1999, Smith 2000, 2004).
```
In a footnote style, it might render as
```
Blah blah.[^1]
[^1]: John Doe, "Frogs," *Journal of Amphibians* 44 (1999);
Susan Smith, "Flies," *Journal of Insects* (2000);
Susan Smith, "Bees," *Journal of Insects* (2004).
```
See the [CSL user documentation](https://citationstyles.org/authors/) for more information about CSL styles and how they affect rendering.
Unless a citation key starts with a letter, digit, or `_`, and contains only alphanumerics and single internal punctuation characters (`:.#$%&-+?<>~/`), it must be surrounded by curly braces, which are not considered part of the key. In `@Foo_bar.baz.`, the key is `Foo_bar.baz` because the final period is not *internal* punctuation, so it is not included in the key. In `@{Foo_bar.baz.}`, the key is `Foo_bar.baz.`, including the final period. In `@Foo_bar--baz`, the key is `Foo_bar` because the repeated internal punctuation characters terminate the key. The curly braces are recommended if you use URLs as keys: `[@{https://example.com/bib?name=foobar&date=2000}, p. 33]`.
Citation items may optionally include a prefix, a locator, and a suffix. In
```
Blah blah [see @doe99, pp. 33-35 and *passim*; @smith04, chap. 1].
```
the first item (`doe99`) has prefix `see`, locator `pp. 33-35`, and suffix `and *passim*`. The second item (`smith04`) has locator `chap. 1` and no prefix or suffix.
Pandoc uses some heuristics to separate the locator from the rest of the subject. It is sensitive to the locator terms defined in the [CSL locale files](https://github.com/citation-style-language/locales). Either abbreviated or unabbreviated forms are accepted. In the `en-US` locale, locator terms can be written in either singular or plural forms, as `book`, `bk.`/`bks.`; `chapter`, `chap.`/`chaps.`; `column`, `col.`/`cols.`; `figure`, `fig.`/`figs.`; `folio`, `fol.`/`fols.`; `number`, `no.`/`nos.`; `line`, `l.`/`ll.`; `note`, `n.`/`nn.`; `opus`, `op.`/`opp.`; `page`, `p.`/`pp.`; `paragraph`, `para.`/`paras.`; `part`, `pt.`/`pts.`; `section`, `sec.`/`secs.`; `sub verbo`, `s.v.`/`s.vv.`; `verse`, `v.`/`vv.`; `volume`, `vol.`/`vols.`; `¶`/`¶¶`; `§`/`§§`. If no locator term is used, “page” is assumed.
In complex cases, you can force something to be treated as a locator by enclosing it in curly braces or prevent parsing the suffix as locator by prepending curly braces:
```
[@smith{ii, A, D-Z}, with a suffix]
[@smith, {pp. iv, vi-xi, (xv)-(xvii)} with suffix here]
[@smith{}, 99 years later]
```
A minus sign (`-`) before the `@` will suppress mention of the author in the citation. This can be useful when the author is already mentioned in the text:
```
Smith says blah [-@smith04].
```
You can also write an author-in-text citation, by omitting the square brackets:
```
@smith04 says blah.
@smith04 [p. 33] says blah.
```
This will cause the author’s name to be rendered, followed by the bibliographical details. Use this form when you want to make the citation the subject of a sentence.
When you are using a note style, it is usually better to let citeproc create the footnotes from citations rather than writing an explicit note. If you do write an explicit note that contains a citation, note that normal citations will be put in parentheses, while author-in-text citations will not. For this reason, it is sometimes preferable to use the author-in-text style inside notes when using a note style.
Many CSL styles will format citations differently when the same source has been cited earlier. In documents with chapters, it is usually desirable to reset this position information at the beginning of every chapter. To do this, add the class `reset-citation-positions` to the heading for each chapter:
```
# The Beginning {.reset-citation-positions}
```
Note that this class only has an effect when placed on top-level headings; it is ignored in nested blocks.
## Non-default extensions
The following Markdown syntax extensions are not enabled by default in pandoc, but may be enabled by adding `+EXTENSION` to the format name, where `EXTENSION` is the name of the extension. Thus, for example, `markdown+hard_line_breaks` is Markdown with hard line breaks.
### Extension: `rebase_relative_paths` ±
Rewrite relative paths for Markdown links and images, depending on the path of the file containing the link or image link. For each link or image, pandoc will compute the directory of the containing file, relative to the working directory, and prepend the resulting path to the link or image path.
The use of this extension is best understood by example. Suppose you have a subdirectory for each chapter of a book, `chap1`, `chap2`, `chap3`. Each contains a file `text.md` and a number of images used in the chapter. You would like to have `` in `chap1/text.md` refer to `chap1/spider.jpg` and `` in `chap2/text.md` refer to `chap2/spider.jpg`. To do this, use
```
pandoc chap*/*.md -f markdown+rebase_relative_paths
```
Without this extension, you would have to use `` in `chap1/text.md` and `` in `chap2/text.md`. Links with relative paths will be rewritten in the same way as images.
Absolute paths and URLs are not changed. Neither are empty paths or paths consisting entirely of a fragment, e.g., `#foo`.
Note that relative paths in reference links and images will be rewritten relative to the file containing the link reference definition, not the file containing the reference link or image itself, if these differ.
### Extension: `mark` ±
To highlight out a section of text, begin and end it with with `==`. Thus, for example,
```
This ==is deleted text.==
```
### Extension: `attributes` ±
Allows attributes to be attached to any inline or block-level element when parsing `commonmark`. The syntax for the attributes is the same as that used in [`header_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-header_attributes).
- Attributes that occur immediately after an inline element affect that element. If they follow a space, then they belong to the space. (Hence, this option subsumes `inline_code_attributes` and `link_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur immediately before a block element, on a line by themselves, affect that element.
- Consecutive attribute specifiers may be used, either for blocks or for inlines. Their attributes will be combined.
- Attributes that occur at the end of the text of a Setext or ATX heading (separated by whitespace from the text) affect the heading element. (Hence, this option subsumes `header_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur after the opening fence in a fenced code block affect the code block element. (Hence, this option subsumes `fenced_code_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur at the end of a reference link definition affect links that refer to that definition.
Note that pandoc’s AST does not currently allow attributes to be attached to arbitrary elements. Hence a Span or Div container will be added if needed.
### Extension: `old_dashes` ±
Selects the pandoc \<= 1.8.2.1 behavior for parsing smart dashes: `-` before a numeral is an en-dash, and `--` is an em-dash. This option only has an effect if `smart` is enabled. It is selected automatically for `textile` input.
### Extension: `angle_brackets_escapable` ±
Allow `<` and `>` to be backslash-escaped, as they can be in GitHub flavored Markdown but not original Markdown. This is implied by pandoc’s default `all_symbols_escapable`.
### Extension: `lists_without_preceding_blankline` ±
Allow a list to occur right after a paragraph, with no intervening blank space.
### Extension: `four_space_rule` ±
Selects the pandoc \<= 2.0 behavior for parsing lists, so that four spaces indent are needed for list item continuation paragraphs.
### Extension: `spaced_reference_links` ±
Allow whitespace between the two components of a reference link, for example,
```
[foo] [bar].
```
### Extension: `hard_line_breaks` ±
Causes all newlines within a paragraph to be interpreted as hard line breaks instead of spaces.
### Extension: `ignore_line_breaks` ±
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks. This option is intended for use with East Asian languages where spaces are not used between words, but text is divided into lines for readability.
### Extension: `east_asian_line_breaks` ±
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks, when they occur between two East Asian wide characters. This is a better choice than `ignore_line_breaks` for texts that include a mix of East Asian wide characters and other characters.
### Extension: `emoji` ±
Parses textual emojis like `:smile:` as Unicode emoticons.
### Extension: `tex_math_gfm` ±
Supports two GitHub-specific formats for math. Inline math: ``$`e=mc^2`$``.
Display math:
````
``` math
e=mc^2
```
````
### Extension: `tex_math_single_backslash` ±
Causes anything between `\(` and `\)` to be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between `\[` and `\]` to be interpreted as display TeX math. Note: a drawback of this extension is that it precludes escaping `(` and `[`.
### Extension: `tex_math_double_backslash` ±
Causes anything between `\\(` and `\\)` to be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between `\\[` and `\\]` to be interpreted as display TeX math.
### Extension: `markdown_attribute` ±
By default, pandoc interprets material inside block-level tags as Markdown. This extension changes the behavior so that Markdown is only parsed inside block-level tags if the tags have the attribute `markdown=1`.
### Extension: `mmd_title_block` ±
Enables a [MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/) style title block at the top of the document, for example:
```
Title: My title
Author: John Doe
Date: September 1, 2008
Comment: This is a sample mmd title block, with
a field spanning multiple lines.
```
See the MultiMarkdown documentation for details. If `pandoc_title_block` or `yaml_metadata_block` is enabled, it will take precedence over `mmd_title_block`.
### Extension: `abbreviations` ±
Parses PHP Markdown Extra abbreviation keys, like
```
*[HTML]: Hypertext Markup Language
```
Note that the pandoc document model does not support abbreviations, so if this extension is enabled, abbreviation keys are simply skipped (as opposed to being parsed as paragraphs).
### Extension: `alerts` ±
Supports [GitHub-style Markdown alerts](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax#alerts), like
```
> [!TIP]
> Helpful advice for doing things better or more easily.
```
### Extension: `autolink_bare_uris` ±
Makes all absolute URIs into links, even when not surrounded by pointy braces `<...>`.
### Extension: `mmd_link_attributes` ±
Parses MultiMarkdown-style key-value attributes on link and image references. This extension should not be confused with the [`link_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-link_attributes) extension.
```
This is a reference ![image][ref] with MultiMarkdown attributes.
[ref]: https://path.to/image "Image title" width=20px height=30px
id=myId class="myClass1 myClass2"
```
### Extension: `mmd_header_identifiers` ±
Parses MultiMarkdown-style heading identifiers (in square brackets, after the heading but before any trailing `#`s in an ATX heading).
### Extension: `gutenberg` ±
Use [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/) conventions for `plain` output: all-caps for strong emphasis, surround by underscores for regular emphasis, add extra blank space around headings.
### Extension: `sourcepos` ±
Include source position attributes when parsing `commonmark`. For elements that accept attributes, a `data-pos` attribute is added; other elements are placed in a surrounding Div or Span element with a `data-pos` attribute.
### Extension: `short_subsuperscripts` ±
Parse MultiMarkdown-style subscripts and superscripts, which start with a ‘~’ or ‘^’ character, respectively, and include the alphanumeric sequence that follows. For example:
```
x^2 = 4
```
or
```
Oxygen is O~2.
```
### Extension: `wikilinks_title_after_pipe` ±
Pandoc supports multiple Markdown wikilink syntaxes, regardless of whether the title is before or after the pipe.
Using [`--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_after_pipe`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) results in
```
[[URL|title]]
```
while using [`--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_before_pipe`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) results in
```
[[title|URL]]
```
## Markdown variants
In addition to pandoc’s extended Markdown, the following Markdown variants are supported:
- `markdown_phpextra` (PHP Markdown Extra)
- `markdown_github` (deprecated GitHub-Flavored Markdown)
- `markdown_mmd` (MultiMarkdown)
- `markdown_strict` (Markdown.pl)
- `commonmark` (CommonMark)
- `gfm` (Github-Flavored Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` (CommonMark with many pandoc extensions)
To see which extensions are supported for a given format, and which are enabled by default, you can use the command
```
pandoc --list-extensions=FORMAT
```
where `FORMAT` is replaced with the name of the format.
Note that the list of extensions for `commonmark`, `gfm`, and `commonmark_x` are defined relative to default commonmark. So, for example, `backtick_code_blocks` does not appear as an extension, since it is enabled by default and cannot be disabled.
# Citations
When the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option is used, pandoc can automatically generate citations and a bibliography in a number of styles. Basic usage is
```
pandoc --citeproc myinput.txt
```
To use this feature, you will need to have
- a document containing citations (see [Citation syntax](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-syntax));
- a source of bibliographic data: either an external bibliography file or a list of `references` in the document’s YAML metadata;
- optionally, a [CSL](https://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html) citation style.
## Specifying bibliographic data
You can specify an external bibliography using the `bibliography` metadata field in a YAML metadata section or the [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) command line argument. If you want to use multiple bibliography files, you can supply multiple [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) arguments or set `bibliography` metadata field to YAML array. A bibliography may have any of these formats:
| Format | File extension |
|---|---|
| BibLaTeX | .bib |
| BibTeX | .bibtex |
| CSL JSON | .json |
| CSL YAML | .yaml |
| RIS | .ris |
Note that `.bib` can be used with both BibTeX and BibLaTeX files; use the extension `.bibtex` to force interpretation as BibTeX.
In BibTeX and BibLaTeX databases, pandoc parses LaTeX markup inside fields such as `title`; in CSL YAML databases, pandoc Markdown; and in CSL JSON databases, an [HTML-like markup](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html#html-like-formatting-tags):
`<i>...</i>`
italics
`<b>...</b>`
bold
`<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">...</span>` or `<sc>...</sc>`
small capitals
`<sub>...</sub>`
subscript
`<sup>...</sup>`
superscript
`<span class="nocase">...</span>`
prevent a phrase from being capitalized as title case
As an alternative to specifying a bibliography file using [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) or the YAML metadata field `bibliography`, you can include the citation data directly in the `references` field of the document’s YAML metadata. The field should contain an array of YAML-encoded references, for example:
```
---
references:
- type: article-journal
id: WatsonCrick1953
author:
- family: Watson
given: J. D.
- family: Crick
given: F. H. C.
issued:
date-parts:
- - 1953
- 4
- 25
title: 'Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for
deoxyribose nucleic acid'
title-short: Molecular structure of nucleic acids
container-title: Nature
volume: 171
issue: 4356
page: 737-738
DOI: 10.1038/171737a0
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0
language: en-GB
...
```
If both an external bibliography and inline (YAML metadata) references are provided, both will be used. In case of conflicting `id`s, the inline references will take precedence.
Note that pandoc can be used to produce such a YAML metadata section from a BibTeX, BibLaTeX, or CSL JSON bibliography:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t markdown
pandoc chem.json -s -f csljson -t markdown
```
Indeed, pandoc can convert between any of these citation formats:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t csljson
pandoc chem.yaml -s -f markdown -t biblatex
```
Running pandoc on a bibliography file with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option will create a formatted bibliography in the format of your choice:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.html
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.pdf
```
### Capitalization in titles
If you are using a bibtex or biblatex bibliography, then observe the following rules:
- English titles should be in title case. Non-English titles should be in sentence case, and the `langid` field in biblatex should be set to the relevant language. (The following values are treated as English: `american`, `british`, `canadian`, `english`, `australian`, `newzealand`, `USenglish`, or `UKenglish`.)
- As is standard with bibtex/biblatex, proper names should be protected with curly braces so that they won’t be lowercased in styles that call for sentence case. For example:
```
title = {My Dinner with {Andre}}
```
- In addition, words that should remain lowercase (or camelCase) should be protected:
```
title = {Spin Wave Dispersion on the {nm} Scale}
```
Though this is not necessary in bibtex/biblatex, it is necessary with citeproc, which stores titles internally in sentence case, and converts to title case in styles that require it. Here we protect “nm” so that it doesn’t get converted to “Nm” at this stage.
If you are using a CSL bibliography (either JSON or YAML), then observe the following rules:
- All titles should be in sentence case.
- Use the `language` field for non-English titles to prevent their conversion to title case in styles that call for this. (Conversion happens only if `language` begins with `en` or is left empty.)
- Protect words that should not be converted to title case using this syntax:
```
Spin wave dispersion on the <span class="nocase">nm</span> scale
```
### Conference Papers, Published vs. Unpublished
For a formally published conference paper, use the biblatex entry type `inproceedings` (which will be mapped to CSL `paper-conference`).
For an unpublished manuscript, use the biblatex entry type `unpublished` without an `eventtitle` field (this entry type will be mapped to CSL `manuscript`).
For a talk, an unpublished conference paper, or a poster presentation, use the biblatex entry type `unpublished` with an `eventtitle` field (this entry type will be mapped to CSL `speech`). Use the biblatex `type` field to indicate the type, e.g. “Paper”, or “Poster”. `venue` and `eventdate` may be useful too, though `eventdate` will not be rendered by most CSL styles. Note that `venue` is for the event’s venue, unlike `location` which describes the publisher’s location; do not use the latter for an unpublished conference paper.
## Specifying a citation style
Citations and references can be formatted using any style supported by the [Citation Style Language](https://citationstyles.org/), listed in the [Zotero Style Repository](https://www.zotero.org/styles). These files are specified using the [`--csl`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--csl) option or the `csl` (or `citation-style`) metadata field. By default, pandoc will use the [Chicago Manual of Style](https://chicagomanualofstyle.org/) author-date format. (You can override this default by copying a CSL style of your choice to `default.csl` in your user data directory.) The CSL project provides further information on [finding and editing styles](https://citationstyles.org/authors/).
The [`--citation-abbreviations`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citation-abbreviations) option (or the `citation-abbreviations` metadata field) may be used to specify a JSON file containing abbreviations of journals that should be used in formatted bibliographies when `form="short"` is specified. The format of the file can be illustrated with an example:
```
{ "default": {
"container-title": {
"Lloyd's Law Reports": "Lloyd's Rep",
"Estates Gazette": "EG",
"Scots Law Times": "SLT"
}
}
}
```
## Citations in note styles
Pandoc’s citation processing is designed to allow you to move between author-date, numerical, and note styles without modifying the Markdown source. When you’re using a note style, avoid inserting footnotes manually. Instead, insert citations just as you would in an author-date style—for example,
```
Blah blah [@foo, p. 33].
```
The footnote will be created automatically. Pandoc will take care of removing the space and moving the note before or after the period, depending on the setting of `notes-after-punctuation`, as described below in [Other relevant metadata fields](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#other-relevant-metadata-fields).
In some cases you may need to put a citation inside a regular footnote. Normal citations in footnotes (such as `[@foo, p. 33]`) will be rendered in parentheses. In-text citations (such as `@foo [p. 33]`) will be rendered without parentheses. (A comma will be added if appropriate.) Thus:
```
[^1]: Some studies [@foo; @bar, p. 33] show that
frubulicious zoosnaps are quantical. For a survey
of the literature, see @baz [chap. 1].
```
## Placement of the bibliography
If the style calls for a list of works cited, it will be placed in a div with id `refs`, if one exists:[4](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn4)
```
::: {#refs}
:::
```
Otherwise, it will be placed at the end of the document. Generation of the bibliography can be suppressed by setting `suppress-bibliography: true` in the YAML metadata.
If you wish the bibliography to have a section heading, you can set `reference-section-title` in the metadata, or put the heading at the beginning of the div with id `refs` (if you are using it) or at the end of your document:
```
last paragraph...
# References
```
The bibliography will be inserted after this heading. Note that the `unnumbered` class will be added to this heading, so that the section will not be numbered.
If you want to put the bibliography into a variable in your template, one way to do that is to put the div with id `refs` into a metadata field, e.g.
```
---
refs: |
::: {#refs}
:::
...
```
You can then put the variable `$refs$` into your template where you want the bibliography to be placed.
## Including uncited items in the bibliography
If you want to include items in the bibliography without actually citing them in the body text, you can define a dummy `nocite` metadata field and put the citations there:
```
---
nocite: |
@item1, @item2
...
@item3
```
In this example, the document will contain a citation for `item3` only, but the bibliography will contain entries for `item1`, `item2`, and `item3`.
It is possible to create a bibliography with all the citations, whether or not they appear in the document, by using a wildcard:
```
---
nocite: |
@*
...
```
For LaTeX output, you can also use [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib) or [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) to render the bibliography. In order to do so, specify bibliography files as outlined above, and add [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) or [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex) argument to pandoc invocation. Bear in mind that bibliography files have to be in either BibTeX (for [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib)) or BibLaTeX (for [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)) format.
## Other relevant metadata fields
A few other metadata fields affect bibliography formatting:
`link-citations`
If true, citations will be hyperlinked to the corresponding bibliography entries (for author-date and numerical styles only). Defaults to false.
`link-bibliography`
If true, DOIs, PMCIDs, PMID, and URLs in bibliographies will be rendered as hyperlinks. (If an entry contains a DOI, PMCID, PMID, or URL, but none of these fields are rendered by the style, then the title, or in the absence of a title the whole entry, will be hyperlinked.) Defaults to true.
`lang`
The `lang` field will affect how the style is localized, for example in the translation of labels, the use of quotation marks, and the way items are sorted. (For backwards compatibility, `locale` may be used instead of `lang`, but this use is deprecated.) A BCP 47 language tag is expected: for example, `en`, `de`, `en-US`, `fr-CA`, `ug-Cyrl`. The unicode extension syntax (after `-u-`) may be used to specify options for collation (sorting) more precisely. Here are some examples:
- `zh-u-co-pinyin`: Chinese with the Pinyin collation.
- `es-u-co-trad`: Spanish with the traditional collation (with `Ch` sorting after `C`).
- `fr-u-kb`: French with “backwards” accent sorting (with `coté` sorting after `côte`).
- `en-US-u-kf-upper`: English with uppercase letters sorting before lower (default is lower before upper).
`notes-after-punctuation`
If true (the default for note styles), pandoc will put footnote references or superscripted numerical citations after following punctuation. For example, if the source contains `blah blah [@jones99].`, the result will look like `blah blah.[^1]`, with the note moved after the period and the space collapsed. If false, the space will still be collapsed, but the footnote will not be moved after the punctuation. The option may also be used in numerical styles that use superscripts for citation numbers (but for these styles the default is not to move the citation).
# Slide shows
You can use pandoc to produce an HTML + JavaScript slide presentation that can be viewed via a web browser. There are five ways to do this, using [S5](https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/), [DZSlides](https://paulrouget.com/dzslides/), [Slidy](https://www.w3.org/Talks/Tools/Slidy2/), [Slideous](https://goessner.net/articles/slideous/), or [reveal.js](https://revealjs.com/). You can also produce a PDF slide show using LaTeX [`beamer`](https://ctan.org/pkg/beamer), or slide shows in Microsoft [PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint) format.
Here’s the Markdown source for a simple slide show, `habits.txt`:
```
% Habits
% John Doe
% March 22, 2005
# In the morning
## Getting up
- Turn off alarm
- Get out of bed
## Breakfast
- Eat eggs
- Drink coffee
# In the evening
## Dinner
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
------------------

## Going to sleep
- Get in bed
- Count sheep
```
To produce an HTML/JavaScript slide show, simply type
```
pandoc -t FORMAT -s habits.txt -o habits.html
```
where `FORMAT` is either `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, or `revealjs`.
For Slidy, Slideous, reveal.js, and S5, the file produced by pandoc with the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option embeds a link to JavaScript and CSS files, which are assumed to be available at the relative path `s5/default` (for S5), `slideous` (for Slideous), `reveal.js` (for reveal.js), or at the Slidy website at `w3.org` (for Slidy). (These paths can be changed by setting the `slidy-url`, `slideous-url`, `revealjs-url`, or `s5-url` variables; see [Variables for HTML slides](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html-slides), above.) For DZSlides, the (relatively short) JavaScript and CSS are included in the file by default.
With all HTML slide formats, the [`--self-contained`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--self-contained[) option can be used to produce a single file that contains all of the data necessary to display the slide show, including linked scripts, stylesheets, images, and videos.
To produce a PDF slide show using beamer, type
```
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -o habits.pdf
```
Note that a reveal.js slide show can also be converted to a PDF by printing it to a file from the browser.
To produce a PowerPoint slide show, type
```
pandoc habits.txt -o habits.pptx
```
## Structuring the slide show
By default, the *slide level* is the highest heading level in the hierarchy that is followed immediately by content, and not another heading, somewhere in the document. In the example above, level-1 headings are always followed by level-2 headings, which are followed by content, so the slide level is 2. This default can be overridden using the [`--slide-level`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level) option.
The document is carved up into slides according to the following rules:
- A horizontal rule always starts a new slide.
- A heading at the slide level always starts a new slide.
- Headings *below* the slide level in the hierarchy create headings *within* a slide. (In beamer, a “block” will be created. If the heading has the class `example`, an `exampleblock` environment will be used; if it has the class `alert`, an `alertblock` will be used; otherwise a regular `block` will be used.)
- Headings *above* the slide level in the hierarchy create “title slides,” which just contain the section title and help to break the slide show into sections. Non-slide content under these headings will be included on the title slide (for HTML slide shows) or in a subsequent slide with the same title (for beamer).
- A title page is constructed automatically from the document’s title block, if present. (In the case of beamer, this can be disabled by commenting out some lines in the default template.)
These rules are designed to support many different styles of slide show. If you don’t care about structuring your slides into sections and subsections, you can either just use level-1 headings for all slides (in that case, level 1 will be the slide level) or you can set [`--slide-level=0`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level).
Note: in reveal.js slide shows, if slide level is 2, a two-dimensional layout will be produced, with level-1 headings building horizontally and level-2 headings building vertically. It is not recommended that you use deeper nesting of section levels with reveal.js unless you set [`--slide-level=0`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level) (which lets reveal.js produce a one-dimensional layout and only interprets horizontal rules as slide boundaries).
### PowerPoint layout choice
When creating slides, the pptx writer chooses from a number of pre-defined layouts, based on the content of the slide:
Title Slide
This layout is used for the initial slide, which is generated and filled from the metadata fields `date`, `author`, and `title`, if they are present.
Section Header
This layout is used for what pandoc calls “title slides”, i.e. slides which start with a header which is above the slide level in the hierarchy.
Two Content
This layout is used for two-column slides, i.e. slides containing a div with class `columns` which contains at least two divs with class `column`.
Comparison
This layout is used instead of “Two Content” for any two-column slides in which at least one column contains text followed by non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Content with Caption
This layout is used for any non-two-column slides which contain text followed by non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Blank
This layout is used for any slides which only contain blank content, e.g. a slide containing only speaker notes, or a slide containing only a non-breaking space.
Title and Content
This layout is used for all slides which do not match the criteria for another layout.
These layouts are chosen from the default pptx reference doc included with pandoc, unless an alternative reference doc is specified using `--reference-doc`.
## Incremental lists
By default, these writers produce lists that display “all at once.” If you want your lists to display incrementally (one item at a time), use the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option. If you want a particular list to depart from the default, put it in a `div` block with class `incremental` or `nonincremental`. So, for example, using the `fenced div` syntax, the following would be incremental regardless of the document default:
```
::: incremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
```
or
```
::: nonincremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
```
While using `incremental` and `nonincremental` divs is the recommended method of setting incremental lists on a per-case basis, an older method is also supported: putting lists inside a blockquote will depart from the document default (that is, it will display incrementally without the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option and all at once with the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option):
```
> - Eat spaghetti
> - Drink wine
```
Both methods allow incremental and nonincremental lists to be mixed in a single document.
If you want to include a block-quoted list, you can work around this behavior by putting the list inside a fenced div, so that it is not the direct child of the block quote:
```
> ::: wrapper
> - a
> - list in a quote
> :::
```
## Inserting pauses
You can add “pauses” within a slide by including a paragraph containing three dots, separated by spaces:
```
# Slide with a pause
content before the pause
. . .
content after the pause
```
Note: this feature is not yet implemented for PowerPoint output.
## Styling the slides
You can change the style of HTML slides by putting customized CSS files in `$DATADIR/s5/default` (for S5), `$DATADIR/slidy` (for Slidy), or `$DATADIR/slideous` (for Slideous), where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above). The originals may be found in pandoc’s system data directory (generally `$CABALDIR/pandoc-VERSION/s5/default`). Pandoc will look there for any files it does not find in the user data directory.
For dzslides, the CSS is included in the HTML file itself, and may be modified there.
All [reveal.js configuration options](https://revealjs.com/config/) can be set through variables. For example, themes can be used by setting the `theme` variable:
```
-V theme=moon
```
Or you can specify a custom stylesheet using the [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css) option.
To style beamer slides, you can specify a `theme`, `colortheme`, `fonttheme`, `innertheme`, and `outertheme`, using the [`-V`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) option:
```
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -V theme:Warsaw -o habits.pdf
```
Note that heading attributes will turn into slide attributes (on a `<div>` or `<section>`) in HTML slide formats, allowing you to style individual slides. In beamer, a number of heading classes and attributes are recognized as frame options and will be passed through as options to the frame: see [Frame attributes in beamer](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#frame-attributes-in-beamer), below.
## Speaker notes
Speaker notes are supported in reveal.js, PowerPoint (pptx), and beamer output. You can add notes to your Markdown document thus:
```
::: notes
This is my note.
- It can contain Markdown
- like this list
:::
```
To show the notes window in reveal.js, press `s` while viewing the presentation. Speaker notes in PowerPoint will be available, as usual, in handouts and presenter view.
Notes are not yet supported for other slide formats, but the notes will not appear on the slides themselves.
### Speaker notes on the title slide (PowerPoint)
For PowerPoint output, the title slide is generated from the document’s YAML metadata block. To add speaker notes to this slide, use a `notes` field in the metadata:
```
---
title: My Presentation
author: Jane Doe
notes: |
Welcome everyone to this presentation.
Remember to introduce yourself and mention the key topics.
---
```
The `notes` field can contain multiple paragraphs and Markdown formatting.
## Columns
To put material in side by side columns, you can use a native div container with class `columns`, containing two or more div containers with class `column` and a `width` attribute:
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
Note: Specifying column widths does not currently work for PowerPoint.
### Additional columns attributes in beamer
The div containers with classes `columns` and `column` can optionally have an `align` attribute. The class `columns` can optionally have a `totalwidth` attribute or an `onlytextwidth` class.
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=center totalwidth=8em}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%" align=bottom}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
The `align` attributes on `columns` and `column` can be used with the values `top`, `top-baseline`, `center` and `bottom` to vertically align the columns. It defaults to `top` in `columns`.
The `totalwidth` attribute limits the width of the columns to the given value.
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=top .onlytextwidth}
::: {.column width="40%" align=center}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
The class `onlytextwidth` sets the `totalwidth` to `\textwidth`.
See Section 12.7 of the [Beamer User’s Guide](http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.pdf) for more details.
## Frame attributes in beamer
Sometimes it is necessary to add the LaTeX `[fragile]` option to a frame in beamer (for example, when using the `minted` environment). This can be forced by adding the `fragile` class to the heading introducing the slide:
```
# Fragile slide {.fragile}
```
All of the other frame attributes described in Section 8.1 of the [Beamer User’s Guide](http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.pdf) may also be used: `allowdisplaybreaks`, `allowframebreaks`, `b`, `c`, `s`, `t`, `environment`, `label`, `plain`, `shrink`, `standout`, `noframenumbering`, `squeeze`. `allowframebreaks` is recommended especially for bibliographies, as it allows multiple slides to be created if the content overfills the frame:
```
# References {.allowframebreaks}
```
In addition, the `frameoptions` attribute may be used to pass arbitrary frame options to a beamer slide:
```
# Heading {frameoptions="squeeze,shrink,customoption=foobar"}
```
## Background in reveal.js, beamer, and pptx
Background images can be added to self-contained reveal.js slide shows, beamer slide shows, and pptx slide shows.
### On all slides (beamer, reveal.js, pptx)
With beamer and reveal.js, the configuration option `background-image` can be used either in the YAML metadata block or as a command-line variable to get the same image on every slide.
Note that for reveal.js, the `background-image` will be used as a `parallaxBackgroundImage` (see below).
For pptx, you can use a `--reference-doc` in which background images have been set on the [relevant layouts](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#powerpoint-layout-choice).
#### `parallaxBackgroundImage` (reveal.js)
For reveal.js, there is also the reveal.js-native option `parallaxBackgroundImage`, which produces a parallax scrolling background. You must also set `parallaxBackgroundSize`, and can optionally set `parallaxBackgroundHorizontal` and `parallaxBackgroundVertical` to configure the scrolling behaviour. See the [reveal.js documentation](https://revealjs.com/backgrounds/#parallax-background) for more details about the meaning of these options.
In reveal.js’s overview mode, the parallaxBackgroundImage will show up only on the first slide.
### On individual slides (reveal.js, pptx)
To set an image for a particular reveal.js or pptx slide, add `{background-image="/path/to/image"}` to the first slide-level heading on the slide (which may even be empty).
As the [HTML writers pass unknown attributes through](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-link_attributes), other reveal.js background settings also work on individual slides, including `background-size`, `background-repeat`, `background-color`, `transition`, and `transition-speed`. (The `data-` prefix will automatically be added.)
Note: `data-background-image` is also supported in pptx for consistency with reveal.js – if `background-image` isn’t found, `data-background-image` will be checked.
### On the title slide (reveal.js, pptx)
To add a background image to the automatically generated title slide for reveal.js, use the `title-slide-attributes` variable in the YAML metadata block. It must contain a map of attribute names and values. (Note that the `data-` prefix is required here, as it isn’t added automatically.)
For pptx, pass a `--reference-doc` with the background image set on the “Title Slide” layout.
### Example (reveal.js)
```
---
title: My Slide Show
parallaxBackgroundImage: /path/to/my/background_image.png
title-slide-attributes:
data-background-image: /path/to/title_image.png
data-background-size: contain
---
## Slide One
Slide 1 has background_image.png as its background.
## {background-image="/path/to/special_image.jpg"}
Slide 2 has a special image for its background, even though the heading has no content.
```
# EPUBs
## EPUB Metadata
There are two ways to specify metadata for an EPUB. The first is to use the [`--epub-metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--epub-metadata) option, which takes as its argument an XML file with [Dublin Core elements](https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/).
The second way is to use YAML, either in a [YAML metadata block](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block) in a Markdown document, or in a separate YAML file specified with [`--metadata-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata-file). Here is an example of a YAML metadata block with EPUB metadata:
```
---
title:
- type: main
text: My Book
- type: subtitle
text: An investigation of metadata
creator:
- role: author
text: John Smith
- role: editor
text: Sarah Jones
identifier:
- scheme: DOI
text: doi:10.234234.234/33
publisher: My Press
rights: © 2007 John Smith, CC BY-NC
ibooks:
version: 1.3.4
...
```
The following fields are recognized:
`identifier`
Either a string value or an object with fields `text` and `scheme`. Valid values for `scheme` are `ISBN-10`, `GTIN-13`, `UPC`, `ISMN-10`, `DOI`, `LCCN`, `GTIN-14`, `ISBN-13`, `Legal deposit number`, `URN`, `OCLC number`, `Co-publisher’s ISBN-13`, `ISMN-13`, `ISBN-A`, `JP e-code`, `OLCC number`, `JP Magazine ID`, `UPC-12+5`, `BNF Control number`, `ISSN-13`, `ARK`, `Digital file internal version number`.
`title`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `file-as` and `type`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `type` are `main`, `subtitle`, `short`, `collection`, `edition`, `extended`.
`creator`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `role`, `file-as`, and `text`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `role` are [MARC relators](https://loc.gov/marc/relators/relaterm.html), but pandoc will attempt to translate the human-readable versions (like “author” and “editor”) to the appropriate marc relators.
`contributor`
Same format as `creator`.
`date`
A string value in `YYYY-MM-DD` format. (Only the year is necessary.) Pandoc will attempt to convert other common date formats.
`lang` (or legacy: `language`)
A string value in [BCP 47](https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47) format. Pandoc will default to the local language if nothing is specified.
`subject`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `text`, `authority`, and `term`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `authority` are either a [reserved authority value](https://idpf.github.io/epub-registries/authorities/) (currently `AAT`, `BIC`, `BISAC`, `CLC`, `DDC`, `CLIL`, `EuroVoc`, `MEDTOP`, `LCSH`, `NDC`, `Thema`, `UDC`, and `WGS`) or an absolute IRI identifying a custom scheme. Valid values for `term` are defined by the scheme.
`description`
A string value.
`type`
A string value.
`format`
A string value.
`relation`
A string value.
`coverage`
A string value.
`rights`
A string value.
`belongs-to-collection`
A string value. Identifies the name of a collection to which the EPUB Publication belongs.
`group-position`
The `group-position` field indicates the numeric position in which the EPUB Publication belongs relative to other works belonging to the same `belongs-to-collection` field.
`cover-image`
A string value (path to cover image).
`css` (or legacy: `stylesheet`)
A string value (path to CSS stylesheet).
`page-progression-direction`
Either `ltr` or `rtl`. Specifies the `page-progression-direction` attribute for the [`spine` element](http://idpf.org/epub/301/spec/epub-publications.html#sec-spine-elem).
`accessModes`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["textual"]`.
`accessModeSufficient`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["textual"]`.
`accessibilityHazards`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["none"]`.
`accessibilityFeatures`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to
```
- "alternativeText"
- "readingOrder"
- "structuralNavigation"
- "tableOfContents"
```
`accessibilitySummary`
A string value.
`ibooks`
iBooks-specific metadata, with the following fields:
- `version`: (string)
- `specified-fonts`: `true`\|`false` (default `false`)
- `ipad-orientation-lock`: `portrait-only`\|`landscape-only`
- `iphone-orientation-lock`: `portrait-only`\|`landscape-only`
- `binding`: `true`\|`false` (default `true`)
- `scroll-axis`: `vertical`\|`horizontal`\|`default`
## The `epub:type` attribute
For `epub3` output, you can mark up the heading that corresponds to an EPUB chapter using the [`epub:type` attribute](http://www.idpf.org/epub/31/spec/epub-contentdocs.html#sec-epub-type-attribute). For example, to set the attribute to the value `prologue`, use this Markdown:
```
# My chapter {epub:type=prologue}
```
Which will result in:
```
<body epub:type="frontmatter">
<section epub:type="prologue">
<h1>My chapter</h1>
```
Pandoc will output `<body epub:type="bodymatter">`, unless you use one of the following values, in which case either `frontmatter` or `backmatter` will be output.
| `epub:type` of first section | `epub:type` of body |
|---|---|
| prologue | frontmatter |
| abstract | frontmatter |
| acknowledgments | frontmatter |
| copyright-page | frontmatter |
| dedication | frontmatter |
| credits | frontmatter |
| keywords | frontmatter |
| imprint | frontmatter |
| contributors | frontmatter |
| other-credits | frontmatter |
| errata | frontmatter |
| revision-history | frontmatter |
| titlepage | frontmatter |
| halftitlepage | frontmatter |
| seriespage | frontmatter |
| foreword | frontmatter |
| preface | frontmatter |
| frontispiece | frontmatter |
| appendix | backmatter |
| colophon | backmatter |
| bibliography | backmatter |
| index | backmatter |
## Linked media
By default, pandoc will download media referenced from any `<img>`, `<audio>`, `<video>` or `<source>` element present in the generated EPUB, and include it in the EPUB container, yielding a completely self-contained EPUB. If you want to link to external media resources instead, use raw HTML in your source and add `data-external="1"` to the tag with the `src` attribute. For example:
```
<audio controls="1">
<source src="https://example.com/music/toccata.mp3"
data-external="1" type="audio/mpeg">
</source>
</audio>
```
If the input format already is HTML then `data-external="1"` will work as expected for `<img>` elements. Similarly, for Markdown, external images can be declared with `{external=1}`. Note that this only works for images; the other media elements have no native representation in pandoc’s AST and require the use of raw HTML.
## EPUB styling
By default, pandoc will include some basic styling contained in its `epub.css` data file. (To see this, use `pandoc --print-default-data-file epub.css`.) To use a different CSS file, just use the [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css) command line option. A few inline styles are defined in addition; these are essential for correct formatting of pandoc’s HTML output.
The `document-css` variable may be set if the more opinionated styling of pandoc’s default HTML templates is desired (and in that case the variables defined in [Variables for HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html) may be used to fine-tune the style).
# Chunked HTML
`pandoc -t chunkedhtml` will produce a zip archive of linked HTML files, one for each section of the original document. Internal links will automatically be adjusted to point to the right place, images linked to under the working directory will be incorporated, and navigation links will be added. In addition, a JSON file `sitemap.json` will be included describing the hierarchical structure of the files.
If an output file without an extension is specified, then it will be interpreted as a directory and the zip archive will be automatically unpacked into it (unless it already exists, in which case an error will be raised). Otherwise a `.zip` file will be produced.
The navigation links can be customized by adjusting the template. By default, a table of contents is included only on the top page. To include it on every page, set the `toc` variable manually.
# Jupyter notebooks
When creating a [Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), pandoc will try to infer the notebook structure. Code blocks with the class `code` will be taken as code cells, and intervening content will be taken as Markdown cells. Attachments will automatically be created for images in Markdown cells. Metadata will be taken from the `jupyter` metadata field. For example:
```
---
title: My notebook
jupyter:
nbformat: 4
nbformat_minor: 5
kernelspec:
display_name: Python 2
language: python
name: python2
language_info:
codemirror_mode:
name: ipython
version: 2
file_extension: ".py"
mimetype: "text/x-python"
name: "python"
nbconvert_exporter: "python"
pygments_lexer: "ipython2"
version: "2.7.15"
---
# Lorem ipsum
**Lorem ipsum** dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc luctus
bibendum felis dictum sodales.
``` code
print("hello")
```
## Pyout
``` code
from IPython.display import HTML
HTML("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
## Image
This image  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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_divs) or [native divs](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
::: {.output .execute_result execution_count=2}
```{=html}
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
hello
```
:::
::::::
```
If you include raw HTML or TeX in an output cell, use the [raw attribute](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--wrap) will preserve soft line breaks in Markdown cells; [`--markdown-headings=setext`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--markdown-headings) will cause Setext-style headings to be used; and [`--preserve-tabs`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--preserve-tabs[) will prevent tabs from being turned to spaces.
# Vimdoc
Vimdoc writer generates Vim help files and makes use of the following metadata variables:
```
abstract: "A short description"
author: Author
title: Title
# Vimdoc-specific
filename: "definition-lists.txt"
vimdoc-prefix: pandoc
```
Complete header requires `abstract`, `author`, `title` and `filename` to be set. Compiling file with such metadata produces the following file (assumes [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone), see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates)):
```
*definition-lists.txt* A short description
Title by Author
Type |gO| to see the table of contents.
[...]
vim:tw=72:sw=4:ts=4:ft=help:norl:et:
```
If `vimdoc-prefix` is set, all non-command tags are prefixed with its value, it is used to prevent tag collision: all headers have a tag (either inferred or explicit) and multiple help pages can have the same header names, therefore collision is to be expected. Let our input be the following markdown file:
```
## Header
`:[range]Fnl {expr}`{#:Fnl}
: Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b`{#vim.b}
: Buffer-scoped (`:h b:`) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or unset
key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access variables for a
specific buffer.
[Span]{#span}
: generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not inherently
represent anything.
```
Convert it to vimdoc:
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
```
Convert it to vimdoc with metadata variable set (e.g. with [`-M vimdoc-prefix=pandoc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata))
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *pandoc-header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *pandoc-vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *pandoc-span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
```
`vim.b` and `Span` got their prefixes but not `:Fnl` because ex-commands (those starting with `:`) don’t get a prefix, since they are considered unique across help pages.
In both cases `:help b:` became reference `|b:|` (also works with `:h b:`). Links pointing to either <https://vimhelp.org/> or <https://neovim.io/doc/user> become references too.
Vim traditionally wraps at 78, but Pandoc defaults to 72. Use [`--columns 78`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--columns) to match Vim.
# Syntax highlighting
Pandoc will automatically highlight syntax in [fenced code blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fenced-code-blocks) that are marked with a language name. The Haskell library [skylighting](https://github.com/jgm/skylighting) is used for highlighting. Currently highlighting is supported only for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, Man, Typst, 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 [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style) to generate a JSON `.theme` file which can be modified and used as the argument to [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). To get a JSON version of the `pygments` style, for example:
```
pandoc -o my.theme --print-highlight-style pygments
```
Then edit `my.theme` and use it like this:
```
pandoc --syntax-highlighting my.theme
```
If you are not satisfied with the built-in highlighting, or you want to highlight a language that isn’t supported, you can use the [`--syntax-definition`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-definition) option to load a [KDE-style XML syntax definition file](https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/kate/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).
If you receive an error that pandoc “Could not read highlighting theme”, check that the JSON file is encoded with UTF-8 and has no Byte-Order Mark (BOM).
To disable highlighting, use [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting).
To use a format’s idiomatic syntax highlighting instead of pandoc’s built-in highlighting, use [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). Currently, `idiomatic` only affects the following formats:
- In reveal.js, it causes reveal.js’s highlighting plugin to be used for source code highlighting. The style may be customized by setting the `highlightjs-theme` variable.
- In Typst, it causes Typst’s built-in highlighting to be used. (This is also the default for Typst.)
- In LaTeX, it causes the [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) package to be used. Note that `listings` does not support multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you would need to use a custom template. This issue is fully documented here: [Encoding issue with the listings package](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Encoding_issue).
- In other formats, `idiomatic` will have the same result as `default`.
# Custom Styles
Custom styles can be used in the docx, odt and ICML formats.
## Output
By default, pandoc’s odt, 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 doc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-doc) 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, Span, or Table 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 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.
Styles will be defined in the output file as inheriting from normal text (docx) or Default Paragraph Style (odt), if the styles are not yet in your [reference doc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-doc). If they are already defined, pandoc will not alter the definition.
This feature allows for greatest customization in conjunction with [pandoc filters](https://pandoc.org/filters.html). 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 or odt output, you don’t need to enable any extensions for custom styles to work.
For icml output, you can also set an `object-style` in images:
```
{object-style="fixedSizeImage"}
```
In InDesign you’ll see that object style given to the image, and you’ll be able to customize it, or load its definition from a template of yours.
## 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#ext-styles) in the docx reader ([`-f docx+styles`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from)), you can produce output that maintains the styles of the input document, using the `custom-style` class. A `custom-style` attribute will be added for each style. Divs will be created to hold the paragraph styles, and Spans to hold the character styles. Table styles will be applied directly to the Table.
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 readers and writers
Pandoc can be extended with custom readers and writers written in [Lua](https://www.lua.org/). (Pandoc includes a Lua interpreter, so Lua need not be installed separately.)
To use a custom reader or writer, simply specify the path to the Lua script in place of the input or output format. For example:
```
pandoc -t data/sample.lua
pandoc -f my_custom_markup_language.lua -t latex -s
```
If the script is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the `custom` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)).
A custom reader is a Lua script that defines one function, Reader, which takes a string as input and returns a Pandoc AST. See the [Lua filters documentation](https://pandoc.org/lua-filters.html) for documentation of the functions that are available for creating pandoc AST elements. For parsing, the [lpeg](http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/lpeg/) parsing library is available by default. To see a sample custom reader:
```
pandoc --print-default-data-file creole.lua
```
If you want your custom reader to have access to reader options (e.g. the tab stop setting), you give your Reader function a second `options` parameter.
A custom writer is a Lua script that defines a function that specifies how to render each element in a Pandoc AST. See the [djot-writer.lua](https://github.com/jgm/djot.lua/blob/main/djot-writer.lua) for a full-featured example.
Note that custom writers have no default template. If you want to use [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) with a custom writer, you will need to specify a template manually using [`--template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--template) or add a new default template with the name `default.NAME_OF_CUSTOM_WRITER.lua` to the `templates` subdirectory of your user data directory (see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates)).
# Reproducible builds
Some of the document formats pandoc targets (such as EPUB, docx, and ODT) include build timestamps in the generated document. That means that the files generated on successive builds will differ, even if the source does not. To avoid this, set the `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` environment variable, and the timestamp will be taken from it instead of the current time. `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` should contain an integer unix timestamp (specifying the number of seconds since midnight UTC January 1, 1970).
For reproducible builds with LaTeX, you can either specify the `pdf-trailer-id` in the metadata or leave it undefined, in which case pandoc will create a trailer-id based on a hash of the `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` and the document’s contents.
Some document formats also include a unique identifier. For EPUB, this can be set explicitly by setting the `identifier` metadata field (see [EPUB Metadata](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-metadata), above).
# Accessible PDFs and PDF archiving standards
PDF is a flexible format, and using PDF in certain contexts requires additional conventions. For example, PDFs are not accessible by default; they define how characters are placed on a page but do not contain semantic information on the content. However, it is possible to generate accessible PDFs, which use tagging to add semantic information to the document.
Pandoc defaults to LaTeX to generate PDF. LaTeX’s `\DocumentMetadata` interface supports PDF standards and tagging when using LuaLaTeX; set the `pdfstandard` variable to enable this (see below). For older LaTeX installations, alternative engines must be used.
The PDF standards PDF/A and PDF/UA define further restrictions intended to optimize PDFs for archiving and accessibility. Tagging is commonly used in combination with these standards to ensure best results.
Note, however, that standard compliance depends on many things, including the colorspace of embedded images. Pandoc cannot check this, and external programs must be used to ensure that generated PDFs are in compliance.
## LaTeX
Set the `pdfstandard` variable to produce tagged PDFs conforming to PDF/A, PDF/X, or PDF/UA standards. For example:
```
pandoc -V pdfstandard=ua-2 --pdf-engine=lualatex doc.md -o doc.pdf
```
Multiple standards can be combined:
```
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
---
```
The required PDF version is inferred automatically. This feature requires LuaLaTeX in TeX Live 2025 with LaTeX kernel 2025-06-01 or newer.
## ConTeXt
ConTeXt always produces tagged PDFs, but the quality depends on the input. The default ConTeXt markup generated by pandoc is optimized for readability and reuse, not tagging. Enable the [`tagging`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension--tagging) format extension to force markup that is optimized for tagging. For example:
```
pandoc -t context+tagging doc.md -o doc.pdf
```
A recent `context` version should be used, as older versions contained a bug that lead to invalid PDF metadata.
## WeasyPrint
The HTML-based engine WeasyPrint includes experimental support for PDF/A and PDF/UA since version 57. Tagged PDFs can created with
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=weasyprint \
--pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-variant=pdf/ua-1 ...
```
The feature is experimental and standard compliance should not be assumed.
## Prince XML
The non-free HTML-to-PDF converter `prince` has extensive support for various PDF standards as well as tagging. E.g.:
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=prince \
--pdf-engine-opt=--tagged-pdf ...
```
See the prince documentation for more info.
## Typst
Typst 0.12 can produce PDF/A-2b:
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=typst --pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-standard=a-2b ...
```
## Word Processors
Word processors like LibreOffice and MS Word can also be used to generate standardized and tagged PDF output. Pandoc does not support direct conversions via these tools. However, pandoc can convert a document to a `docx` or `odt` file, which can then be opened and converted to PDF with the respective word processor. See the documentation for [Word](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-accessible-pdfs-064625e0-56ea-4e16-ad71-3aa33bb4b7ed) and [LibreOffice](https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/ref_pdf_export_general.html).
# Running pandoc as a web server
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to `pandoc-server`, or if you call pandoc with `server` as the first argument, it will start up a web server with a JSON API. This server exposes most of the conversion functionality of pandoc. For full documentation, see the [pandoc-server](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/doc/pandoc-server.md) man page.
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to `pandoc-server.cgi`, it will function as a CGI program exposing the same API as `pandoc-server`.
`pandoc-server` is designed to be maximally secure; it uses Haskell’s type system to provide strong guarantees that no I/O will be performed on the server during pandoc conversions.
# Running pandoc as a Lua interpreter
Calling the pandoc executable under the name `pandoc-lua` or with `lua` as the first argument will make it function as a standalone Lua interpreter. The behavior is mostly identical to that of the [standalone `lua` executable](https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html#7), version 5.4. All `pandoc.*` packages, as well as the packages `re` and `lpeg`, are available via global variables. Furthermore, the globals `PANDOC_VERSION`, `PANDOC_STATE`, and `PANDOC_API_VERSION` are set at startup. For full documentation, see the [pandoc-lua](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/doc/pandoc-lua.md) man page.
# A note on security
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. Several input formats (including LaTeX, Org, RST, and Typst) support `include` directives that allow the contents of a file to be included in the output. An untrusted attacker could use these to view the contents of files on the file system. (Using the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option can protect against this threat.)
3. Several output formats (including RTF, FB2, HTML with [`--self-contained`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--self-contained[), EPUB, Docx, and ODT) will embed encoded or raw images into the output file. An untrusted attacker could exploit this to view the contents of non-image files on the file system. (Using the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option can protect against this threat, but will also prevent including images in these formats.)
4. In reading HTML files, pandoc will attempt to include the contents of `iframe` elements by fetching content from the local file or URL specified by `src`. If untrusted HTML is processed on a server, this has the potential to reveal anything readable by the process running the server. Using the [`-f html+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) will mitigate this threat by causing the whole `iframe` to be parsed as a raw HTML block. Using [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) will also protect against the threat.
5. 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](https://pandoc.org/using-the-pandoc-api.html) for more details. (This corresponds to the use of the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option on the command line.)
6. 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. Note that the `commonmark` parser (including `commonmark_x` and `gfm`) is much less vulnerable to pathological performance than the `markdown` parser, so it is a better choice when processing untrusted input.
7. 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 URLs and attributes. To be safe, you should run all HTML generated from untrusted user input through an HTML sanitizer.
# Authors
Copyright 2006–2024 John MacFarlane ([\[email protected\]](https://pandoc.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection)). Released under the [GPL](https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html "GNU General Public License"), 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.
***
1. The point of this rule is to ensure that normal paragraphs starting with people’s initials, like
```
B. Russell won a Nobel Prize (but not for "On Denoting").
```
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
```
[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref1)
2. I have been influenced by the suggestions of [David Wheeler](https://justatheory.com/2009/02/modest-markdown-proposal/).[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref2)
3. 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).[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref3)
4. Note that if [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[) is used, a div written this way will be given an identifier of the form `FILE__refs`, to avoid duplicate identifiers (see [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[)). In view of this possibility, pandoc will place the bibliography in any div whose identifier is `refs` *or* ends with `__refs`.[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref4)
- [Synopsis](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#synopsis)
- [Description](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#description)
- [Using pandoc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#using-pandoc)
- [Specifying formats](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#specifying-formats)
- [Character encoding](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#character-encoding)
- [Creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#creating-a-pdf)
- [Reading from the Web](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reading-from-the-web)
- [Options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options)
- [General options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-options)
- [Reader options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reader-options)
- [General writer options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-writer-options)
- [Options affecting specific writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options-affecting-specific-writers)
- [Citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering)
- [Math rendering in HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math-rendering-in-html)
- [Options for wrapper scripts](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options-for-wrapper-scripts)
- [Exit codes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#exit-codes)
- [Defaults files](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#defaults-files)
- [General options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-options-1)
- [Reader options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reader-options-1)
- [General writer options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-writer-options-1)
- [Options affecting specific writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options-affecting-specific-writers-1)
- [Citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering-1)
- [Math rendering in HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math-rendering-in-html-1)
- [Options for wrapper scripts](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options-for-wrapper-scripts-1)
- [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates)
- [Template syntax](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#template-syntax)
- [Comments](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#comments)
- [Delimiters](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#delimiters)
- [Interpolated variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#interpolated-variables)
- [Conditionals](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#conditionals)
- [For loops](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#for-loops)
- [Partials](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#partials)
- [Nesting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#nesting)
- [Breakable spaces](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#breakable-spaces)
- [Pipes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pipes)
- [Variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables)
- [Metadata variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#metadata-variables)
- [Language variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#language-variables)
- [Variables for HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html)
- [Variables for HTML math](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html-math)
- [Variables for HTML slides](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html-slides)
- [Variables for Beamer slides](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-beamer-slides)
- [Variables for PowerPoint](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-powerpoint)
- [Variables for LaTeX](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-latex)
- [Variables for ConTeXt](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-context)
- [Variables for `wkhtmltopdf`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-wkhtmltopdf)
- [Variables for man pages](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-man-pages)
- [Variables for Texinfo](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-texinfo)
- [Variables for Typst](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-typst)
- [Variables for ms](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-ms)
- [Variables set automatically](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-set-automatically)
- [Extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extensions)
- [Typography](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#typography)
- [Extension: `smart` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-smart)
- [Headings and sections](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#headings-and-sections)
- [Extension: `auto_identifiers` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-auto_identifiers)
- [Extension: `ascii_identifiers` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-ascii_identifiers)
- [Extension: `gfm_auto_identifiers` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-gfm_auto_identifiers)
- [Math Input](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math-input)
- [Raw HTML/TeX](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#raw-htmltex)
- [Literate Haskell support](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#literate-haskell-support)
- [Extension: `literate_haskell` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-literate_haskell)
- [Other extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#other-extensions)
- [Extension: `empty_paragraphs` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-empty_paragraphs)
- [Extension: `native_numbering` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_numbering)
- [Extension: `xrefs_name` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-xrefs_name)
- [Extension: `xrefs_number` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-xrefs_number)
- [Extension: `styles` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#ext-styles)
- [Extension: `amuse` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-amuse)
- [Extension: `raw_markdown` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_markdown)
- [Extension: `citations` (typst) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#typst-citations)
- [Extension: `citations` (org) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#org-citations)
- [Extension: `citations` (docx) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#docx-citations)
- [Extension: `fancy_lists` (org) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#org-fancy-lists)
- [Extension: `element_citations` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-element_citations)
- [Extension: `ntb` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-ntb)
- [Extension: `smart_quotes` (org) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-smart_quotes-org)
- [Extension: `special_strings` (org) ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-special_strings-org)
- [Extension: `tagging` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension--tagging)
- [Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown)
- [Philosophy](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#philosophy)
- [Paragraphs](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#paragraphs)
- [Extension: `escaped_line_breaks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-escaped_line_breaks)
- [Headings](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#headings)
- [Setext-style headings](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#setext-style-headings)
- [ATX-style headings](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#atx-style-headings)
- [Extension: `blank_before_header` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-blank_before_header)
- [Extension: `space_in_atx_header` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-space_in_atx_header)
- [Heading identifiers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#heading-identifiers)
- [Extension: `header_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-header_attributes)
- [Extension: `implicit_header_references` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-implicit_header_references)
- [Block quotations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#block-quotations)
- [Extension: `blank_before_blockquote` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-blank_before_blockquote)
- [Verbatim (code) blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#verbatim-code-blocks)
- [Indented code blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#indented-code-blocks)
- [Fenced code blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fenced-code-blocks)
- [Extension: `fenced_code_blocks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_code_blocks)
- [Extension: `backtick_code_blocks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-backtick_code_blocks)
- [Extension: `fenced_code_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_code_attributes)
- [Line blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#line-blocks)
- [Extension: `line_blocks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-line_blocks)
- [Lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#lists)
- [Bullet lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#bullet-lists)
- [Block content in list items](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#block-content-in-list-items)
- [Ordered lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#ordered-lists)
- [Extension: `fancy_lists` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fancy_lists)
- [Extension: `startnum` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-startnum)
- [Extension: `task_lists` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-task_lists)
- [Definition lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#definition-lists)
- [Extension: `definition_lists` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-definition_lists)
- [Numbered example lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#numbered-example-lists)
- [Extension: `example_lists` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-example_lists)
- [Ending a list](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#ending-a-list)
- [Horizontal rules](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#horizontal-rules)
- [Tables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#tables)
- [Extension: `table_captions` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-table_captions)
- [Extension: `simple_tables` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-simple_tables)
- [Extension: `multiline_tables` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-multiline_tables)
- [Extension: `grid_tables` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-grid_tables)
- [Extension: `pipe_tables` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-pipe_tables)
- [Extension: `table_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-table_attributes)
- [Metadata blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#metadata-blocks)
- [Extension: `pandoc_title_block` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-pandoc_title_block)
- [Extension: `yaml_metadata_block` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block)
- [Backslash escapes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#backslash-escapes)
- [Extension: `all_symbols_escapable` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-all_symbols_escapable)
- [Inline formatting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#inline-formatting)
- [Emphasis](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#emphasis)
- [Extension: `intraword_underscores` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-intraword_underscores)
- [Strikeout](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#strikeout)
- [Extension: `strikeout` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-strikeout)
- [Superscripts and subscripts](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#superscripts-and-subscripts)
- [Extension: `superscript`, `subscript` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-superscript-subscript)
- [Verbatim](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#verbatim)
- [Extension: `inline_code_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-inline_code_attributes)
- [Underline](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#underline)
- [Small caps](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#small-caps)
- [Highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#highlighting)
- [Math](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math)
- [Extension: `tex_math_dollars` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_dollars)
- [Raw HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#raw-html)
- [Extension: `raw_html` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_html)
- [Extension: `markdown_in_html_blocks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-markdown_in_html_blocks)
- [Extension: `native_divs` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_divs)
- [Extension: `native_spans` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_spans)
- [Extension: `raw_tex` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_tex)
- [Generic raw attribute](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#generic-raw-attribute)
- [Extension: `raw_attribute` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute)
- [LaTeX macros](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#latex-macros)
- [Extension: `latex_macros` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-latex_macros)
- [Links](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#links-1)
- [Automatic links](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#automatic-links)
- [Inline links](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#inline-links)
- [Reference links](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reference-links)
- [Extension: `shortcut_reference_links` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-shortcut_reference_links)
- [Internal links](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#internal-links)
- [Images](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#images)
- [Extension: `implicit_figures` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-implicit_figures)
- [Extension: `link_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-link_attributes)
- [Divs and Spans](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#divs-and-spans)
- [Extension: `fenced_divs` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_divs)
- [Extension: `bracketed_spans` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-bracketed_spans)
- [Footnotes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#footnotes)
- [Extension: `footnotes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-footnotes)
- [Extension: `inline_notes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-inline_notes)
- [Citation syntax](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-syntax)
- [Extension: `citations` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-citations)
- [Non-default extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#non-default-extensions)
- [Extension: `rebase_relative_paths` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-rebase_relative_paths)
- [Extension: `mark` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-mark)
- [Extension: `attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-attributes)
- [Extension: `old_dashes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-old_dashes)
- [Extension: `angle_brackets_escapable` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-angle_brackets_escapable)
- [Extension: `lists_without_preceding_blankline` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-lists_without_preceding_blankline)
- [Extension: `four_space_rule` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-four_space_rule)
- [Extension: `spaced_reference_links` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-spaced_reference_links)
- [Extension: `hard_line_breaks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-hard_line_breaks)
- [Extension: `ignore_line_breaks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-ignore_line_breaks)
- [Extension: `east_asian_line_breaks` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-east_asian_line_breaks)
- [Extension: `emoji` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-emoji)
- [Extension: `tex_math_gfm` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_gfm)
- [Extension: `tex_math_single_backslash` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_single_backslash)
- [Extension: `tex_math_double_backslash` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_double_backslash)
- [Extension: `markdown_attribute` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-markdown_attribute)
- [Extension: `mmd_title_block` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-mmd_title_block)
- [Extension: `abbreviations` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-abbreviations)
- [Extension: `alerts` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-alerts)
- [Extension: `autolink_bare_uris` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-autolink_bare_uris)
- [Extension: `mmd_link_attributes` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-mmd_link_attributes)
- [Extension: `mmd_header_identifiers` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-mmd_header_identifiers)
- [Extension: `gutenberg` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-gutenberg)
- [Extension: `sourcepos` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-sourcepos)
- [Extension: `short_subsuperscripts` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-short_subsuperscripts)
- [Extension: `wikilinks_title_after_pipe` ±](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-wikilinks_title_after_pipe)
- [Markdown variants](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants)
- [Citations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations)
- [Specifying bibliographic data](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#specifying-bibliographic-data)
- [Capitalization in titles](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#capitalization-in-titles)
- [Conference Papers, Published vs. Unpublished](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#conference-papers-published-vs.-unpublished)
- [Specifying a citation style](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#specifying-a-citation-style)
- [Citations in note styles](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations-in-note-styles)
- [Placement of the bibliography](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#placement-of-the-bibliography)
- [Including uncited items in the bibliography](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#including-uncited-items-in-the-bibliography)
- [Other relevant metadata fields](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#other-relevant-metadata-fields)
- [Slide shows](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#slide-shows)
- [Structuring the slide show](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#structuring-the-slide-show)
- [PowerPoint layout choice](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#powerpoint-layout-choice)
- [Incremental lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#incremental-lists)
- [Inserting pauses](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#inserting-pauses)
- [Styling the slides](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#styling-the-slides)
- [Speaker notes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#speaker-notes)
- [Speaker notes on the title slide (PowerPoint)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#speaker-notes-on-the-title-slide-powerpoint)
- [Columns](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#columns)
- [Additional columns attributes in beamer](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#additional-columns-attributes-in-beamer)
- [Frame attributes in beamer](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#frame-attributes-in-beamer)
- [Background in reveal.js, beamer, and pptx](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#background-in-reveal.js-beamer-and-pptx)
- [On all slides (beamer, reveal.js, pptx)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#on-all-slides-beamer-reveal.js-pptx)
- [On individual slides (reveal.js, pptx)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#on-individual-slides-reveal.js-pptx)
- [On the title slide (reveal.js, pptx)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#on-the-title-slide-reveal.js-pptx)
- [Example (reveal.js)](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#example-reveal.js)
- [EPUBs](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epubs)
- [EPUB Metadata](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-metadata)
- [The `epub:type` attribute](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#the-epubtype-attribute)
- [Linked media](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#linked-media)
- [EPUB styling](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-styling)
- [Chunked HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#chunked-html)
- [Jupyter notebooks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#jupyter-notebooks)
- [Vimdoc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#vimdoc)
- [Syntax highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#syntax-highlighting)
- [Custom Styles](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-styles)
- [Output](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#output)
- [Input](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#input)
- [Custom readers and writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-readers-and-writers)
- [Reproducible builds](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reproducible-builds)
- [Accessible PDFs and PDF archiving standards](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#accessible-pdfs-and-pdf-archiving-standards)
- [LaTeX](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#latex)
- [ConTeXt](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#context)
- [WeasyPrint](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#weasyprint)
- [Prince XML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#prince-xml)
- [Typst](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#typst)
- [Word Processors](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#word-processors)
- [Running pandoc as a web server](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#running-pandoc-as-a-web-server)
- [Running pandoc as a Lua interpreter](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#running-pandoc-as-a-lua-interpreter)
- [A note on security](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#a-note-on-security)
- [Authors](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#authors)
×
Search results |
| Readable Markdown | ## Synopsis
`pandoc` \[*options*\] \[*input-file*\]…
## Description
Pandoc is a [Haskell](https://www.haskell.org/) library for converting from one markup format to another, and a command-line tool that uses this library.
Pandoc can convert between numerous markup and word processing formats, including, but not limited to, various flavors of [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/), [HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/), [LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/) and [Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML). For the full lists of input and output formats, see the [`--from`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) and [`--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) [options below](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#general-options). Pandoc can also produce [PDF](https://www.adobe.com/pdf/) output: see [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#creating-a-pdf), below.
Pandoc’s enhanced version of Markdown includes syntax for [tables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#tables), [definition lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#definition-lists), [metadata blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#metadata-blocks), [footnotes](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#footnotes), [citations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations), [math](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math), and much more. See below under [Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown).
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 (an *abstract syntax tree* or AST), 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. Users can also run custom [pandoc filters](https://pandoc.org/filters.html) to modify the intermediate AST.
Because pandoc’s intermediate representation of a document is less expressive than many of the formats it converts between, one should not expect perfect conversions between every format and every other. Pandoc attempts to preserve the structural elements of a document, but not formatting details such as margin size. And some document elements, such as complex tables, may not fit into pandoc’s simple document model. While conversions from pandoc’s Markdown to all formats aspire to be perfect, conversions from formats more expressive than pandoc’s Markdown can be expected to be lossy.
## Using pandoc
If no *input-files* are specified, input is read from *stdin*. Output goes to *stdout* by default. For output to a file, use the [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) option:
```
pandoc -o output.html input.txt
```
By default, pandoc produces a document fragment. To produce a standalone document (e.g. a valid HTML file including `<head>` and `<body>`), use the [`-s`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) or [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) flag:
```
pandoc -s -o output.html input.txt
```
For more information on how standalone documents are produced, see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates) below.
If multiple input files are given, pandoc will concatenate them all (with blank lines between them) before parsing. (Use [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[) to parse files individually.)
## Specifying formats
The format of the input and output can be specified explicitly using command-line options. The input format can be specified using the [`-f/--from`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) option, the output format using the [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) option. 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 input and output formats are listed below under [Options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#options) (see [`-f`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) for input formats and [`-t`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) for output formats). You can also use `pandoc --list-input-formats` and `pandoc --list-output-formats` to print lists of supported formats.
If the input or output format is not specified explicitly, pandoc will attempt to guess it from the extensions of the 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.
## Character encoding
Pandoc uses the UTF-8 character encoding for both input and output. If your local character encoding is not UTF-8, you should pipe input and output through [`iconv`](https://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/):
```
iconv -t utf-8 input.txt | pandoc | iconv -f utf-8
```
Note that in some output formats (such as HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt, RTF, OPML, DocBook, and Texinfo), information about the character encoding is included in the document header, which will only be included if you use the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option.
## Creating a PDF
To produce a PDF, specify an output file with a `.pdf` extension:
```
pandoc test.txt -o test.pdf
```
By default, pandoc will use LaTeX to create the PDF, which requires that a LaTeX engine be installed (see [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) below). Alternatively, pandoc can use ConTeXt, roff ms, or HTML as an intermediate format. To do this, specify an output file with a `.pdf` extension, as before, but add the [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) option or [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) to the command line. The tool used to generate the PDF from the intermediate format may be specified using [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine).
You can control the PDF style using variables, depending on the intermediate format used: see [variables for LaTeX](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-latex), [variables for ConTeXt](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-context), [variables for `wkhtmltopdf`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-wkhtmltopdf), [variables for ms](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-ms). When HTML is used as an intermediate format, the output can be styled using [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css).
To debug the PDF creation, it can be useful to look at the intermediate representation: instead of [`-o test.pdf`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output), use for example [`-s -o test.tex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) to output the generated LaTeX. You can then test it with `pdflatex test.tex`.
When using LaTeX, the following packages need to be available (they are included with all recent versions of [TeX Live](https://www.tug.org/texlive/)): [`amsfonts`](https://ctan.org/pkg/amsfonts), [`amsmath`](https://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath), [`lm`](https://ctan.org/pkg/lm), [`unicode-math`](https://ctan.org/pkg/unicode-math), [`iftex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/iftex), [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) (if the [`--listings`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--listings[) option is used), [`fancyvrb`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fancyvrb), [`longtable`](https://ctan.org/pkg/longtable), [`booktabs`](https://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs), [`multirow`](https://ctan.org/pkg/multirow) (if the document contains a table with cells that cross multiple rows), [`graphicx`](https://ctan.org/pkg/graphicx) (if the document contains images), [`bookmark`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bookmark), [`xcolor`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor), [`soul`](https://ctan.org/pkg/soul), [`geometry`](https://ctan.org/pkg/geometry) (with the `geometry` variable set), [`setspace`](https://ctan.org/pkg/setspace) (with `linestretch`), and [`babel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/babel) (with `lang`). If `CJKmainfont` is set, [`xeCJK`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xecjk) is needed if `xelatex` is used, else [`luatexja`](https://ctan.org/pkg/luatexja) is needed if `lualatex` is used. [`framed`](https://ctan.org/pkg/framed) is required if code is highlighted in a scheme that use a colored background. The use of `xelatex` or `lualatex` as the PDF engine requires [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec). `lualatex` uses [`selnolig`](https://ctan.org/pkg/selnolig) and [`lua-ul`](https://ctan.org/pkg/lua-ul). `xelatex` uses [`bidi`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bidi) (with the `dir` variable set). If the `mathspec` variable is set, `xelatex` will use [`mathspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/mathspec) instead of [`unicode-math`](https://ctan.org/pkg/unicode-math). The [`csquotes`](https://ctan.org/pkg/csquotes) package will be used for [typography](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#typography) if the `csquotes` variable or metadata field is set to a true value. The [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib), [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex), [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex), and [`biber`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biber) packages can optionally be used for [citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering). If math with `\cancel`, `\bcancel`, or `\xcancel` is used, the [`cancel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/cancel) package is needed. The following packages will be used to improve output quality if present, but pandoc does not require them to be present: [`upquote`](https://ctan.org/pkg/upquote) (for straight quotes in verbatim environments), [`microtype`](https://ctan.org/pkg/microtype) (for better spacing adjustments), [`parskip`](https://ctan.org/pkg/parskip) (for better inter-paragraph spaces), [`xurl`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xurl) (for better line breaks in URLs), and [`footnotehyper`](https://ctan.org/pkg/footnotehyper) or [`footnote`](https://ctan.org/pkg/footnote) (to allow footnotes in tables).
## Reading from the Web
Instead of an input file, an absolute URI may be given. In this case pandoc will fetch the content using HTTP:
```
pandoc -f html -t markdown https://www.fsf.org
```
It is possible to supply a custom User-Agent string or other header when requesting a document from a URL:
```
pandoc -f html -t markdown --request-header User-Agent:"Mozilla/5.0" \
https://www.fsf.org
```
## Options
## General options
`-f` *FORMAT*, `-r` *FORMAT*, `--from=`*FORMAT*, `--read=`*FORMAT*
Specify input format. *FORMAT* can be:
- `asciidoc` ([AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) markup)
- `bibtex` ([BibTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) bibliography)
- `biblatex` ([BibLaTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) bibliography)
- `bits` ([BITS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/extensions/bits/) XML, alias for `jats`)
- `commonmark` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown with extensions)
- `creole` ([Creole 1.0](http://www.wikicreole.org/wiki/Creole1.0))
- `csljson` ([CSL JSON](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html) bibliography)
- `csv` ([CSV](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180) table)
- `tsv` ([TSV](https://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/text/tab-separated-values) table)
- `djot` ([Djot markup](https://djot.net/))
- `docbook` ([DocBook](https://docbook.org/))
- `docx` ([Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML))
- `dokuwiki` ([DokuWiki markup](https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki))
- `endnotexml` ([EndNote XML bibliography](https://support.clarivate.com/Endnote/s/article/EndNote-XML-Document-Type-Definition))
- `epub` ([EPUB](http://idpf.org/epub))
- `fb2` ([FictionBook2](http://www.fictionbook.org/index.php/Eng:XML_Schema_Fictionbook_2.1) e-book)
- `gfm` ([GitHub-Flavored Markdown](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/)), or the deprecated and less accurate `markdown_github`; use [`markdown_github`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants) only if you need extensions not supported in [`gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants).
- `haddock` ([Haddock markup](https://www.haskell.org/haddock/doc/html/ch03s08.html))
- `html` ([HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/))
- `ipynb` ([Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/))
- `jats` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML)
- `jira` ([Jira](https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all)/Confluence wiki markup)
- `json` (JSON version of native AST)
- `latex` ([LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/))
- `markdown` ([Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown))
- `markdown_mmd` ([MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/))
- `markdown_phpextra` ([PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/))
- `markdown_strict` (original unextended [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/))
- `mediawiki` ([MediaWiki markup](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting))
- `man` ([roff man](https://man.cx/groff_man\(7\)))
- `mdoc` ([mdoc](https://mandoc.bsd.lv/man/mdoc.7.html) manual page markup)
- `muse` ([Muse](https://amusewiki.org/library/manual))
- `native` (native Haskell)
- `odt` ([OpenDocument text document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument))
- `opml` ([OPML](https://opml.org/spec2.opml))
- `org` ([Emacs Org mode](https://orgmode.org/))
- `pod` (Perl’s [Plain Old Documentation](https://perldoc.perl.org/perlpod))
- `pptx` ([PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint))
- `ris` ([RIS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIS_\(file_format\)) bibliography)
- `rtf` ([Rich Text Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format))
- `rst` ([reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html))
- `t2t` ([txt2tags](https://txt2tags.org/))
- `textile` ([Textile](https://textile-lang.com/))
- `tikiwiki` ([TikiWiki markup](https://doc.tiki.org/Wiki-Syntax-Text#The_Markup_Language_Wiki-Syntax))
- `twiki` ([TWiki markup](https://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/TextFormattingRules))
- `typst` ([typst](https://typst.app/))
- `vimwiki` ([Vimwiki](https://vimwiki.github.io/))
- `xlsx` ([Excel spreadsheet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Excel#File_formats))
- `xml` (XML version of native AST)
- the path of a custom Lua reader, see [Custom readers and writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-readers-and-writers) below
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending `+EXTENSION` or `-EXTENSION` to the format name. See [Extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extensions) below, for a list of extensions and their names. See [`--list-input-formats`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-input-formats) and [`--list-extensions`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-extensions), below.
`-t` *FORMAT*, `-w` *FORMAT*, `--to=`*FORMAT*, `--write=`*FORMAT*
Specify output format. *FORMAT* can be:
- `ansi` (text with [ANSI escape codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code), for terminal viewing)
- `asciidoc` (modern [AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) as interpreted by [AsciiDoctor](https://asciidoctor.org/))
- `asciidoc_legacy` ([AsciiDoc](https://asciidoc.org/) as interpreted by [`asciidoc-py`](https://github.com/asciidoc-py/asciidoc-py)).
- `asciidoctor` (deprecated synonym for `asciidoc`)
- `bbcode` [BBCode](https://www.bbcode.org/reference.php)
- `bbcode_fluxbb` [BBCode (FluxBB)](https://web.archive.org/web/20210623155046/https://fluxbb.org/forums/help.php#bbcode)
- `bbcode_phpbb` [BBCode (phpBB)](https://www.phpbb.com/community/help/bbcode)
- `bbcode_steam` [BBCode (Steam)](https://steamcommunity.com/comment/ForumTopic/formattinghelp)
- `bbcode_hubzilla` [BBCode (Hubzilla)](https://hubzilla.org/help/member/bbcode)
- `bbcode_xenforo` [BBCode (xenForo)](https://www.xenfocus.com/community/help/bb-codes/)
- `beamer` ([LaTeX beamer](https://ctan.org/pkg/beamer) slide show)
- `bibtex` ([BibTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) bibliography)
- `biblatex` ([BibLaTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) bibliography)
- `chunkedhtml` (zip archive of multiple linked HTML files)
- `commonmark` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` ([CommonMark](https://commonmark.org/) Markdown with extensions)
- `context` ([ConTeXt](https://www.contextgarden.net/))
- `csljson` ([CSL JSON](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html) bibliography)
- `djot` ([Djot markup](https://djot.net/))
- `docbook` or `docbook4` ([DocBook](https://docbook.org/) 4)
- `docbook5` (DocBook 5)
- `docx` ([Word docx](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML))
- `dokuwiki` ([DokuWiki markup](https://www.dokuwiki.org/dokuwiki))
- `epub` or `epub3` ([EPUB](http://idpf.org/epub) v3 book)
- `epub2` (EPUB v2)
- `fb2` ([FictionBook2](http://www.fictionbook.org/index.php/Eng:XML_Schema_Fictionbook_2.1) e-book)
- `gfm` ([GitHub-Flavored Markdown](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/)), or the deprecated and less accurate `markdown_github`; use [`markdown_github`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants) only if you need extensions not supported in [`gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#markdown-variants).
- `haddock` ([Haddock markup](https://www.haskell.org/haddock/doc/html/ch03s08.html))
- `html` or `html5` ([HTML](https://www.w3.org/html/), i.e. [HTML5](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/)/XHTML [polyglot markup](https://www.w3.org/TR/html-polyglot/))
- `html4` ([XHTML](https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/) 1.0 Transitional)
- `icml` ([InDesign ICML](https://web.archive.org/web/20211006210211/https://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/indesign/sdk/cs6/idml/idml-cookbook.pdf))
- `ipynb` ([Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/))
- `jats_archiving` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Archiving and Interchange Tag Set)
- `jats_articleauthoring` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Article Authoring Tag Set)
- `jats_publishing` ([JATS](https://jats.nlm.nih.gov/) XML, Journal Publishing Tag Set)
- `jats` (alias for `jats_archiving`)
- `jira` ([Jira](https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/WikiRendererHelpAction.jspa?section=all)/Confluence wiki markup)
- `json` (JSON version of native AST)
- `latex` ([LaTeX](https://www.latex-project.org/))
- `man` ([roff man](https://man.cx/groff_man\(7\)))
- `markdown` ([Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown))
- `markdown_mmd` ([MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/))
- `markdown_phpextra` ([PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/))
- `markdown_strict` (original unextended [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/))
- `markua` ([Markua](https://leanpub.com/markua/read))
- `mediawiki` ([MediaWiki markup](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting))
- `ms` ([roff ms](https://man.cx/groff_ms\(7\)))
- `muse` ([Muse](https://amusewiki.org/library/manual))
- `native` (native Haskell)
- `odt` ([OpenDocument text document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument))
- `opml` ([OPML](https://opml.org/spec2.opml))
- `opendocument` ([OpenDocument XML](https://www.oasis-open.org/2021/06/16/opendocument-v1-3-oasis-standard-published/))
- `org` ([Emacs Org mode](https://orgmode.org/))
- `pdf` ([PDF](https://www.adobe.com/pdf/))
- `plain` (plain text)
- `pptx` ([PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint) slide show)
- `rst` ([reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html))
- `rtf` ([Rich Text Format](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format))
- `texinfo` ([GNU Texinfo](https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/))
- `textile` ([Textile](https://textile-lang.com/))
- `slideous` ([Slideous](https://goessner.net/articles/slideous/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `slidy` ([Slidy](https://www.w3.org/Talks/Tools/Slidy2/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `dzslides` ([DZSlides](https://paulrouget.com/dzslides/) HTML5 + JavaScript slide show)
- `revealjs` ([reveal.js](https://revealjs.com/) HTML5 + JavaScript slide show)
- `s5` ([S5](https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/) HTML and JavaScript slide show)
- `tei` ([TEI Simple](https://github.com/TEIC/TEI-Simple))
- `typst` ([typst](https://typst.app/))
- `vimdoc` ([Vimdoc](https://vimhelp.org/helphelp.txt.html#help-writing))
- `xml` (XML version of native AST)
- `xwiki` ([XWiki markup](https://www.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Documentation/UserGuide/Features/XWikiSyntax/))
- `zimwiki` ([ZimWiki markup](https://zim-wiki.org/manual/Help/Wiki_Syntax.html))
- the path of a custom Lua writer, see [Custom readers and writers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-readers-and-writers) below
Note that `odt`, `docx`, `epub`, and `pdf` output will not be directed to *stdout* unless forced with [`-o -`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output).
Extensions can be individually enabled or disabled by appending `+EXTENSION` or `-EXTENSION` to the format name. See [Extensions](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extensions) below, for a list of extensions and their names. See [`--list-output-formats`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-output-formats) and [`--list-extensions`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-extensions), below.
`-o` *FILE*, `--output=`*FILE*
Write output to *FILE* instead of *stdout*. If *FILE* is `-`, output will go to *stdout*, even if a non-textual format (`docx`, `odt`, `epub2`, `epub3`) is specified. If the output format is `chunkedhtml` and *FILE* has no extension, then instead of producing a `.zip` file pandoc will create a directory *FILE* and unpack the zip archive there (unless *FILE* already exists, in which case an error will be raised).
`--data-dir=`*DIRECTORY*
Specify the user data directory to search for pandoc data files. If this option is not specified, the default user data directory will be used. On \*nix and macOS systems this will be the `pandoc` subdirectory of the XDG data directory (by default, `$HOME/.local/share`, overridable by setting the `XDG_DATA_HOME` environment variable). If that directory does not exist and `$HOME/.pandoc` exists, it will be used (for backwards compatibility). On Windows the default user data directory is `%APPDATA%\pandoc`. You can find the default user data directory on your system by looking at the output of `pandoc --version`. Data files placed in this directory (for example, `reference.odt`, `reference.docx`, `epub.css`, `templates`) will override pandoc’s normal defaults. (Note that the user data directory is not created by pandoc, so you will need to create it yourself if you want to make use of it.)
`-d` *FILE*, `--defaults=`*FILE*
Specify a set of default option settings. *FILE* is a YAML or JSON file whose fields correspond to command-line option settings. All options for document conversion, including input and output files, can be set using a defaults file. The file will be searched for first in the working directory, and then in the `defaults` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). The `.yaml` extension will be added if *FILE* lacs an extension. See the section [Defaults files](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#defaults-files) for more information on the file format. Settings from the defaults file may be overridden or extended by subsequent options on the command line.
`--bash-completion`
Generate a bash completion script. To enable bash completion with pandoc, add this to your `.bashrc`:
```
eval "$(pandoc --bash-completion)"
```
`--verbose`
Give verbose debugging output.
`--quiet`
Suppress warning messages.
`--fail-if-warnings[=true|false]`
Exit with error status if there are any warnings.
`--log=`*FILE*
Write log messages in machine-readable JSON format to *FILE*. All messages above DEBUG level will be written, regardless of verbosity settings ([`--verbose`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--verbose), [`--quiet`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--quiet)).
`--list-input-formats`
List supported input formats, one per line.
`--list-output-formats`
List supported output formats, one per line.
`--list-extensions`\[`=`*FORMAT*\]
List supported extensions for *FORMAT*, one per line, preceded by a `+` or `-` indicating whether it is enabled by default in *FORMAT*. If *FORMAT* is not specified, defaults for pandoc’s Markdown are given.
`--list-highlight-languages`
List supported languages for syntax highlighting, one per line.
`--list-highlight-styles`
List supported styles for syntax highlighting, one per line. See [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting).
`-v`, `--version`
Print version.
`-h`, `--help`
Show usage message.
## Reader options
`--shift-heading-level-by=`*NUMBER*
Shift heading levels by a positive or negative integer. For example, with [`--shift-heading-level-by=-1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by), level 2 headings become level 1 headings, and level 3 headings become level 2 headings. Headings cannot have a level less than 1, so a heading that would be shifted below level 1 becomes a regular paragraph. Exception: with a shift of -N, a level-N heading at the beginning of the document replaces the metadata title. [`--shift-heading-level-by=-1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by) is a good choice when converting HTML or Markdown documents that use an initial level-1 heading for the document title and level-2+ headings for sections. [`--shift-heading-level-by=1`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by) may be a good choice for converting Markdown documents that use level-1 headings for sections to HTML, since pandoc uses a level-1 heading to render the document title.
*Deprecated. Use [`--shift-heading-level-by`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--shift-heading-level-by)\=X instead, where X = NUMBER - 1.* Specify the base level for headings (defaults to 1).
`--indented-code-classes=`*CLASSES*
Specify classes to use for indented code blocks—for example, `perl,numberLines` or `haskell`. Multiple classes may be separated by spaces or commas.
`--default-image-extension=`*EXTENSION*
Specify a default extension to use when image paths/URLs have no extension. This allows you to use the same source for formats that require different kinds of images. Currently this option only affects the Markdown and LaTeX readers.
`--file-scope[=true|false]`
Parse each file individually before combining for multifile documents. This will allow footnotes in different files with the same identifiers to work as expected. If this option is set, footnotes and links will not work across files. Reading binary files (docx, odt, epub) implies [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[).
If two or more files are processed using [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[), prefixes based on the filenames will be added to identifiers in order to disambiguate them, and internal links will be adjusted accordingly. For example, a header with identifier `foo` in `subdir/file1.txt` will have its identifier changed to `subdir__file1.txt__foo`.
`-F` *PROGRAM*, `--filter=`*PROGRAM*
Specify an executable to be used as a filter transforming the pandoc AST after the input is parsed and before the output is written. The executable should read JSON from stdin and write JSON to stdout. The JSON must be formatted like pandoc’s own JSON input and output. The name of the output format will be passed to the filter as the first argument. Hence,
```
pandoc --filter ./caps.py -t latex
```
is equivalent to
```
pandoc -t json | ./caps.py latex | pandoc -f json -t latex
```
The latter form may be useful for debugging filters.
Filters may be written in any language. `Text.Pandoc.JSON` exports `toJSONFilter` to facilitate writing filters in Haskell. Those who would prefer to write filters in python can use the module [`pandocfilters`](https://github.com/jgm/pandocfilters), installable from PyPI. There are also pandoc filter libraries in [PHP](https://github.com/vinai/pandocfilters-php), [perl](https://metacpan.org/pod/Pandoc::Filter), and [JavaScript/node.js](https://github.com/mvhenderson/pandoc-filter-node).
In order of preference, pandoc will look for filters in
1. a specified full or relative path (executable or non-executable),
2. `$DATADIR/filters` (executable or non-executable) where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above),
3. `$PATH` (executable only).
Filters, Lua-filters, and citeproc processing are applied in the order specified on the command line.
`-L` *SCRIPT*, `--lua-filter=`*SCRIPT*
Transform the document in a similar fashion as JSON filters (see [`--filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--filter)), but use pandoc’s built-in Lua filtering system. The given Lua script is expected to return a list of Lua filters which will be applied in order. Each Lua filter must contain element-transforming functions indexed by the name of the AST element on which the filter function should be applied.
The `pandoc` Lua module provides helper functions for element creation. It is always loaded into the script’s Lua environment.
See the [Lua filters documentation](https://pandoc.org/lua-filters.html) for further details.
In order of preference, pandoc will look for Lua filters in
1. a specified full or relative path,
2. `$DATADIR/filters` where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above).
Filters, Lua filters, and citeproc processing are applied in the order specified on the command line.
`-M` *KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\], `--metadata=`*KEY*\[`:`*VAL*\]
Set the metadata field *KEY* to the value *VAL*. A value specified on the command line overrides a value specified in the document using [YAML metadata blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block). Values will be parsed as YAML boolean or string values. If no value is specified, the value will be treated as Boolean true. Like [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) causes template variables to be set. But unlike [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) affects the metadata of the underlying document (which is accessible from filters and may be printed in some output formats) and metadata values will be escaped when inserted into the template.
`--metadata-file=`*FILE*
Read metadata from the supplied YAML (or JSON) file. This option can be used with every input format, but string scalars in the metadata file will always be parsed as Markdown. (If the input format is Markdown or a Markdown variant, then the same variant will be used to parse the metadata file; if it is a non-Markdown format, pandoc’s default Markdown extensions will be used.) This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple metadata files; values in files specified later on the command line will be preferred over those specified in earlier files. Metadata values specified inside the document, or by using [`-M`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata), overwrite values specified with this option. The file will be searched for first in the working directory, and then in the `metadata` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)).
`-p`, `--preserve-tabs[=true|false]`
Preserve tabs instead of converting them to spaces. (By default, pandoc converts tabs to spaces before parsing its input.) Note that this will only affect tabs in literal code spans and code blocks. Tabs in regular text are always treated as spaces.
`--tab-stop=`*NUMBER*
Specify the number of spaces per tab (default is 4).
`--track-changes=accept`\|`reject`\|`all`
Specifies what to do with insertions, deletions, and comments produced by the MS Word “Track Changes” feature. `accept` (the default) processes all the insertions and deletions. `reject` ignores them. Both `accept` and `reject` ignore comments. `all` includes all insertions, deletions, and comments, wrapped in spans with `insertion`, `deletion`, `comment-start`, and `comment-end` classes, respectively. The author and time of change is included. `all` is useful for scripting: only accepting changes from a certain reviewer, say, or before a certain date. If a paragraph is inserted or deleted, `track-changes=all` produces a span with the class `paragraph-insertion`/`paragraph-deletion` before the affected paragraph break. This option only affects the docx reader.
Extract images and other media contained in or linked from the source document to the path *DIR*, creating it if necessary, and adjust the images references in the document so they point to the extracted files. Media are downloaded, read from the file system, or extracted from a binary container (e.g. docx), as needed. The original file paths are used if they are relative paths not containing `..`. Otherwise filenames are constructed from the SHA1 hash of the contents.
If the path given ends in `.zip`, then instead of creating a directory, pandoc will create a zip archive containing the media files.
`--abbreviations=`*FILE*
Specifies a custom abbreviations file, with abbreviations one to a line. If this option is not specified, pandoc will read the data file `abbreviations` from the user data directory or fall back on a system default. To see the system default, use `pandoc --print-default-data-file=abbreviations`. The only use pandoc makes of this list is in the Markdown reader. Strings found in this list will be followed by a nonbreaking space, and the period will not produce sentence-ending space in formats like LaTeX. The strings may not contain spaces.
`--trace[=true|false]`
Print diagnostic output tracing parser progress to stderr. This option is intended for use by developers in diagnosing performance issues.
## General writer options
`-s`, `--standalone`
Produce output with an appropriate header and footer (e.g. a standalone HTML, LaTeX, TEI, or RTF file, not a fragment). This option is set automatically for `pdf`, `epub`, `epub3`, `fb2`, `docx`, and `odt` output. For `native` output, this option causes metadata to be included; otherwise, metadata is suppressed.
`--template=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Use the specified file as a custom template for the generated document. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). See [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates), below, for a description of template syntax. If the template is not found, pandoc will search for it in the `templates` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). If no extension is specified and an extensionless template is not found, pandoc will look for a template with an extension corresponding to the writer, so that [`--template=special`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--template) looks for `special.html` for HTML output. If this option is not used, a default template appropriate for the output format will be used (see [`-D/--print-default-template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-template)).
`-V` *KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\], `--variable=`*KEY*\[`=`*VAL*\]
Set the template variable *KEY* to the string value *VAL* when rendering the document in standalone mode. Either `:` or `=` may be used to separate *KEY* from *VAL*. If no *VAL* is specified, the key will be given the value `true`. Structured values (lists, maps) cannot be assigned using this option, but they can be assigned in the `variables` section of a [defaults file](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#defaults-files) or using the [`--variable-json`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) option. If the variable already has a *list* value, the value will be added to the list. If it already has another kind of value, it will be made into a list containing the previous and the new value. For example, [`-V keyword=Joe -V author=Sue`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) makes `author` contain a list of strings: `Joe` and `Sue`.
`--variable-json=`*KEY*\[`=`:*JSON*\]
Set the template variable *KEY* to the value specified by a JSON string (this may be a boolean, a string, a list, or a mapping; a number will be treated as a string). For example, [`--variable-json foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) will give `foo` the boolean false value, while [`--variable-json foo='"false"'`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable-json) will give it the string value `"false"`. Either `:` or `=` may be used to separate *KEY* from *VAL*. If the variable already has a value, this value will be replaced.
`--sandbox[=true|false]`
Run pandoc in a sandbox, limiting IO operations in readers and writers to reading the files specified on the command line. Note that this option does not limit IO operations by filters or in the production of PDF documents. But it does offer security against, for example, disclosure of files through the use of `include` directives. Anyone using pandoc on untrusted user input should use this option.
Note: some readers and writers (e.g., `docx`) need access to data files. If these are stored on the file system, then pandoc will not be able to find them when run in [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) mode and will raise an error. For these applications, we recommend using a pandoc binary compiled with the `embed_data_files` option, which causes the data files to be baked into the binary instead of being stored on the file system.
`-D` *FORMAT*, `--print-default-template=`*FORMAT*
Print the system default template for an output *FORMAT*. (See [`-t`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) for a list of possible *FORMAT*s.) Templates in the user data directory are ignored. This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-default-template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-template) on the command line.
Note that some of the default templates use partials, for example `styles.html`. To print the partials, use [`--print-default-data-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file): for example, [`--print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file).
`--print-default-data-file=`*FILE*
Print a system default data file. Files in the user data directory are ignored. This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-default-data-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-default-data-file) on the command line.
`--eol=crlf`\|`lf`\|`native`
Manually specify line endings: `crlf` (Windows), `lf` (macOS/Linux/UNIX), or `native` (line endings appropriate to the OS on which pandoc is being run). The default is `native`.
`--dpi`\=*NUMBER*
Specify the default dpi (dots per inch) value for conversion from pixels to inch/centimeters and vice versa. (Technically, the correct term would be ppi: pixels per inch.) The default is 96dpi. When images contain information about dpi internally, the encoded value is used instead of the default specified by this option.
`--wrap=auto`\|`none`\|`preserve`
Determine how text is wrapped in the output (the source code, not the rendered version). With `auto` (the default), pandoc will attempt to wrap lines to the column width specified by [`--columns`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--columns) (default 72). With `none`, pandoc will not wrap lines at all. With `preserve`, pandoc will attempt to preserve the wrapping from the source document (that is, where there are nonsemantic newlines in the source, there will be nonsemantic newlines in the output as well). In `ipynb` output, this option affects wrapping of the contents of Markdown cells.
`--columns=`*NUMBER*
Specify length of lines in characters. This affects text wrapping in the generated source code (see [`--wrap`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--wrap)). It also affects calculation of column widths for plain text tables (see [Tables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#tables) below).
`--toc[=true|false]`, `--table-of-contents[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated table of contents (or, in the case of `latex`, `context`, `docx`, `odt`, `opendocument`, `rst`, or `ms`, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it has no effect on `man`, `docbook4`, `docbook5`, or `jats` output.
Note that if you are producing a PDF via `ms` and using (the default) `pdfroff` as a [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), the table of contents will appear at the beginning of the document, before the title. If you would prefer it to be at the end of the document, use the option [`--pdf-engine-opt=--no-toc-relocation`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine-opt). If `groff` is used as the [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), the table of contents will always appear at the end of the document.
`--toc-depth=`*NUMBER*
Specify the number of section levels to include in the table of contents. The default is 3 (which means that level-1, 2, and 3 headings will be listed in the contents).
`--lof[=true|false]`, `--list-of-figures[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated list of figures (or, in some formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it only has an effect on `latex`, `context`, and `docx` output.
`--lot[=true|false]`, `--list-of-tables[=true|false]`
Include an automatically generated list of tables (or, in some formats, an instruction to create one) in the output document. This option has no effect unless [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) is used, and it only has an effect on `latex`, `context`, and `docx` output.
Strip out HTML comments in the Markdown or Textile source, rather than passing them on to Markdown, Textile or HTML output as raw HTML. This does not apply to HTML comments inside raw HTML blocks when the `markdown_in_html_blocks` extension is not set.
`--syntax-highlighting=default|none|idiomatic|`*STYLE*`|`*FILE*
The method to use for code syntax highlighting. Setting a specific *STYLE* causes highlighting to be performed with the internal highlighting engine, using KDE syntax definitions and styles. The `idiomatic` method uses a format-specific highlighter if one is available, or the default style if the target format has no idiomatic highlighting method. Setting this option to `none` disables all syntax highlighting. The `default` method uses a format-specific default.
The default for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, Man, and LaTeX output is to use the internal highlighter with the default style; for Typst it is to use Typst’s own syntax highlighting system.
Style options are `pygments` (the default), `kate`, `monochrome`, `breezeDark`, `espresso`, `zenburn`, `haddock`, and `tango`. For more information on syntax highlighting in pandoc, see [Syntax highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#syntax-highlighting), below. See also [`--list-highlight-styles`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--list-highlight-styles).
Instead of a *STYLE* name, a JSON file with extension `.theme` may be supplied. This will be parsed as a KDE syntax highlighting theme and (if valid) used as the highlighting style.
To generate the JSON version of an existing style, use [`--print-highlight-style`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style).
`--no-highlight`
*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) instead.*
Disables syntax highlighting for code blocks and inlines, even when a language attribute is given.
`--highlight-style=`*STYLE*\|*FILE*
*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting)*STYLE*\|*FILE* instead.*
Specifies the coloring style to be used in highlighted source code.
`--print-highlight-style=`*STYLE*\|*FILE*
Prints a JSON version of a highlighting style, which can be modified, saved with a `.theme` extension, and used with [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). This option may be used with [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) to redirect output to a file, but [`-o`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output)/[`--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) must come before [`--print-highlight-style`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style) on the command line.
`--syntax-definition=`*FILE*
Instructs pandoc to load a KDE XML syntax definition file, which will be used for syntax highlighting of appropriately marked code blocks. This can be used to add support for new languages or to use altered syntax definitions for existing languages. This option may be repeated to add multiple syntax definitions.
Include contents of *FILE*, verbatim, at the end of the header. This can be used, for example, to include special CSS or JavaScript in HTML documents. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files in the header. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone).
`-B` *FILE*, `--include-before-body=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Include contents of *FILE*, 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. This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). Note that if the output format is `odt`, this file must be in OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of the document, and if the output is `docx`, this file must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
`-A` *FILE*, `--include-after-body=`*FILE*\|*URL*
Include contents of *FILE*, verbatim, at the end of the document body (before the `</body>` tag in HTML, or the `\end{document}` command in LaTeX). This option can be used repeatedly to include multiple files. They will be included in the order specified. Implies [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone). Note that if the output format is `odt`, this file must be in OpenDocument XML format suitable for insertion into the body of the document, and if the output is `docx`, this file must be in appropriate OpenXML format.
`--resource-path=`*SEARCHPATH*
List of paths to search for images and other resources. The paths should be separated by `:` on Linux, UNIX, and macOS systems, and by `;` on Windows. If [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is not specified, the default resource path is the working directory. Note that, if [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is specified, the working directory must be explicitly listed or it will not be searched. For example: [`--resource-path=.:test`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) will search the working directory and the `test` subdirectory, in that order. This option can be used repeatedly. Search path components that come later on the command line will be searched before those that come earlier, so [`--resource-path foo:bar --resource-path baz:bim`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path) is equivalent to [`--resource-path baz:bim:foo:bar`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path). Note that this option only has an effect when pandoc itself needs to find an image (e.g., in producing a PDF or docx, or when [`--embed-resources`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--embed-resources[) is used.) It will not cause image paths to be rewritten in other cases (e.g., when pandoc is generating LaTeX or HTML).
Set the request header *NAME* to the value *VAL* when making HTTP requests (for example, when a URL is given on the command line, or when resources used in a document must be downloaded). If you’re behind a proxy, you also need to set the environment variable `http_proxy` to `http://...`.
`--no-check-certificate[=true|false]`
Disable the certificate verification to allow access to unsecure HTTP resources (for example when the certificate is no longer valid or self signed).
## Options affecting specific writers
`--self-contained[=true|false]`
*Deprecated synonym for [`--embed-resources --standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--embed-resources[).*
`--embed-resources[=true|false]`
Produce a standalone HTML file with no external dependencies, using `data:` URIs to incorporate the contents of linked scripts, stylesheets, images, and videos. The resulting file should be “self-contained,” in the sense that it needs no external files and no net access to be displayed properly by a browser. This option works only with HTML output formats, including `html4`, `html5`, `html+lhs`, `html5+lhs`, `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, and `revealjs`. Scripts, images, and stylesheets at absolute URLs will be downloaded; those at relative URLs will be sought relative to the working directory (if the first source file is local) or relative to the base URL (if the first source file is remote). Elements with the attribute `data-external="1"` will be left alone; the documents they link to will not be incorporated in the document. Limitation: resources that are loaded dynamically through JavaScript cannot be incorporated; as a result, fonts may be missing when [`--mathjax`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--mathjax) is used, and some advanced features (e.g. zoom or speaker notes) may not work in an offline “self-contained” `reveal.js` slide show.
For SVG images, `img` tags with `data:` URIs are used, unless the image has the class `inline-svg`, in which case an inline SVG element is inserted. This approach is recommended when there are many occurrences of the same SVG in a document, as `<use>` elements will be used to reduce duplication.
`--link-images[=true|false]`
Include links to images instead of embedding the images in ODT. (This option currently only affects ODT output.)
`--html-q-tags[=true|false]`
Use `<q>` tags for quotes in HTML. (This option only has an effect if the `smart` extension is enabled for the input format used.)
`--ascii[=true|false]`
Use only ASCII characters in output. Currently supported for XML and HTML formats (which use entities instead of UTF-8 when this option is selected), CommonMark, gfm, and Markdown (which use entities), roff man and ms (which use hexadecimal escapes), and to a limited degree LaTeX (which uses standard commands for accented characters when possible).
`--reference-links[=true|false]`
Use reference-style links, rather than inline links, in writing Markdown or reStructuredText. By default inline links are used. The placement of link references is affected by the [`--reference-location`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-location) option.
`--reference-location=block`\|`section`\|`document`
Specify whether footnotes (and references, if `reference-links` is set) are placed at the end of the current (top-level) block, the current section, or the document. The default is `document`. Currently this option only affects the `markdown`, `muse`, `html`, `epub`, `slidy`, `s5`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, and `revealjs` writers. In slide formats, specifying [`--reference-location=section`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-location) will cause notes to be rendered at the bottom of a slide.
`--figure-caption-position=above`\|`below`
Specify whether figure captions go above or below figures (default is `below`). This option only affects HTML, LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
`--table-caption-position=above`\|`below`
Specify whether table captions go above or below tables (default is `above`). This option only affects HTML, LaTeX, Docx, ODT, and Typst output.
`--markdown-headings=setext`\|`atx`
Specify whether to use ATX-style (`#`\-prefixed) or Setext-style (underlined) headings for level 1 and 2 headings in Markdown output. (The default is `atx`.) ATX-style headings are always used for levels 3+. This option also affects Markdown cells in `ipynb` output.
`--list-tables[=true|false]`
Render tables as list tables in RST output.
`--top-level-division=default`\|`section`\|`chapter`\|`part`
Treat top-level headings as the given division type in LaTeX, ConTeXt, DocBook, and TEI output. The hierarchy order is part, chapter, then section; all headings are shifted such that the top-level heading becomes the specified type. The default behavior is to determine the best division type via heuristics: unless other conditions apply, `section` is chosen. When the `documentclass` variable is set to `report`, `book`, or `memoir` (unless the `article` option is specified), `chapter` is implied as the setting for this option. If `beamer` is the output format, specifying either `chapter` or `part` will cause top-level headings to become `\part{..}`, while second-level headings remain as their default type.
In Docx output, this option adds section breaks before first-level headings if `chapter` is selected, and before first- and second-level headings if `part` is selected. Footnote numbers will restart with each section break unless the reference doc modifies this.
`-N`, `--number-sections=[true|false]`
Number section headings in LaTeX, ConTeXt, HTML, Docx, ms, or EPUB output. By default, sections are not numbered. Sections with class `unnumbered` will never be numbered, even if [`--number-sections`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections) is specified.
`--number-offset=`*NUMBER*\[`,`*NUMBER*`,`*…*\]
Offsets for section heading numbers. The first number is added to the section number for level-1 headings, the second for level-2 headings, and so on. So, for example, if you want the first level-1 heading in your document to be numbered “6” instead of “1”, specify [`--number-offset=5`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset). If your document starts with a level-2 heading which you want to be numbered “1.5”, specify [`--number-offset=1,4`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset). [`--number-offset`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-offset) only directly affects the number of the first section heading in a document; subsequent numbers increment in the normal way. Implies [`--number-sections`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections). Currently this feature only affects HTML and Docx output.
`--listings[=true|false]`
\*Deprecated, use [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) or [`--syntax-highlighting=default`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) instead.
Use the [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) package for LaTeX code blocks. The package does not support multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you would need to use a custom template. This issue is fully documented here: [Encoding issue with the listings package](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Encoding_issue).
`-i`, `--incremental[=true|false]`
Make list items in slide shows display incrementally (one by one). The default is for lists to be displayed all at once.
`--slide-level=`*NUMBER*
Specifies that headings with the specified level create slides (for `beamer`, `revealjs`, `pptx`, `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`). Headings above this level in the hierarchy are used to divide the slide show into sections; headings below this level create subheads within a slide. Valid values are 0-6. If a slide level of 0 is specified, slides will not be split automatically on headings, and horizontal rules must be used to indicate slide boundaries. If a slide level is not specified explicitly, the slide level will be set automatically based on the contents of the document; see [Structuring the slide show](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#structuring-the-slide-show).
`--section-divs[=true|false]`
Wrap sections in `<section>` tags (or `<div>` tags for `html4`), and attach identifiers to the enclosing `<section>` (or `<div>`) rather than the heading itself (see [Heading identifiers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#heading-identifiers), below). This option only affects HTML output (and does not affect HTML slide formats).
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. This option only affects HTML (including HTML slide shows) and EPUB output. It should be used together with [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone), because the link to the stylesheet goes in the document header.
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)). If it is not found there, sensible defaults will be used.
`--reference-doc=`*FILE*\|*URL*
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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
- AbstractTitle
- Bibliography
- Heading 1
- Heading 2
- Heading 3
- Heading 4
- Heading 5
- Heading 6
- Heading 7
- Heading 8
- Heading 9
- Block Text \[for block quotes\]
- Footnote Block Text \[for block quotes in footnotes\]
- Source Code
- Footnote Text
- Definition Term
- Definition
- Caption
- Table Caption
- Image Caption
- Figure
- Captioned Figure
- TOC Heading
Character styles:
- Default Paragraph Font
- Verbatim Char
- Footnote Reference
- Hyperlink
- Section Number
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 contain layouts with the following names (as seen within PowerPoint):
- Title Slide
- Title and Content
- Section Header
- Two Content
- Comparison
- Content with Caption
- Blank
For each name, the first layout found with that name will be used. If no layout is found with one of the names, pandoc will output a warning and use the layout with that name from the default reference doc instead. (How these layouts are used is described in [PowerPoint layout choice](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#powerpoint-layout-choice).)
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 layouts with the names listed above).
`--split-level=`*NUMBER*
Specify the heading level at which to split an EPUB or chunked HTML document into separate files. The default is to split into chapters at level-1 headings. In the case of EPUB, 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. For chunked HTML, this option determines how much content goes in each “chunk.”
`--chunk-template=`*PATHTEMPLATE*
Specify a template for the filenames in a `chunkedhtml` document. In the template, `%n` will be replaced by the chunk number (padded with leading 0s to 3 digits), `%s` with the section number of the chunk, `%h` with the heading text (with formatting removed), `%i` with the section identifier. For example, `section-%s-%i.html` might be resolved to `section-1.1-introduction.html`. The characters `/` and `\` are not allowed in chunk templates and will be ignored. The default is `%s-%i.html`.
`--epub-chapter-level=`*NUMBER*
*Deprecated synonym for [`--split-level`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--split-level).*
`--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-metadata), below).
`--epub-title-page=true`\|`false`
Determines whether a the title page is included in the EPUB (default is `true`).
`--epub-metadata=`*FILE*
Look in the specified XML file for metadata for the EPUB. The file should contain a series of [Dublin Core elements](https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/). For example:
```
<dc:rights>Creative Commons</dc:rights>
<dc:language>es-AR</dc:language>
```
By default, pandoc will include the following metadata elements: `<dc:title>` (from the document title), `<dc:creator>` (from the document authors), `<dc:date>` (from the document date, which should be in [ISO 8601 format](https://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime)), `<dc:language>` (from the `lang` variable, or, if is not set, the locale), and `<dc:identifier id="BookId">` (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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css)):
```
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: normal;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Regular.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: normal;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf");
}
@font-face {
font-family: DejaVuSans;
font-style: italic;
font-weight: bold;
src:url("../fonts/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf");
}
body { font-family: "DejaVuSans"; }
```
`--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`, `pagedjs-cli`, `prince`, `context`, `groff`, `pdfroff`, and `typst`. If the engine is not in your PATH, the full path of the engine may be specified here. If this option is not specified, pandoc uses the following defaults depending on the output format specified using [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to):
- [`-t latex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) or none: `pdflatex` (other options: `xelatex`, `lualatex`, `tectonic`, `latexmk`)
- [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `context`
- [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `weasyprint` (other options: `prince`, `wkhtmltopdf`, `pagedjs-cli`; see [print-css.rocks](https://print-css.rocks/) for a good introduction to PDF generation from HTML/CSS)
- [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `pdfroff`
- [`-t typst`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to): `typst`
This option is normally intended to be used when a PDF file is specified as [`-o/--output`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output). However, it may still have an effect when other output formats are requested. For example, `ms` output will include `.pdfhref` macros only if a [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine) is selected, and the macros will be differently encoded depending on whether `groff` or `pdfroff` is specified.
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine-opt). Note that no check for duplicate options is done.
## Citation rendering
`-C`, `--citeproc`
Process the citations in the file, replacing them with rendered citations and adding a bibliography. Citation processing will not take place unless bibliographic data is supplied, either through an external file specified using the [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) option or the `bibliography` field in metadata, or via a `references` section in metadata containing a list of citations in CSL YAML format with Markdown formatting. The style is controlled by a [CSL](https://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html) stylesheet specified using the [`--csl`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--csl) option or the `csl` field in metadata. (If no stylesheet is specified, the `chicago-author-date` style will be used by default.) The citation processing transformation may be applied before or after filters or Lua filters (see [`--filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--filter), [`--lua-filter`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lua-filter)): these transformations are applied in the order they appear on the command line. For more information, see the section on [Citations](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citations).
Note: if this option is specified, the `citations` extension will be disabled automatically in the writer, to ensure that the citeproc-generated citations will be rendered instead of the format’s own citation syntax.
`--bibliography=`*FILE*
Set the `bibliography` field in the document’s metadata to *FILE*, overriding any value set in the metadata. If you supply this argument multiple times, each *FILE* will be added to bibliography. If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)).
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).) If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)) and finally in the `csl` subdirectory of the pandoc user data directory.
`--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).) If *FILE* is a URL, it will be fetched via HTTP. If *FILE* is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the resource path (see [`--resource-path`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--resource-path)) and finally in the `csl` subdirectory of the pandoc user data directory.
`--natbib`
Use [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib) for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex).
`--biblatex`
Use [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) for citations in LaTeX output. This option is not for use with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option or with PDF output. It is intended for use in producing a LaTeX file that can be processed with [`bibtex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/bibtex) or [`biber`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biber).
## Math rendering in HTML
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--mathjax) or another of the following options.
`--mathjax`\[`=`*URL*\]
Use [MathJax](https://www.mathjax.org/) to display embedded TeX math in HTML output. TeX math will be put between `\(...\)` (for inline math) or `\[...\]` (for display math) and wrapped in `<span>` 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](https://www.w3.org/Math/) (in `epub3`, `docbook4`, `docbook5`, `jats`, `html4` and `html5`). This is the default in `odt` output. MathML is supported natively by the main web browsers and select e-book readers.
`--webtex`\[`=`*URL*\]
Convert TeX formulas to `<img>` 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?`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--webtex). If no URL is specified, the CodeCogs URL generating PNGs will be used (`https://latex.codecogs.com/png.latex?`). Note: the [`--webtex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://github.com/Khan/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 `<eq>` tags in HTML output. The resulting HTML can then be processed by [GladTeX](https://humenda.github.io/GladTeX/) to produce SVG images of the typeset formulas and an HTML file with these images embedded.
```
pandoc -s --gladtex input.md -o myfile.htex
gladtex -d image_dir myfile.htex
# produces myfile.html and images in image_dir
```
## Options for wrapper scripts
`--dump-args[=true|false]`
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--output) 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[=true|false]`
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 |
|---|---|
| 1 | PandocIOError |
| 3 | PandocFailOnWarningError |
| 4 | PandocAppError |
| 5 | PandocTemplateError |
| 6 | PandocOptionError |
| 21 | PandocUnknownReaderError |
| 22 | PandocUnknownWriterError |
| 23 | PandocUnsupportedExtensionError |
| 24 | PandocCiteprocError |
| 25 | PandocBibliographyError |
| 31 | PandocEpubSubdirectoryError |
| 43 | PandocPDFError |
| 44 | PandocXMLError |
| 47 | PandocPDFProgramNotFoundError |
| 61 | PandocHttpError |
| 62 | PandocShouldNeverHappenError |
| 63 | PandocSomeError |
| 64 | PandocParseError |
| 66 | PandocMakePDFError |
| 67 | PandocSyntaxMapError |
| 83 | PandocFilterError |
| 84 | PandocLuaError |
| 89 | PandocNoScriptingEngine |
| 91 | PandocMacroLoop |
| 92 | PandocUTF8DecodingError |
| 93 | PandocIpynbDecodingError |
| 94 | PandocUnsupportedCharsetError |
| 95 | PandocInputNotTextError |
| 97 | PandocCouldNotFindDataFileError |
| 98 | PandocCouldNotFindMetadataFileError |
| 99 | PandocResourceNotFound |
## Defaults files
The [`--defaults`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--defaults) option may be used to specify a package of options, in the form of a YAML or JSON file. Examples in this section will be given in YAML, but the equivalent forms in JSON will also work.
Fields that are omitted will just have their regular default values. So a defaults file can be as simple as one line:
```
verbosity: INFO
```
or in JSON:
```
{ "verbosity": "INFO" }
```
In fields that expect a file path (or list of file paths), the following syntax may be used to interpolate environment variables:
```
csl: ${HOME}/mycsldir/special.csl
```
`${USERDATA}` may also be used; this will always resolve to the user data directory that is current when the defaults file is parsed, regardless of the setting of the environment variable `USERDATA`.
`${.}` will resolve to the directory containing the defaults file itself. This allows you to refer to resources contained in that directory:
```
epub-cover-image: ${.}/cover.jpg
epub-metadata: ${.}/meta.xml
resource-path:
- . # the working directory from which pandoc is run
- ${.}/images # the images subdirectory of the directory
# containing this defaults file
```
This environment variable interpolation syntax *only* works in fields that expect file paths.
Defaults 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`.
When multiple defaults are used, their contents will be combined.
Note that, where command-line arguments may be repeated ([`--metadata-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata-file), [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css), [`--include-in-header`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-in-header), [`--include-before-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-before-body), [`--include-after-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-after-body), [`--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), [`--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata), [`--syntax-definition`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-definition)), the values specified on the command line will combine with values specified in the defaults file, rather than replacing them.
The following tables show the mapping between the command line and defaults file entries.
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
The value of `input-files` may be left empty to indicate input from stdin, and it can be an empty sequence `[]` for no input.
## General options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
Options specified in a defaults file itself always have priority over those in another file included with a `defaults:` entry.
`verbosity` can have the values `ERROR`, `WARNING`, or `INFO`.
## Reader options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
Metadata values specified in a defaults file are parsed as literal string text, not Markdown.
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 are run in the order specified. To include the built-in citeproc filter, use either `citeproc` or `{type: citeproc}`.
## General writer options
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
## Options affecting specific writers
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
## Citation rendering
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
`cite-method` can be `citeproc`, `natbib`, or `biblatex`. This only affects LaTeX output. If you want to use citeproc to format citations, you should also set ‘citeproc: true’.
If you need control over when the citeproc processing is done relative to other filters, you should instead use `citeproc` in the list of `filters` (see [Reader options](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reader-options-1)).
## Math rendering in HTML
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
In addition to the values listed above, `method` can have the value `plain`.
If the command line option accepts a URL argument, an `url:` field can be added to `html-math-method:`.
## Options for wrapper scripts
| command line | defaults file |
|---|---|
## Templates
When the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above). *Exceptions:*
- For `odt` output, customize the `default.opendocument` template.
- For `docx` output, customize the `default.openxml` template.
- For `pdf` output, customize the `default.latex` template (or the `default.context` template, if you use [`-t context`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or the `default.ms` template, if you use [`-t ms`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), or the `default.html` template, if you use [`-t html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to)).
- `pptx` has no template.
Note that `docx`, `odt`, and `pptx` output can also be customized using `--reference-doc`. Use a reference doc to adjust the styles in your document; use a template to handle variable interpolation and customize the presentation of metadata, the position of the table of contents, boilerplate text, etc.
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block) or with the [`-M/--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) option. In addition, some variables are given default values by pandoc. See [Variables](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates) repository and merge in changes after each pandoc release.
## Template syntax
### 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 preceded 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 a 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 true value, otherwise the `else` section is used (if present). The following values count as true:
- any map
- any array containing at least one true value
- any nonempty string
- boolean True
Note that in YAML metadata (and metadata specified on the command line using [`-M/--metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata)), unquoted `true` and `false` will be interpreted as Boolean values. But a variable specified on the command line using [`-V/--variable`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) will always be given a string value. Hence a conditional `if(foo)` will be triggered if you use [`-V foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable), but not if you use [`-M foo=false`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).
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 `variable` is a map, the material inside will be set to the map.
- 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 }
$for(mymap)$
$it.name$: $it.office$
$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 by using the name of the partial, followed by `()`, for example:
```
${ styles() }
```
Partials will be sought in the directory containing the main template. The file name will be assumed to have the same extension as the main template if it lacks an extension. When calling the partial, the full name including file extension can also be used:
```
${ styles.html() }
```
(If a partial is not found in the directory of the template and the template path is given as a relative path, it 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:
```
$item.number$ $^$$item.description$ ($item.price$)
(Available til $item.sellby$.)
```
will produce
```
00123 A fine bottle of 18-year old
Oban whiskey. ($148)
(Available til March 30, 2020.)
```
If a variable occurs by itself on a line, preceded by whitespace and not followed by further text or directives on the same line, and the variable’s value contains multiple lines, it will be nested automatically.
### Breakable spaces
Normally, spaces in the template itself (as opposed to values of the interpolated variables) are not breakable, but they can be made breakable in part of the template by using the `~` keyword (ended with another `~`).
```
$~$This long line may break if the document is rendered
with a short line length.$~$
```
### Pipes
A pipe transforms the value of a variable or partial. Pipes are specified using a slash (`/`) between the variable name (or partial) and the pipe name. Example:
```
$for(name)$
$name/uppercase$
$endfor$
$for(metadata/pairs)$
- $it.key$: $it.value$
$endfor$
$employee:name()/uppercase$
```
Pipes may be chained:
```
$for(employees/pairs)$
$it.key/alpha/uppercase$. $it.name$
$endfor$
```
Some pipes take parameters:
```
|----------------------|------------|
$for(employee)$
$it.name.first/uppercase/left 20 "| "$$it.name.salary/right 10 " | " " |"$
$endfor$
|----------------------|------------|
```
Currently the following pipes 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 text to uppercase.
- `lowercase`: Converts text to lowercase.
- `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.
- `first`: Returns the first value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `last`: Returns the last value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `rest`: Returns all but the first value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `allbutlast`: Returns all but the last value of an array, if applied to a non-empty array; otherwise returns the original value.
- `chomp`: Removes trailing newlines (and breakable space).
- `nowrap`: Disables line wrapping on breakable spaces.
- `alpha`: Converts textual values that can be read as an integer into lowercase alphabetic characters `a..z` (mod 26). This can be used to get lettered enumeration from array indices. To get uppercase letters, chain with `uppercase`.
- `roman`: Converts textual values that can be read as an integer into lowercase roman numerals. 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-pandoc_title_block), which allows for multiple authors, or through a [YAML metadata block](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`.) The page title in HTML is set by `pagetitle`, which is equal to `title` by default.
`subtitle`
document subtitle, included in HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and docx documents
`abstract`
document summary, included in HTML, LaTeX, ConTeXt, AsciiDoc, and docx documents
`abstract-title`
title of abstract, currently used only in HTML, EPUB, docx, and Typst. This will be set automatically to a localized value, depending on `lang`, but can be manually overridden.
`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, EPUB, 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](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") 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](https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47) standard), such as `en` or `en-GB`. The [Language subtag lookup](https://r12a.github.io/app-subtags/) tool can look up or verify these tags. This affects most formats, and controls hyphenation in PDF output when using LaTeX (through [`babel`](https://ctan.org/pkg/babel) and [`polyglossia`](https://ctan.org/pkg/polyglossia)) or ConTeXt. Use native pandoc [Divs and Spans](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://www.w3.org/International/articles/inline-bidi-markup/uba-basics). When using LaTeX for bidirectional documents, only the `xelatex` engine is fully supported (use [`--pdf-engine=xelatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine)).
### Variables for HTML
`document-css`
Enables inclusion of most of the [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) in the `styles.html` [partial](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#partials) (have a look with `pandoc --print-default-data-file=templates/styles.html`). Unless you use [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css), this variable is set to `true` by default. You can disable it with e.g. `pandoc -M document-css=false`.
`mainfont`
sets the CSS `font-family` property on the `html` element.
`fontsize`
sets the base CSS `font-size`, which you’d usually set to e.g. `20px`, but it also accepts `pt` (12pt = 16px in most browsers).
`fontcolor`
sets the CSS `color` property on the `html` element.
`linkcolor`
sets the CSS `color` property on all links.
`monofont`
sets the CSS `font-family` property on `code` elements.
`monobackgroundcolor`
sets the CSS `background-color` property on `code` elements and adds extra padding.
`linestretch`
sets the CSS `line-height` property on the `html` element, which is preferred to be unitless.
`maxwidth`
sets the CSS `max-width` property (default is 36em).
`backgroundcolor`
sets the CSS `background-color` property on the `html` element.
`margin-left`, `margin-right`, `margin-top`, `margin-bottom`
sets the corresponding CSS `padding` properties on the `body` element.
To override or extend some [CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS) for just one document, include for example:
```
---
header-includes: |
<style>
blockquote {
font-style: italic;
}
tr.even {
background-color: #f0f0f0;
}
td, th {
padding: 0.5em 2em 0.5em 0.5em;
}
tbody {
border-bottom: none;
}
</style>
---
```
### Variables for HTML math
`classoption`
when using [`--katex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--katex), you can render display math equations flush left using [YAML metadata](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#layout) or with [`-M classoption=fleqn`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata).
### Variables for HTML slides
These affect HTML output when [producing slide shows with pandoc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#slide-shows).
`institute`
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
`revealjs-url`
base URL for reveal.js documents (defaults to `https://unpkg.com/reveal.js@^5`)
`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`)
`title-slide-attributes`
additional attributes for the title slide of reveal.js slide shows. See [background in reveal.js, beamer, and pptx](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#background-in-reveal.js-beamer-and-pptx) for an example.
`highlightjs-theme`
highlight.js theme for code highlighting when using [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) with reveal.js (defaults to `monokai`). See the [highlight.js demo page](https://highlightjs.org/demo) for available themes.
All [reveal.js configuration options](https://revealjs.com/config/) are available as variables. To turn off boolean flags that default to true in reveal.js, use `0`.
### Variables for Beamer slides
These variables change the appearance of PDF slides using [`beamer`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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)
`beameroption`
add extra beamer option with `\setbeameroption{}`
`institute`
author affiliations: can be a list when there are multiple authors
`logo`
logo image for slides
`logooptions`
options for logo image (e.g., `width`, `height`)
`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`, `colorthemeoptions`, `fontthemeoptions`, `innerthemeoptions`, `outerthemeoptions`
options for LaTeX beamer themes (lists)
`titlegraphic`
image for title slide: can be a list
`titlegraphicoptions`
options for title slide image (e.g., `width`, `height`)
`shorttitle`, `shortsubtitle`, `shortauthor`, `shortinstitute`, `shortdate`
some beamer themes use short versions of the title, subtitle, author, institute, date
### Variables for PowerPoint
These variables control the visual aspects of a slide show that are not easily controlled via templates.
`monofont`
font to use for code.
### Variables for LaTeX
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/article), [`book`](https://ctan.org/pkg/book), and [`report`](https://ctan.org/pkg/report); the [KOMA-Script](https://ctan.org/pkg/koma-script) equivalents, `scrartcl`, `scrbook`, and `scrreprt`, which default to smaller margins; or [`memoir`](https://ctan.org/pkg/memoir)
`geometry`
option for [`geometry`](https://ctan.org/pkg/geometry) package, e.g. `margin=1in`; repeat for multiple options:
```
---
geometry:
- top=30mm
- left=20mm
- heightrounded
...
```
`shorthands`
Enable language-specific shorthands when loading `babel`. (By default, pandoc includes `shorthands=off` when loading `babel`, disabling language-specific shorthands.)
`hyperrefoptions`
option for [`hyperref`](https://ctan.org/pkg/hyperref) package, e.g. `linktoc=all`; repeat for multiple options:
```
---
hyperrefoptions:
- linktoc=all
- pdfwindowui
- pdfpagemode=FullScreen
...
```
`indent`
if true, pandoc will use document class settings for indentation (the default LaTeX template otherwise removes indentation and adds space between paragraphs)
`linestretch`
adjusts line spacing using the [`setspace`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--number-sections) option or `numbersections` variable)
`beamerarticle`
produce an article from Beamer slides. Note: if you set this variable, you must specify the beamer writer but use the default *LaTeX* template: for example, `pandoc -Vbeamerarticle -t beamer --template default.latex`.
`handout`
produce a handout version of Beamer slides (with overlays condensed into single slides)
`csquotes`
load `csquotes` package and use `\enquote` or `\enquote*` for quoted text.
`csquotesoptions`
options to use for `csquotes` package (repeat for multiple options).
`babeloptions`
options to pass to the babel package (may be repeated for multiple options). This defaults to `provide=*` if the main language isn’t a European language written with Latin or Cyrillic script or Vietnamese. Most users will not need to adjust the default setting.
#### Fonts
`fontenc`
allows font encoding to be specified through `fontenc` package (with `pdflatex`); default is `T1` (see [LaTeX font encodings guide](https://ctan.org/pkg/encguide))
`fontfamily`
font package for use with `pdflatex`: [TeX Live](https://www.tug.org/texlive/) includes many options, documented in the [LaTeX Font Catalogue](https://tug.org/FontCatalogue/). The default is [Latin Modern](https://ctan.org/pkg/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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/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](https://ctan.org/pkg/koma-script) classes, such as `scrartcl` or `scrbook`.
`mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont`, `CJKsansfont`, `CJKmonofont`
font families for use with `xelatex` or `lualatex`: take the name of any system font, using the [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec) package. `CJKmainfont` uses the [`xecjk`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xecjk) package if `xelatex` is used, or the [`luatexja`](https://ctan.org/pkg/luatexja) package if `lualatex` is used.
`mainfontoptions`, `sansfontoptions`, `monofontoptions`, `mathfontoptions`, `CJKoptions`, `luatexjapresetoptions`
options to use with `mainfont`, `sansfont`, `monofont`, `mathfont`, `CJKmainfont` in `xelatex` and `lualatex`. Allow for any choices available through [`fontspec`](https://ctan.org/pkg/fontspec); repeat for multiple options. For example, to use the [TeX Gyre](http://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre) version of Palatino with lowercase figures:
```
---
mainfont: TeX Gyre Pagella
mainfontoptions:
- Numbers=Lowercase
- Numbers=Proportional
...
```
`mainfontfallback`, `sansfontfallback`, `monofontfallback`
fonts to try if a glyph isn’t found in `mainfont`, `sansfont`, or `monofont` respectively. These are lists. The font name must be followed by a colon and optionally a set of options, for example:
```
---
mainfontfallback:
- "FreeSans:"
- "NotoColorEmoji:mode=harf"
...
```
Font fallbacks currently only work with `lualatex`.
`babelfonts`
a map of Babel language names (e.g. `chinese`) to the font to be used with the language:
```
---
babelfonts:
chinese-hant: "Noto Serif CJK TC"
russian: "Noto Serif"
...
```
`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
`boxlinks`
add visible box around links (has no effect if `colorlinks` is 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`](https://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor), including the `dvipsnames`, `svgnames`, and `x11names` lists
`links-as-notes`
causes links to be printed as footnotes
`urlstyle`
style for URLs (e.g., `tt`, `rm`, `sf`, and, the default, `same`)
#### Front matter
`lof`, `lot`
include list of figures, list of tables (can also be set using [`--lof/--list-of-figures`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lof[), [`--lot/--list-of-tables`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--lot[))
`thanks`
contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title
`toc`
include table of contents (can also be set using [`--toc/--table-of-contents`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[))
`toc-depth`
level of section to include in table of contents
#### BibLaTeX Bibliographies
These variables function when using BibLaTeX for [citation rendering](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-rendering).
`biblatexoptions`
list of options for biblatex
`biblio-style`
bibliography style, when used with [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) and [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)
`biblio-title`
bibliography title, when used with [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) and [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)
`bibliography`
bibliography to use for resolving references
`natbiboptions`
list of options for natbib
#### Other
`pdf-trailer-id`
the PDF trailer ID; must be two PDF byte strings if set, conventionally with 16 bytes each. E.g., `<00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff> <00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff>`. See the section on [reproducible builds](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#reproducible-builds).
`pdfstandard`
PDF standard(s) for the document, e.g. `ua-2`, `a-4f`. Supports PDF/A, PDF/X, and PDF/UA variants. Requires LuaLaTeX and LaTeX 2023+. Repeat for multiple standards:
```
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
...
```
### Variables for ConTeXt
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/Headers_and_footers)); repeat up to four times for different placement
`indenting`
controls indentation of paragraphs, e.g. `yes,small,next` (see [ConTeXt Indentation](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Text_blocks/Typography/Indentation)); repeat for multiple options
`interlinespace`
adjusts line spacing, e.g. `4ex` (using [`setupinterlinespace`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupinterlinespace)); repeat for multiple options
`layout`
options for page margins and text arrangement (see [ConTeXt Layout](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/Tutorials)); repeat for multiple options
`linkcolor`, `contrastcolor`
color for links outside and inside a page, e.g. `red`, `blue` (see [ConTeXt Color](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Characters_words_and_fonts/Tutorials))
`mainfontfallback`, `sansfontfallback`, `monofontfallback`
list of fonts to try, in order, if a glyph is not found in the main font. Use `\definefallbackfamily`\-compatible font name syntax. Emoji fonts are unsupported.
`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`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setuppagenumbering)); repeat for multiple options
`papersize`
paper size, e.g. `letter`, `A4`, `landscape` (see [ConTeXt Paper Setup](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Document_layout_and_layers/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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata) or `pdfa: true` in a YAML metadata block), `1b:2005` will be used as default, for reasons of backwards compatibility. Using [`--variable=pdfa`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) 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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Input_and_compilation/PDF/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](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Input_and_compilation/PDF/PDFX#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[))
`urlstyle`
typeface style for links without link text, e.g. `normal`, `bold`, `slanted`, `boldslanted`, `type`, `cap`, `small`
`whitespace`
spacing between paragraphs, e.g. `none`, `small` (using [`setupwhitespace`](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/setupwhitespace))
`includesource`
include all source documents as file attachments in the PDF file
### Variables for `wkhtmltopdf`
Pandoc uses these variables when [creating a PDF](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#creating-a-pdf) with [`wkhtmltopdf`](https://wkhtmltopdf.org/). The [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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
`section`
section number in man pages
### Variables for Texinfo
`version`
version of software (used in title and title page)
`filename`
name of info file to be generated (defaults to a name based on the texi filename)
### Variables for Typst
`template`
Typst template to use (relative path only).
`margin`
A dictionary with the fields defined in the Typst documentation: `x`, `y`, `top`, `bottom`, `left`, `right`.
`papersize`
Paper size: `a4`, `us-letter`, etc.
`mainfont`
Name of system font to use for the main font.
`fontsize`
Font size (e.g., `12pt`).
`section-numbering`
Schema to use for numbering sections, e.g. `1.A.1`.
`page-numbering`
Schema to use for numbering pages, e.g. `1` or `i`, or an empty string to omit page numbering.
`columns`
Number of columns for body text.
`thanks`
contents of acknowledgments footnote after document title
`mathfont`, `codefont`
Name of system font to use for math and code, respectively.
`linestretch`
adjusts line spacing, e.g. `1.25`, `1.5`
`linkcolor`, `filecolor`, `citecolor`
color for external links, internal links, and citation links, respectively: expects a hexadecimal color code
### Variables for ms
`fontfamily`
`A` (Avant Garde), `B` (Bookman), `C` (Helvetica), `HN` (Helvetica Narrow), `P` (Palatino), or `T` (Times New Roman). This setting does not affect source code, which is always displayed using monospace Courier. These built-in fonts are limited in their coverage of characters. Additional fonts may be installed using the script [`install-font.sh`](https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/bin/install-font.sh) provided by Peter Schaffter and documented in detail on [his web site](https://www.schaffter.ca/mom/momdoc/appendices.html#steps).
`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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-in-header) (may have multiple values)
`include-before`
contents specified by [`-B/--include-before-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--include-before-body) (may have multiple values)
`include-after`
contents specified by [`-A/--include-after-body`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. `$curdir$/$sourcefile$`.
`pdf-engine`
name of PDF engine if provided using [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine), or the default engine for the format if PDF output is requested.
`curdir`
working directory from which pandoc is run.
`pandoc-version`
pandoc version.
`toc`
non-null value if [`--toc/--table-of-contents`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[) was specified
`toc-title`
title of table of contents (works only with EPUB, HTML, revealjs, opendocument, odt, docx, pptx, beamer, LaTeX). Note that in docx and pptx a custom `toc-title` will be picked up from metadata, but cannot be set as a variable.
## 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) is strict Markdown with footnotes enabled, while [`--from markdown-footnotes-pipe_tables`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown) below (see [Markdown variants](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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 [`--markdown-headings`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--markdown-headings)).
## 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`, `html`
output formats
`markdown`, `latex`, `context`, `org`, `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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--toc[) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 `<section>` (or `<div>`) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_dollars), [`tex_math_gfm`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_gfm), [`tex_math_single_backslash`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-tex_math_single_backslash), and [`tex_math_double_backslash`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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 are described in more detail in their respective sections of [Pandoc’s Markdown](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#pandocs-markdown):
- [`raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_html) allows HTML elements which are not representable in pandoc’s AST to be parsed as raw HTML. By default, this is disabled for HTML input.
- [`raw_tex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-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`, `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`.
- [`native_divs`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_divs) causes HTML `div` elements to be parsed as native pandoc Div blocks. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML, use [`-f html-native_divs+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from).
- [`native_spans`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_spans) causes HTML `span` elements to be parsed as native pandoc Span inlines. If you want them to be parsed as raw HTML, use [`-f html-native_spans+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from). If you want to drop all `div`s and `span`s when converting HTML to Markdown, you can use `pandoc -f html-native_divs-native_spans -t markdown`.
## 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`, `latex`
### 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`, `docx`
### Extension: `xrefs_name`
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are substituted with cross-references that will use the name or caption of the referenced item. The original link text is replaced once the generated document is refreshed. This extension can be combined with `xrefs_number` in which case numbers will appear before the name.
Text in cross-references is only made consistent with the referenced item once the document has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats:
output formats
`odt`, `opendocument`
### Extension: `xrefs_number`
Links to headings, figures and tables inside the document are substituted with cross-references that will use the number of the referenced item. The original link text is discarded. This extension can be combined with `xrefs_name` in which case the name or caption numbers will appear after the number.
For the `xrefs_number` to be useful heading numbers must be enabled in the generated document, also table and figure captions must be enabled using for example the `native_numbering` extension.
Numbers in cross-references are only visible in the final document once it has been refreshed.
This extension can be enabled/disabled for the following formats:
output formats
`odt`, `opendocument`
### Extension: `styles`
When converting from docx, add `custom-styles` attributes for all docx styles, regardless of whether pandoc understands the meanings of these styles. Because attributes cannot be added directly to paragraphs or text in the pandoc AST, paragraph styles will cause Divs to be created and character styles will cause Spans to be created to hold the attributes. (Table styles will be added to the Table elements directly.) This extension can be used with [docx custom styles](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#custom-styles).
input formats
`docx`
### Extension: `amuse`
In the `muse` input format, this enables Text::Amuse extensions to Emacs Muse markup.
### Extension: `raw_markdown`
In the `ipynb` input format, this causes Markdown cells to be included as raw Markdown blocks (allowing lossless round-tripping) rather than being parsed. Use this only when you are targeting `ipynb` or a Markdown-based output format.
### Extension: `citations` (typst)
When the `citations` extension is enabled in `typst` (as it is by default), `typst` citations will be parsed as native pandoc citations, and native pandoc citations will be rendered as `typst` citations.
### Extension: `citations` (org)
When the `citations` extension is enabled in `org`, org-cite and org-ref style citations will be parsed as native pandoc citations, and org-cite citations will be used to render native pandoc citations.
### Extension: `citations` (docx)
When `citations` is enabled in `docx`, citations inserted by Zotero or Mendeley or EndNote plugins will be parsed as native pandoc citations. (Otherwise, the formatted citations generated by the bibliographic software will be parsed as regular text.)
### Extension: `fancy_lists` (org)
Some aspects of [Pandoc’s Markdown fancy lists](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fancy_lists) are also accepted in `org` input, mimicking the option `org-list-allow-alphabetical` in Emacs. As in Org Mode, enabling this extension allows lowercase and uppercase alphabetical markers for ordered lists to be parsed in addition to arabic ones. Note that for Org, this does not include roman numerals or the `#` placeholder that are enabled by the extension in Pandoc’s Markdown.
### Extension: `element_citations`
In the `jats` output formats, this causes reference items to be replaced with `<element-citation>` elements. These elements are not influenced by CSL styles, but all information on the item is included in tags.
### Extension: `ntb`
In the `context` output format this enables the use of [Natural Tables (TABLE)](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/TABLE) instead of the default [Extreme Tables (xtables)](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/xtables). Natural tables allow more fine-grained global customization but come at a performance penalty compared to extreme tables.
### Extension: `smart_quotes` (org)
Interpret straight quotes as curly quotes during parsing. When *writing* Org, then the `smart_quotes` extension has the reverse effect: what would have been curly quotes comes out straight.
This extension is implied if `smart` is enabled.
### Extension: `special_strings` (org)
Interpret `---` as em-dashes, `--` as en-dashes, `\-` as shy hyphen, and `...` as ellipses.
This extension is implied if `smart` is enabled.
### Extension: `tagging`
Enabling this extension with `context` output will produce markup suitable for the production of tagged PDFs. This includes additional markers for paragraphs and alternative markup for emphasized text. The `emphasis-command` template variable is set if the extension is enabled.
## Pandoc’s Markdown
Pandoc understands an extended and slightly revised version of John Gruber’s [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) syntax. This document explains the syntax, noting differences from original 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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](https://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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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*
```
### Heading identifiers
See also the [`auto_identifiers` extension](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-auto_identifiers) above.
## 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`
Original 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.
>> Not nested, since `blank_before_blockquote` is enabled by default
```
## 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 use 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:
```
<pre id="mycode" class="haskell numberLines" startFrom="100">
<code>
...
</code>
</pre>
```
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 [] = []
```
````
This shortcut form may be combined with attributes:
````
```haskell {.numberLines}
qsort [] = []
```
````
Which is equivalent to:
````
``` {.haskell .numberLines}
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 [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) option. To set the highlighting style or method, use [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). For more information on highlighting, see [Syntax highlighting](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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
```
Inline formatting (such as emphasis) is allowed in the content (though it can’t cross line boundaries). Block-level formatting (such as block quotes or lists) is not recognized.
This syntax is borrowed from [reStructuredText](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/introduction.html).
## 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 original 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 original 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-parenthesis 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.[1](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn1)
The `fancy_lists` extension also allows ‘`#`’ to be used as an ordered list marker in place of a numeral:
```
#. one
#. two
```
Note: the ‘`#`’ ordered list marker doesn’t work with `commonmark`.
### 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](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/) with some extensions.[2](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn2)
```
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 (not including the first line) 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.
### 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.
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.
You can repeat an earlier numbered example by re-using its label:
```
(@foo) Sample sentence.
Intervening text...
This theory can explain the case we saw earlier (repeated):
(@foo) Sample sentence.
```
This only works reliably, though, if the repeated item is in a list by itself, because each numbered example list will be numbered continuously from its starting number.
### 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
<!-- end of list -->
{ 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:
```
* * * *
---------------
```
We strongly recommend that horizontal rules be separated from surrounding text by blank lines. If a horizontal rule is not followed by a blank line, pandoc may try to interpret the lines that follow as a YAML metadata block or a table.
## 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 `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:[3](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn3)
- 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).
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 can span multiple columns or rows:
```
+---------------------+----------+
| Property | Earth |
+=============+=======+==========+
| | min | -89.2 °C |
| Temperature +-------+----------+
| 1961-1990 | mean | 14 °C |
| +-------+----------+
| | max | 56.7 °C |
+-------------+-------+----------+
```
A table header may contain more than one row:
```
+---------------------+-----------------------+
| Location | Temperature 1961-1990 |
| | in degree Celsius |
| +-------+-------+-------+
| | min | mean | max |
+=====================+=======+=======+=======+
| Antarctica | -89.2 | N/A | 19.8 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
| Earth | -89.2 | 14 | 56.7 |
+---------------------+-------+-------+-------+
```
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 |
+---------------+---------------+--------------------+
```
A table foot can be defined by enclosing it with separator lines that use `=` instead of `-`:
```
+---------------+---------------+
| Fruit | Price |
+===============+===============+
| Bananas | $1.34 |
+---------------+---------------+
| Oranges | $2.10 |
+===============+===============+
| Sum | $3.44 |
+===============+===============+
```
The foot must always be placed at the very bottom of the table.
Grid tables can be created easily using Emacs’ table-mode (`M-x table-insert`).
### 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](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table). 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 any line of the Markdown source is longer than the column width (see [`--columns`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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.
### Extension: `table_attributes`
Attributes may be attached to tables by including them at the end of the caption. (For the syntax, see [`header_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-header_attributes).)
```
: Here's the caption. {#ident .class key="value"}
```
## 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 date 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) ([`-s`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone)) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) or [`-T`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--title-prefix) 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](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") 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. The initial line `---` must not be followed by a blank line. 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 JSON may be used as well, because JSON is a subset of YAML.)
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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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. If two metadata blocks attempt to set the same field, the value from the second block will be taken.
Each metadata block is handled internally as an independent YAML document. This means, for example, that any YAML anchors defined in a block cannot be referenced in another block.
When pandoc is used with [`-t markdown`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to) to create a Markdown document, a YAML metadata block will be produced only if the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option is used. All of the metadata will appear in a single block at the beginning of the document.
Note that [YAML](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html "YAML v1.2 Spec") escaping rules must be followed. Thus, for example, if a title contains a colon, it must be quoted, and if it contains a backslash escape, then it must be ensured that it is not treated as a [YAML escape sequence](https://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2776092). 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.
...
```
The literal block after the `|` must be indented relative to the line containing the `|`. If it is not, the YAML will be invalid and pandoc will not interpret it as metadata. For an overview of the complex rules governing YAML, see the [Wikipedia entry on YAML syntax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML#Syntax).
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:
```
<p>This is the abstract.</p>
<p>It consists of two paragraphs.</p>
```
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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute), or it will be interpreted as Markdown. For example:
```
header-includes:
- |
```{=latex}
\let\oldsection\section
\renewcommand{\section}[1]{\clearpage\oldsection{#1}}
```
```
Note: the `yaml_metadata_block` extension works with `commonmark` as well as `markdown` (and it is enabled by default in `gfm` and `commonmark_x`). However, in these formats the following restrictions apply:
- The YAML metadata block must occur at the beginning of the document (and there can be only one). If multiple files are given as arguments to pandoc, only the first can be a YAML metadata block.
- The leaf nodes of the YAML structure are parsed in isolation from each other and from the rest of the document. So, for example, you can’t use a reference link in these contexts if the link definition is somewhere else in the document.
## 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
```
<em>*hello*</em>
```
instead of
```
<strong>hello</strong>
```
This rule is easier to remember than original Markdown’s rule, which allows only the following characters to be backslash-escaped:
```
\`*_{}[]()>#+-.!
```
(However, if the `markdown_strict` format is used, the original Markdown rule will be used.)
A backslash-escaped space is parsed as a nonbreaking space. In TeX output, it will appear as `~`. In HTML and XML output, it will appear as a literal unicode nonbreaking space character (note that it will thus actually look “invisible” in the generated HTML source; you can still use the [`--ascii`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--ascii[) command-line option to make it appear as an explicit entity).
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 `<br />`. 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 strike out 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.
```
The text between `^...^` or `~...~` may not contain spaces or newlines. 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 `^`, and also bad interactions with footnotes.) 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fenced-code-blocks):
```
`<$>`{.haskell}
```
### Underline
To underline text, use the `underline` class:
```
[Underline]{.underline}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension (but with `native_spans`):
```
<span class="underline">Underline</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support underline.
### Small caps
To write small caps, use the `smallcaps` class:
```
[Small caps]{.smallcaps}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension:
```
<span class="smallcaps">Small caps</span>
```
For compatibility with other Markdown flavors, CSS is also supported:
```
<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Small caps</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support small caps.
### Highlighting
To highlight text, use the `mark` class:
```
[Mark]{.mark}
```
Or, without the `bracketed_spans` extension (but with `native_spans`):
```
<span class="mark">Mark</span>
```
This will work in all output formats that support highlighting.
## 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.
For display math, use `$$` delimiters. (In this case, the delimiters may be separated from the formula by whitespace. However, there can be no blank lines between the opening and closing `$$` 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:`](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/roles.html#math).
AsciiDoc
For AsciiDoc output math will appear verbatim surrounded by `latexmath:[...]`. For `asciidoc_legacy` the bracketed material will also include inline or display math delimiters.
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 `<math>` tags.
Textile
It will be rendered inside `<span class="math">` 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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 and PowerPoint
It will be rendered using OMML math markup.
FictionBook2
If the [`--webtex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#math-rendering-in-html) above.
## 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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`
Original 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
```
<table>
<tr>
<td>*one*</td>
<td>[a link](https://google.com)</td>
</tr>
</table>
```
into
```
<table>
<tr>
<td><em>one</em></td>
<td><a href="https://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>`, `<style>`, `<pre>`, and `<textarea>` tags is not interpreted as Markdown.
This departure from original 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.
### Extension: `native_divs`
Use native pandoc `Div` blocks for content inside `<div>` tags. For the most part this should give the same output as `markdown_in_html_blocks`, but it makes it easier to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of blocks.
### Extension: `native_spans`
Use native pandoc `Span` blocks for content inside `<span>` tags. For the most part this should give the same output as `raw_html`, but it makes it easier to write pandoc filters to manipulate groups of inlines.
### Extension: `raw_tex`
In addition to raw HTML, pandoc allows raw LaTeX, TeX, and ConTeXt to be included in a document. Inline TeX commands will be preserved and passed unchanged to the LaTeX and ConTeXt writers. Thus, for example, you can use LaTeX to include BibTeX citations:
```
This result was proved in \cite{jones.1967}.
```
Note that in LaTeX environments, like
```
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}\hline
Age & Frequency \\ \hline
18--25 & 15 \\
26--35 & 33 \\
36--45 & 22 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
```
the material between the begin and end tags will be interpreted as raw LaTeX, not as Markdown.
For a more explicit and flexible way of including raw TeX in a Markdown document, see the [`raw_attribute` extension](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute).
Inline LaTeX is ignored in output formats other than Markdown, LaTeX, Emacs Org mode, and ConTeXt.
### Generic raw attribute
### Extension: `raw_attribute`
Inline spans and fenced code blocks with a special kind of attribute will be parsed as raw content with the designated format. For example, the following produces a raw roff `ms` block:
````
```{=ms}
.MYMACRO
blah blah
```
````
And the following produces a raw `html` inline element:
```
This is `<a>html</a>`{=html}
```
This can be useful to insert raw xml into `docx` documents, e.g. a pagebreak:
````
```{=openxml}
<w:p>
<w:r>
<w:br w:type="page"/>
</w:r>
</w:p>
```
````
The format name should match the target format name (see [`-t/--to`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--to), above, for a list, or use `pandoc --list-output-formats`). Use `openxml` for `docx` output, `opendocument` for `odt` output, `html5` for `epub3` output, `html4` for `epub2` output, and `latex`, `beamer`, `ms`, or `html5` for `pdf` output (depending on what you use for [`--pdf-engine`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--pdf-engine)).
This extension presupposes that the relevant kind of inline code or fenced code block is enabled. Thus, for example, to use a raw attribute with a backtick code block, `backtick_code_blocks` must be enabled.
The raw attribute cannot be combined with regular attributes.
## LaTeX macros
### Extension: `latex_macros`
When this extension is enabled, pandoc will parse LaTeX macro definitions and apply the resulting macros to all LaTeX math and raw LaTeX. So, for example, the following will work in all output formats, not just LaTeX:
```
\newcommand{\tuple}[1]{\langle #1 \rangle}
$\tuple{a, b, c}$
```
Note that LaTeX macros will not be applied if they occur inside a raw span or block marked with the [`raw_attribute` extension](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_attribute).
When `latex_macros` is disabled, the raw LaTeX and math will not have macros applied. This is usually a better approach when you are targeting LaTeX or PDF.
Macro definitions in LaTeX will be passed through as raw LaTeX only if `latex_macros` is not enabled. Macro definitions in Markdown source (or other formats allowing `raw_tex`) will be passed through regardless of whether `latex_macros` is enabled.
## Links
Markdown allows links to be specified in several ways.
### Automatic links
If you enclose a URL or email address in pointy brackets, it will become a link:
```
<https://google.com>
<[email protected]>
```
### Inline links
An inline link consists of the link text in square brackets, followed by the URL in parentheses. (Optionally, the URL can be followed by a link title, in quotes.)
```
This is an [inline link](/url), and here's [one with
a title](https://fsf.org "click here for a good time!").
```
There can be no space between the bracketed part and the parenthesized part. The link text can contain formatting (such as emphasis), but the title cannot.
Email addresses in inline links are not autodetected, so they have to be prefixed with `mailto`:
```
[Write me!](mailto:[email protected])
```
### Reference links
An *explicit* reference link has two parts, the link itself and the link definition, which may occur elsewhere in the document (either before or after the link).
The link consists of link text in square brackets, followed by a label in square brackets. (There cannot be space between the two unless the `spaced_reference_links` extension is enabled.) The link definition consists of the bracketed label, followed by a colon and a space, followed by the URL, and optionally (after a space) a link title either in quotes or in parentheses. The label must not be parseable as a citation (assuming the `citations` extension is enabled): citations take precedence over link labels.
Here are some examples:
```
[my label 1]: /foo/bar.html "My title, optional"
[my label 2]: /foo
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org (The Free Software Foundation)
[my label 4]: /bar#special 'A title in single quotes'
```
The URL may optionally be surrounded by angle brackets:
```
[my label 5]: <http://foo.bar.baz>
```
The title may go on the next line:
```
[my label 3]: https://fsf.org
"The Free Software Foundation"
```
Note that link labels are not case sensitive. So, this will work:
```
Here is [my link][FOO]
[Foo]: /bar/baz
```
In an *implicit* reference link, the second pair of brackets is empty:
```
See [my website][].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
```
Note: In `Markdown.pl` and most other Markdown implementations, reference link definitions cannot occur in nested constructions such as list items or block quotes. Pandoc lifts this arbitrary-seeming restriction. So the following is fine in pandoc, though not in most other implementations:
```
> My block [quote].
>
> [quote]: /foo
```
### Extension: `shortcut_reference_links`
In a *shortcut* reference link, the second pair of brackets may be omitted entirely:
```
See [my website].
[my website]: http://foo.bar.baz
```
### Internal links
To link to another section of the same document, use the automatically generated identifier (see [Heading identifiers](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#heading-identifiers)). For example:
```
See the [Introduction](#introduction).
```
or
```
See the [Introduction].
[Introduction]: #introduction
```
Internal links are currently supported for HTML formats (including HTML slide shows and EPUB), LaTeX, and ConTeXt.
## Images
A link immediately preceded by a `!` will be treated as an image. The link text will be used as the image’s alt text:
```

![movie reel]
[movie reel]: movie.gif
```
### Extension: `implicit_figures`
An image with nonempty alt text, occurring by itself in a paragraph, will be rendered as a figure with a caption. The image’s description will be used as the caption.
```

```
How this is rendered depends on the output format. Some output formats (e.g. RTF) do not yet support figures. In those formats, you’ll just get an image in a paragraph by itself, with no caption.
If you just want a regular inline image, just make sure it is not the only thing in the paragraph. One way to do this is to insert a nonbreaking space after the image:
```
\
```
Note that in reveal.js slide shows, an image in a paragraph by itself that has the `r-stretch` class will fill the screen, and the caption and figure tags will be omitted.
To specify an alt text for the image that is different from the caption, you can use an explicit attribute (assuming the `link_attributes` extension is set):
```
{alt="description of image"}
```
For LaTeX output, you can specify a [figure’s positioning](https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Positioning_images_and_tables#The_figure_environment) by adding the `latex-placement` attribute.
```
{latex-placement="ht"}
```
### Extension: `link_attributes`
Attributes can be set on links and images:
```
An inline {#id .class width=30 height=20px}
and a reference ![image][ref] with attributes.
[ref]: foo.jpg "optional title" {#id .class key=val key2="val 2"}
```
(This syntax is compatible with [PHP Markdown Extra](https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/) when only `#id` and `.class` are used.)
For HTML and EPUB, all known HTML5 attributes except `width` and `height` (but including `srcset` and `sizes`) are passed through as is. Unknown attributes are passed through as custom attributes, with `data-` prepended. The other writers ignore attributes that are not specifically supported by their output format.
The `width` and `height` attributes on images are treated specially. When used without a unit, the unit is assumed to be pixels. However, any of the following unit identifiers can be used: `px`, `cm`, `mm`, `in`, `inch` and `%`. There must not be any spaces between the number and the unit. For example:
```
{ width=50% }
```
- Dimensions may be converted to a form that is compatible with the output format (for example, dimensions given in pixels will be converted to inches when converting HTML to LaTeX). Conversion between pixels and physical measurements is affected by the [`--dpi`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--dpi) option (by default, 96 dpi is assumed, unless the image itself contains dpi information).
- The `%` unit is generally relative to some available space. For example the above example will render to the following.
- HTML: `<img href="file.jpg" style="width: 50%;" />`
- LaTeX: `\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth,height=\textheight]{file.jpg}` (If you’re using a custom template, you need to configure `graphicx` as in the default template.)
- ConTeXt: `\externalfigure[file.jpg][width=0.5\textwidth]`
- Some output formats have a notion of a class ([ConTeXt](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Using_Graphics#Multiple_Image_Settings)) or a unique identifier (LaTeX `\caption`), or both (HTML).
- When no `width` or `height` attributes are specified, the fallback is to look at the image resolution and the dpi metadata embedded in the image file.
## Divs and Spans
Using the `native_divs` and `native_spans` extensions (see [above](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-native_divs)), HTML syntax can be used as part of Markdown to create native `Div` and `Span` elements in the pandoc AST (as opposed to raw HTML). However, there is also nicer syntax available:
### Extension: `fenced_divs`
Allow special fenced syntax for native `Div` blocks. A Div starts with a fence containing at least three consecutive colons plus some attributes. The attributes may optionally be followed by another string of consecutive colons.
Note: the `commonmark` parser doesn’t permit colons after the attributes.
The attribute syntax is exactly as in fenced code blocks (see [Extension: `fenced_code_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_code_attributes)). As with fenced code blocks, one can use either attributes in curly braces or a single unbraced word, which will be treated as a class name. The Div ends with another line containing a string of at least three consecutive colons. The fenced Div should be separated by blank lines from preceding and following blocks.
Example:
```
::::: {#special .sidebar}
Here is a paragraph.
And another.
:::::
```
Fenced divs can be nested. Opening fences are distinguished because they *must* have attributes:
```
::: Warning ::::::
This is a warning.
::: Danger
This is a warning within a warning.
:::
::::::::::::::::::
```
Fences without attributes are always closing fences. Unlike with fenced code blocks, the number of colons in the closing fence need not match the number in the opening fence. However, it can be helpful for visual clarity to use fences of different lengths to distinguish nested divs from their parents.
### Extension: `bracketed_spans`
A bracketed sequence of inlines, as one would use to begin a link, will be treated as a `Span` with attributes if it is followed immediately by attributes:
```
[This is *some text*]{.class key="val"}
```
## Footnotes
### Extension: `footnotes`
Pandoc’s Markdown allows footnotes, using the following syntax:
```
Here is a footnote reference,[^1] and another.[^longnote]
[^1]: Here is the footnote.
[^longnote]: Here's one with 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 like
multi-paragraph list items.
This paragraph won't be part of the note, because it
isn't indented.
```
The identifiers in footnote references may not contain spaces, tabs, newlines, or the characters `^`, `[`, or `]`. 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.). Each footnote should be separated from surrounding content (including other footnotes) by blank lines.
### Extension: `inline_notes`
Inline footnotes are also allowed (though, unlike regular notes, they cannot contain multiple paragraphs). The syntax is as follows:
```
Here is an inline note.^[Inline 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.
## Citation syntax
### Extension: `citations`
To cite a bibliographic item with an identifier foo, use the syntax `@foo`. Normal citations should be included in square brackets, with semicolons separating distinct items:
```
Blah blah [@doe99; @smith2000; @smith2004].
```
How this is rendered depends on the citation style. In an author-date style, it might render as
```
Blah blah (Doe 1999, Smith 2000, 2004).
```
In a footnote style, it might render as
```
Blah blah.[^1]
[^1]: John Doe, "Frogs," *Journal of Amphibians* 44 (1999);
Susan Smith, "Flies," *Journal of Insects* (2000);
Susan Smith, "Bees," *Journal of Insects* (2004).
```
See the [CSL user documentation](https://citationstyles.org/authors/) for more information about CSL styles and how they affect rendering.
Unless a citation key starts with a letter, digit, or `_`, and contains only alphanumerics and single internal punctuation characters (`:.#$%&-+?<>~/`), it must be surrounded by curly braces, which are not considered part of the key. In `@Foo_bar.baz.`, the key is `Foo_bar.baz` because the final period is not *internal* punctuation, so it is not included in the key. In `@{Foo_bar.baz.}`, the key is `Foo_bar.baz.`, including the final period. In `@Foo_bar--baz`, the key is `Foo_bar` because the repeated internal punctuation characters terminate the key. The curly braces are recommended if you use URLs as keys: `[@{https://example.com/bib?name=foobar&date=2000}, p. 33]`.
Citation items may optionally include a prefix, a locator, and a suffix. In
```
Blah blah [see @doe99, pp. 33-35 and *passim*; @smith04, chap. 1].
```
the first item (`doe99`) has prefix `see`, locator `pp. 33-35`, and suffix `and *passim*`. The second item (`smith04`) has locator `chap. 1` and no prefix or suffix.
Pandoc uses some heuristics to separate the locator from the rest of the subject. It is sensitive to the locator terms defined in the [CSL locale files](https://github.com/citation-style-language/locales). Either abbreviated or unabbreviated forms are accepted. In the `en-US` locale, locator terms can be written in either singular or plural forms, as `book`, `bk.`/`bks.`; `chapter`, `chap.`/`chaps.`; `column`, `col.`/`cols.`; `figure`, `fig.`/`figs.`; `folio`, `fol.`/`fols.`; `number`, `no.`/`nos.`; `line`, `l.`/`ll.`; `note`, `n.`/`nn.`; `opus`, `op.`/`opp.`; `page`, `p.`/`pp.`; `paragraph`, `para.`/`paras.`; `part`, `pt.`/`pts.`; `section`, `sec.`/`secs.`; `sub verbo`, `s.v.`/`s.vv.`; `verse`, `v.`/`vv.`; `volume`, `vol.`/`vols.`; `¶`/`¶¶`; `§`/`§§`. If no locator term is used, “page” is assumed.
In complex cases, you can force something to be treated as a locator by enclosing it in curly braces or prevent parsing the suffix as locator by prepending curly braces:
```
[@smith{ii, A, D-Z}, with a suffix]
[@smith, {pp. iv, vi-xi, (xv)-(xvii)} with suffix here]
[@smith{}, 99 years later]
```
A minus sign (`-`) before the `@` will suppress mention of the author in the citation. This can be useful when the author is already mentioned in the text:
```
Smith says blah [-@smith04].
```
You can also write an author-in-text citation, by omitting the square brackets:
```
@smith04 says blah.
@smith04 [p. 33] says blah.
```
This will cause the author’s name to be rendered, followed by the bibliographical details. Use this form when you want to make the citation the subject of a sentence.
When you are using a note style, it is usually better to let citeproc create the footnotes from citations rather than writing an explicit note. If you do write an explicit note that contains a citation, note that normal citations will be put in parentheses, while author-in-text citations will not. For this reason, it is sometimes preferable to use the author-in-text style inside notes when using a note style.
Many CSL styles will format citations differently when the same source has been cited earlier. In documents with chapters, it is usually desirable to reset this position information at the beginning of every chapter. To do this, add the class `reset-citation-positions` to the heading for each chapter:
```
# The Beginning {.reset-citation-positions}
```
Note that this class only has an effect when placed on top-level headings; it is ignored in nested blocks.
## Non-default extensions
The following Markdown syntax extensions are not enabled by default in pandoc, but may be enabled by adding `+EXTENSION` to the format name, where `EXTENSION` is the name of the extension. Thus, for example, `markdown+hard_line_breaks` is Markdown with hard line breaks.
### Extension: `rebase_relative_paths`
Rewrite relative paths for Markdown links and images, depending on the path of the file containing the link or image link. For each link or image, pandoc will compute the directory of the containing file, relative to the working directory, and prepend the resulting path to the link or image path.
The use of this extension is best understood by example. Suppose you have a subdirectory for each chapter of a book, `chap1`, `chap2`, `chap3`. Each contains a file `text.md` and a number of images used in the chapter. You would like to have `` in `chap1/text.md` refer to `chap1/spider.jpg` and `` in `chap2/text.md` refer to `chap2/spider.jpg`. To do this, use
```
pandoc chap*/*.md -f markdown+rebase_relative_paths
```
Without this extension, you would have to use `` in `chap1/text.md` and `` in `chap2/text.md`. Links with relative paths will be rewritten in the same way as images.
Absolute paths and URLs are not changed. Neither are empty paths or paths consisting entirely of a fragment, e.g., `#foo`.
Note that relative paths in reference links and images will be rewritten relative to the file containing the link reference definition, not the file containing the reference link or image itself, if these differ.
### Extension: `mark`
To highlight out a section of text, begin and end it with with `==`. Thus, for example,
```
This ==is deleted text.==
```
### Extension: `attributes`
Allows attributes to be attached to any inline or block-level element when parsing `commonmark`. The syntax for the attributes is the same as that used in [`header_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-header_attributes).
- Attributes that occur immediately after an inline element affect that element. If they follow a space, then they belong to the space. (Hence, this option subsumes `inline_code_attributes` and `link_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur immediately before a block element, on a line by themselves, affect that element.
- Consecutive attribute specifiers may be used, either for blocks or for inlines. Their attributes will be combined.
- Attributes that occur at the end of the text of a Setext or ATX heading (separated by whitespace from the text) affect the heading element. (Hence, this option subsumes `header_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur after the opening fence in a fenced code block affect the code block element. (Hence, this option subsumes `fenced_code_attributes`.)
- Attributes that occur at the end of a reference link definition affect links that refer to that definition.
Note that pandoc’s AST does not currently allow attributes to be attached to arbitrary elements. Hence a Span or Div container will be added if needed.
### Extension: `old_dashes`
Selects the pandoc \<= 1.8.2.1 behavior for parsing smart dashes: `-` before a numeral is an en-dash, and `--` is an em-dash. This option only has an effect if `smart` is enabled. It is selected automatically for `textile` input.
### Extension: `angle_brackets_escapable`
Allow `<` and `>` to be backslash-escaped, as they can be in GitHub flavored Markdown but not original Markdown. This is implied by pandoc’s default `all_symbols_escapable`.
### Extension: `lists_without_preceding_blankline`
Allow a list to occur right after a paragraph, with no intervening blank space.
### Extension: `four_space_rule`
Selects the pandoc \<= 2.0 behavior for parsing lists, so that four spaces indent are needed for list item continuation paragraphs.
### Extension: `spaced_reference_links`
Allow whitespace between the two components of a reference link, for example,
```
[foo] [bar].
```
### Extension: `hard_line_breaks`
Causes all newlines within a paragraph to be interpreted as hard line breaks instead of spaces.
### Extension: `ignore_line_breaks`
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks. This option is intended for use with East Asian languages where spaces are not used between words, but text is divided into lines for readability.
### Extension: `east_asian_line_breaks`
Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than being treated as spaces or as hard line breaks, when they occur between two East Asian wide characters. This is a better choice than `ignore_line_breaks` for texts that include a mix of East Asian wide characters and other characters.
### Extension: `emoji`
Parses textual emojis like `:smile:` as Unicode emoticons.
### Extension: `tex_math_gfm`
Supports two GitHub-specific formats for math. Inline math: ``$`e=mc^2`$``.
Display math:
````
``` math
e=mc^2
```
````
### Extension: `tex_math_single_backslash`
Causes anything between `\(` and `\)` to be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between `\[` and `\]` to be interpreted as display TeX math. Note: a drawback of this extension is that it precludes escaping `(` and `[`.
### Extension: `tex_math_double_backslash`
Causes anything between `\\(` and `\\)` to be interpreted as inline TeX math, and anything between `\\[` and `\\]` to be interpreted as display TeX math.
### Extension: `markdown_attribute`
By default, pandoc interprets material inside block-level tags as Markdown. This extension changes the behavior so that Markdown is only parsed inside block-level tags if the tags have the attribute `markdown=1`.
### Extension: `mmd_title_block`
Enables a [MultiMarkdown](https://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/) style title block at the top of the document, for example:
```
Title: My title
Author: John Doe
Date: September 1, 2008
Comment: This is a sample mmd title block, with
a field spanning multiple lines.
```
See the MultiMarkdown documentation for details. If `pandoc_title_block` or `yaml_metadata_block` is enabled, it will take precedence over `mmd_title_block`.
### Extension: `abbreviations`
Parses PHP Markdown Extra abbreviation keys, like
```
*[HTML]: Hypertext Markup Language
```
Note that the pandoc document model does not support abbreviations, so if this extension is enabled, abbreviation keys are simply skipped (as opposed to being parsed as paragraphs).
### Extension: `alerts`
Supports [GitHub-style Markdown alerts](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax#alerts), like
```
> [!TIP]
> Helpful advice for doing things better or more easily.
```
### Extension: `autolink_bare_uris`
Makes all absolute URIs into links, even when not surrounded by pointy braces `<...>`.
### Extension: `mmd_link_attributes`
Parses MultiMarkdown-style key-value attributes on link and image references. This extension should not be confused with the [`link_attributes`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-link_attributes) extension.
```
This is a reference ![image][ref] with MultiMarkdown attributes.
[ref]: https://path.to/image "Image title" width=20px height=30px
id=myId class="myClass1 myClass2"
```
### Extension: `gutenberg`
Use [Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/) conventions for `plain` output: all-caps for strong emphasis, surround by underscores for regular emphasis, add extra blank space around headings.
### Extension: `sourcepos`
Include source position attributes when parsing `commonmark`. For elements that accept attributes, a `data-pos` attribute is added; other elements are placed in a surrounding Div or Span element with a `data-pos` attribute.
### Extension: `short_subsuperscripts`
Parse MultiMarkdown-style subscripts and superscripts, which start with a ‘~’ or ‘^’ character, respectively, and include the alphanumeric sequence that follows. For example:
```
x^2 = 4
```
or
```
Oxygen is O~2.
```
### Extension: `wikilinks_title_after_pipe`
Pandoc supports multiple Markdown wikilink syntaxes, regardless of whether the title is before or after the pipe.
Using [`--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_after_pipe`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) results in
```
[[URL|title]]
```
while using [`--from=markdown+wikilinks_title_before_pipe`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) results in
```
[[title|URL]]
```
## Markdown variants
In addition to pandoc’s extended Markdown, the following Markdown variants are supported:
- `markdown_phpextra` (PHP Markdown Extra)
- `markdown_github` (deprecated GitHub-Flavored Markdown)
- `markdown_mmd` (MultiMarkdown)
- `markdown_strict` (Markdown.pl)
- `commonmark` (CommonMark)
- `gfm` (Github-Flavored Markdown)
- `commonmark_x` (CommonMark with many pandoc extensions)
To see which extensions are supported for a given format, and which are enabled by default, you can use the command
```
pandoc --list-extensions=FORMAT
```
where `FORMAT` is replaced with the name of the format.
Note that the list of extensions for `commonmark`, `gfm`, and `commonmark_x` are defined relative to default commonmark. So, for example, `backtick_code_blocks` does not appear as an extension, since it is enabled by default and cannot be disabled.
## Citations
When the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option is used, pandoc can automatically generate citations and a bibliography in a number of styles. Basic usage is
```
pandoc --citeproc myinput.txt
```
To use this feature, you will need to have
- a document containing citations (see [Citation syntax](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#citation-syntax));
- a source of bibliographic data: either an external bibliography file or a list of `references` in the document’s YAML metadata;
- optionally, a [CSL](https://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html) citation style.
## Specifying bibliographic data
You can specify an external bibliography using the `bibliography` metadata field in a YAML metadata section or the [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) command line argument. If you want to use multiple bibliography files, you can supply multiple [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) arguments or set `bibliography` metadata field to YAML array. A bibliography may have any of these formats:
| Format | File extension |
|---|---|
| BibLaTeX | .bib |
| BibTeX | .bibtex |
| CSL JSON | .json |
| CSL YAML | .yaml |
| RIS | .ris |
Note that `.bib` can be used with both BibTeX and BibLaTeX files; use the extension `.bibtex` to force interpretation as BibTeX.
In BibTeX and BibLaTeX databases, pandoc parses LaTeX markup inside fields such as `title`; in CSL YAML databases, pandoc Markdown; and in CSL JSON databases, an [HTML-like markup](https://citeproc-js.readthedocs.io/en/latest/csl-json/markup.html#html-like-formatting-tags):
`<i>...</i>`
italics
`<b>...</b>`
bold
`<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">...</span>` or `<sc>...</sc>`
small capitals
`<sub>...</sub>`
subscript
`<sup>...</sup>`
superscript
`<span class="nocase">...</span>`
prevent a phrase from being capitalized as title case
As an alternative to specifying a bibliography file using [`--bibliography`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--bibliography) or the YAML metadata field `bibliography`, you can include the citation data directly in the `references` field of the document’s YAML metadata. The field should contain an array of YAML-encoded references, for example:
```
---
references:
- type: article-journal
id: WatsonCrick1953
author:
- family: Watson
given: J. D.
- family: Crick
given: F. H. C.
issued:
date-parts:
- - 1953
- 4
- 25
title: 'Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for
deoxyribose nucleic acid'
title-short: Molecular structure of nucleic acids
container-title: Nature
volume: 171
issue: 4356
page: 737-738
DOI: 10.1038/171737a0
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0
language: en-GB
...
```
If both an external bibliography and inline (YAML metadata) references are provided, both will be used. In case of conflicting `id`s, the inline references will take precedence.
Note that pandoc can be used to produce such a YAML metadata section from a BibTeX, BibLaTeX, or CSL JSON bibliography:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t markdown
pandoc chem.json -s -f csljson -t markdown
```
Indeed, pandoc can convert between any of these citation formats:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s -f biblatex -t csljson
pandoc chem.yaml -s -f markdown -t biblatex
```
Running pandoc on a bibliography file with the [`--citeproc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citeproc) option will create a formatted bibliography in the format of your choice:
```
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.html
pandoc chem.bib -s --citeproc -o chem.pdf
```
### Capitalization in titles
If you are using a bibtex or biblatex bibliography, then observe the following rules:
- English titles should be in title case. Non-English titles should be in sentence case, and the `langid` field in biblatex should be set to the relevant language. (The following values are treated as English: `american`, `british`, `canadian`, `english`, `australian`, `newzealand`, `USenglish`, or `UKenglish`.)
- As is standard with bibtex/biblatex, proper names should be protected with curly braces so that they won’t be lowercased in styles that call for sentence case. For example:
```
title = {My Dinner with {Andre}}
```
- In addition, words that should remain lowercase (or camelCase) should be protected:
```
title = {Spin Wave Dispersion on the {nm} Scale}
```
Though this is not necessary in bibtex/biblatex, it is necessary with citeproc, which stores titles internally in sentence case, and converts to title case in styles that require it. Here we protect “nm” so that it doesn’t get converted to “Nm” at this stage.
If you are using a CSL bibliography (either JSON or YAML), then observe the following rules:
- All titles should be in sentence case.
- Use the `language` field for non-English titles to prevent their conversion to title case in styles that call for this. (Conversion happens only if `language` begins with `en` or is left empty.)
- Protect words that should not be converted to title case using this syntax:
```
Spin wave dispersion on the <span class="nocase">nm</span> scale
```
### Conference Papers, Published vs. Unpublished
For a formally published conference paper, use the biblatex entry type `inproceedings` (which will be mapped to CSL `paper-conference`).
For an unpublished manuscript, use the biblatex entry type `unpublished` without an `eventtitle` field (this entry type will be mapped to CSL `manuscript`).
For a talk, an unpublished conference paper, or a poster presentation, use the biblatex entry type `unpublished` with an `eventtitle` field (this entry type will be mapped to CSL `speech`). Use the biblatex `type` field to indicate the type, e.g. “Paper”, or “Poster”. `venue` and `eventdate` may be useful too, though `eventdate` will not be rendered by most CSL styles. Note that `venue` is for the event’s venue, unlike `location` which describes the publisher’s location; do not use the latter for an unpublished conference paper.
## Specifying a citation style
Citations and references can be formatted using any style supported by the [Citation Style Language](https://citationstyles.org/), listed in the [Zotero Style Repository](https://www.zotero.org/styles). These files are specified using the [`--csl`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--csl) option or the `csl` (or `citation-style`) metadata field. By default, pandoc will use the [Chicago Manual of Style](https://chicagomanualofstyle.org/) author-date format. (You can override this default by copying a CSL style of your choice to `default.csl` in your user data directory.) The CSL project provides further information on [finding and editing styles](https://citationstyles.org/authors/).
The [`--citation-abbreviations`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--citation-abbreviations) option (or the `citation-abbreviations` metadata field) may be used to specify a JSON file containing abbreviations of journals that should be used in formatted bibliographies when `form="short"` is specified. The format of the file can be illustrated with an example:
```
{ "default": {
"container-title": {
"Lloyd's Law Reports": "Lloyd's Rep",
"Estates Gazette": "EG",
"Scots Law Times": "SLT"
}
}
}
```
## Citations in note styles
Pandoc’s citation processing is designed to allow you to move between author-date, numerical, and note styles without modifying the Markdown source. When you’re using a note style, avoid inserting footnotes manually. Instead, insert citations just as you would in an author-date style—for example,
```
Blah blah [@foo, p. 33].
```
The footnote will be created automatically. Pandoc will take care of removing the space and moving the note before or after the period, depending on the setting of `notes-after-punctuation`, as described below in [Other relevant metadata fields](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#other-relevant-metadata-fields).
In some cases you may need to put a citation inside a regular footnote. Normal citations in footnotes (such as `[@foo, p. 33]`) will be rendered in parentheses. In-text citations (such as `@foo [p. 33]`) will be rendered without parentheses. (A comma will be added if appropriate.) Thus:
```
[^1]: Some studies [@foo; @bar, p. 33] show that
frubulicious zoosnaps are quantical. For a survey
of the literature, see @baz [chap. 1].
```
## Placement of the bibliography
If the style calls for a list of works cited, it will be placed in a div with id `refs`, if one exists:[4](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fn4)
```
::: {#refs}
:::
```
Otherwise, it will be placed at the end of the document. Generation of the bibliography can be suppressed by setting `suppress-bibliography: true` in the YAML metadata.
If you wish the bibliography to have a section heading, you can set `reference-section-title` in the metadata, or put the heading at the beginning of the div with id `refs` (if you are using it) or at the end of your document:
```
last paragraph...
# References
```
The bibliography will be inserted after this heading. Note that the `unnumbered` class will be added to this heading, so that the section will not be numbered.
If you want to put the bibliography into a variable in your template, one way to do that is to put the div with id `refs` into a metadata field, e.g.
```
---
refs: |
::: {#refs}
:::
...
```
You can then put the variable `$refs$` into your template where you want the bibliography to be placed.
## Including uncited items in the bibliography
If you want to include items in the bibliography without actually citing them in the body text, you can define a dummy `nocite` metadata field and put the citations there:
```
---
nocite: |
@item1, @item2
...
@item3
```
In this example, the document will contain a citation for `item3` only, but the bibliography will contain entries for `item1`, `item2`, and `item3`.
It is possible to create a bibliography with all the citations, whether or not they appear in the document, by using a wildcard:
```
---
nocite: |
@*
...
```
For LaTeX output, you can also use [`natbib`](https://ctan.org/pkg/natbib) or [`biblatex`](https://ctan.org/pkg/biblatex) to render the bibliography. In order to do so, specify bibliography files as outlined above, and add [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib) or [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex) argument to pandoc invocation. Bear in mind that bibliography files have to be in either BibTeX (for [`--natbib`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--natbib)) or BibLaTeX (for [`--biblatex`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--biblatex)) format.
## Other relevant metadata fields
A few other metadata fields affect bibliography formatting:
`link-citations`
If true, citations will be hyperlinked to the corresponding bibliography entries (for author-date and numerical styles only). Defaults to false.
`link-bibliography`
If true, DOIs, PMCIDs, PMID, and URLs in bibliographies will be rendered as hyperlinks. (If an entry contains a DOI, PMCID, PMID, or URL, but none of these fields are rendered by the style, then the title, or in the absence of a title the whole entry, will be hyperlinked.) Defaults to true.
`lang`
The `lang` field will affect how the style is localized, for example in the translation of labels, the use of quotation marks, and the way items are sorted. (For backwards compatibility, `locale` may be used instead of `lang`, but this use is deprecated.) A BCP 47 language tag is expected: for example, `en`, `de`, `en-US`, `fr-CA`, `ug-Cyrl`. The unicode extension syntax (after `-u-`) may be used to specify options for collation (sorting) more precisely. Here are some examples:
- `zh-u-co-pinyin`: Chinese with the Pinyin collation.
- `es-u-co-trad`: Spanish with the traditional collation (with `Ch` sorting after `C`).
- `fr-u-kb`: French with “backwards” accent sorting (with `coté` sorting after `côte`).
- `en-US-u-kf-upper`: English with uppercase letters sorting before lower (default is lower before upper).
`notes-after-punctuation`
If true (the default for note styles), pandoc will put footnote references or superscripted numerical citations after following punctuation. For example, if the source contains `blah blah [@jones99].`, the result will look like `blah blah.[^1]`, with the note moved after the period and the space collapsed. If false, the space will still be collapsed, but the footnote will not be moved after the punctuation. The option may also be used in numerical styles that use superscripts for citation numbers (but for these styles the default is not to move the citation).
## Slide shows
You can use pandoc to produce an HTML + JavaScript slide presentation that can be viewed via a web browser. There are five ways to do this, using [S5](https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/), [DZSlides](https://paulrouget.com/dzslides/), [Slidy](https://www.w3.org/Talks/Tools/Slidy2/), [Slideous](https://goessner.net/articles/slideous/), or [reveal.js](https://revealjs.com/). You can also produce a PDF slide show using LaTeX [`beamer`](https://ctan.org/pkg/beamer), or slide shows in Microsoft [PowerPoint](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint) format.
Here’s the Markdown source for a simple slide show, `habits.txt`:
```
% Habits
% John Doe
% March 22, 2005
# In the morning
## Getting up
- Turn off alarm
- Get out of bed
## Breakfast
- Eat eggs
- Drink coffee
# In the evening
## Dinner
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
------------------

## Going to sleep
- Get in bed
- Count sheep
```
To produce an HTML/JavaScript slide show, simply type
```
pandoc -t FORMAT -s habits.txt -o habits.html
```
where `FORMAT` is either `s5`, `slidy`, `slideous`, `dzslides`, or `revealjs`.
For Slidy, Slideous, reveal.js, and S5, the file produced by pandoc with the [`-s/--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) option embeds a link to JavaScript and CSS files, which are assumed to be available at the relative path `s5/default` (for S5), `slideous` (for Slideous), `reveal.js` (for reveal.js), or at the Slidy website at `w3.org` (for Slidy). (These paths can be changed by setting the `slidy-url`, `slideous-url`, `revealjs-url`, or `s5-url` variables; see [Variables for HTML slides](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html-slides), above.) For DZSlides, the (relatively short) JavaScript and CSS are included in the file by default.
With all HTML slide formats, the [`--self-contained`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--self-contained[) option can be used to produce a single file that contains all of the data necessary to display the slide show, including linked scripts, stylesheets, images, and videos.
To produce a PDF slide show using beamer, type
```
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -o habits.pdf
```
Note that a reveal.js slide show can also be converted to a PDF by printing it to a file from the browser.
To produce a PowerPoint slide show, type
```
pandoc habits.txt -o habits.pptx
```
## Structuring the slide show
By default, the *slide level* is the highest heading level in the hierarchy that is followed immediately by content, and not another heading, somewhere in the document. In the example above, level-1 headings are always followed by level-2 headings, which are followed by content, so the slide level is 2. This default can be overridden using the [`--slide-level`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level) option.
The document is carved up into slides according to the following rules:
- A horizontal rule always starts a new slide.
- A heading at the slide level always starts a new slide.
- Headings *below* the slide level in the hierarchy create headings *within* a slide. (In beamer, a “block” will be created. If the heading has the class `example`, an `exampleblock` environment will be used; if it has the class `alert`, an `alertblock` will be used; otherwise a regular `block` will be used.)
- Headings *above* the slide level in the hierarchy create “title slides,” which just contain the section title and help to break the slide show into sections. Non-slide content under these headings will be included on the title slide (for HTML slide shows) or in a subsequent slide with the same title (for beamer).
- A title page is constructed automatically from the document’s title block, if present. (In the case of beamer, this can be disabled by commenting out some lines in the default template.)
These rules are designed to support many different styles of slide show. If you don’t care about structuring your slides into sections and subsections, you can either just use level-1 headings for all slides (in that case, level 1 will be the slide level) or you can set [`--slide-level=0`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level).
Note: in reveal.js slide shows, if slide level is 2, a two-dimensional layout will be produced, with level-1 headings building horizontally and level-2 headings building vertically. It is not recommended that you use deeper nesting of section levels with reveal.js unless you set [`--slide-level=0`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--slide-level) (which lets reveal.js produce a one-dimensional layout and only interprets horizontal rules as slide boundaries).
### PowerPoint layout choice
When creating slides, the pptx writer chooses from a number of pre-defined layouts, based on the content of the slide:
Title Slide
This layout is used for the initial slide, which is generated and filled from the metadata fields `date`, `author`, and `title`, if they are present.
Section Header
This layout is used for what pandoc calls “title slides”, i.e. slides which start with a header which is above the slide level in the hierarchy.
Two Content
This layout is used for two-column slides, i.e. slides containing a div with class `columns` which contains at least two divs with class `column`.
Comparison
This layout is used instead of “Two Content” for any two-column slides in which at least one column contains text followed by non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Content with Caption
This layout is used for any non-two-column slides which contain text followed by non-text (e.g. an image or a table).
Blank
This layout is used for any slides which only contain blank content, e.g. a slide containing only speaker notes, or a slide containing only a non-breaking space.
Title and Content
This layout is used for all slides which do not match the criteria for another layout.
These layouts are chosen from the default pptx reference doc included with pandoc, unless an alternative reference doc is specified using `--reference-doc`.
## Incremental lists
By default, these writers produce lists that display “all at once.” If you want your lists to display incrementally (one item at a time), use the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option. If you want a particular list to depart from the default, put it in a `div` block with class `incremental` or `nonincremental`. So, for example, using the `fenced div` syntax, the following would be incremental regardless of the document default:
```
::: incremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
```
or
```
::: nonincremental
- Eat spaghetti
- Drink wine
:::
```
While using `incremental` and `nonincremental` divs is the recommended method of setting incremental lists on a per-case basis, an older method is also supported: putting lists inside a blockquote will depart from the document default (that is, it will display incrementally without the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option and all at once with the [`-i`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--incremental[) option):
```
> - Eat spaghetti
> - Drink wine
```
Both methods allow incremental and nonincremental lists to be mixed in a single document.
If you want to include a block-quoted list, you can work around this behavior by putting the list inside a fenced div, so that it is not the direct child of the block quote:
```
> ::: wrapper
> - a
> - list in a quote
> :::
```
## Inserting pauses
You can add “pauses” within a slide by including a paragraph containing three dots, separated by spaces:
```
# Slide with a pause
content before the pause
. . .
content after the pause
```
Note: this feature is not yet implemented for PowerPoint output.
## Styling the slides
You can change the style of HTML slides by putting customized CSS files in `$DATADIR/s5/default` (for S5), `$DATADIR/slidy` (for Slidy), or `$DATADIR/slideous` (for Slideous), where `$DATADIR` is the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir), above). The originals may be found in pandoc’s system data directory (generally `$CABALDIR/pandoc-VERSION/s5/default`). Pandoc will look there for any files it does not find in the user data directory.
For dzslides, the CSS is included in the HTML file itself, and may be modified there.
All [reveal.js configuration options](https://revealjs.com/config/) can be set through variables. For example, themes can be used by setting the `theme` variable:
```
-V theme=moon
```
Or you can specify a custom stylesheet using the [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css) option.
To style beamer slides, you can specify a `theme`, `colortheme`, `fonttheme`, `innertheme`, and `outertheme`, using the [`-V`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--variable) option:
```
pandoc -t beamer habits.txt -V theme:Warsaw -o habits.pdf
```
Note that heading attributes will turn into slide attributes (on a `<div>` or `<section>`) in HTML slide formats, allowing you to style individual slides. In beamer, a number of heading classes and attributes are recognized as frame options and will be passed through as options to the frame: see [Frame attributes in beamer](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#frame-attributes-in-beamer), below.
## Speaker notes
Speaker notes are supported in reveal.js, PowerPoint (pptx), and beamer output. You can add notes to your Markdown document thus:
```
::: notes
This is my note.
- It can contain Markdown
- like this list
:::
```
To show the notes window in reveal.js, press `s` while viewing the presentation. Speaker notes in PowerPoint will be available, as usual, in handouts and presenter view.
Notes are not yet supported for other slide formats, but the notes will not appear on the slides themselves.
### Speaker notes on the title slide (PowerPoint)
For PowerPoint output, the title slide is generated from the document’s YAML metadata block. To add speaker notes to this slide, use a `notes` field in the metadata:
```
---
title: My Presentation
author: Jane Doe
notes: |
Welcome everyone to this presentation.
Remember to introduce yourself and mention the key topics.
---
```
The `notes` field can contain multiple paragraphs and Markdown formatting.
## Columns
To put material in side by side columns, you can use a native div container with class `columns`, containing two or more div containers with class `column` and a `width` attribute:
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
Note: Specifying column widths does not currently work for PowerPoint.
### Additional columns attributes in beamer
The div containers with classes `columns` and `column` can optionally have an `align` attribute. The class `columns` can optionally have a `totalwidth` attribute or an `onlytextwidth` class.
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=center totalwidth=8em}
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%" align=bottom}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
The `align` attributes on `columns` and `column` can be used with the values `top`, `top-baseline`, `center` and `bottom` to vertically align the columns. It defaults to `top` in `columns`.
The `totalwidth` attribute limits the width of the columns to the given value.
```
:::::::::::::: {.columns align=top .onlytextwidth}
::: {.column width="40%" align=center}
contents...
:::
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents...
:::
::::::::::::::
```
The class `onlytextwidth` sets the `totalwidth` to `\textwidth`.
See Section 12.7 of the [Beamer User’s Guide](http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.pdf) for more details.
## Frame attributes in beamer
Sometimes it is necessary to add the LaTeX `[fragile]` option to a frame in beamer (for example, when using the `minted` environment). This can be forced by adding the `fragile` class to the heading introducing the slide:
```
# Fragile slide {.fragile}
```
All of the other frame attributes described in Section 8.1 of the [Beamer User’s Guide](http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.pdf) may also be used: `allowdisplaybreaks`, `allowframebreaks`, `b`, `c`, `s`, `t`, `environment`, `label`, `plain`, `shrink`, `standout`, `noframenumbering`, `squeeze`. `allowframebreaks` is recommended especially for bibliographies, as it allows multiple slides to be created if the content overfills the frame:
```
# References {.allowframebreaks}
```
In addition, the `frameoptions` attribute may be used to pass arbitrary frame options to a beamer slide:
```
# Heading {frameoptions="squeeze,shrink,customoption=foobar"}
```
## Background in reveal.js, beamer, and pptx
Background images can be added to self-contained reveal.js slide shows, beamer slide shows, and pptx slide shows.
### On all slides (beamer, reveal.js, pptx)
With beamer and reveal.js, the configuration option `background-image` can be used either in the YAML metadata block or as a command-line variable to get the same image on every slide.
Note that for reveal.js, the `background-image` will be used as a `parallaxBackgroundImage` (see below).
For pptx, you can use a `--reference-doc` in which background images have been set on the [relevant layouts](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#powerpoint-layout-choice).
#### `parallaxBackgroundImage` (reveal.js)
For reveal.js, there is also the reveal.js-native option `parallaxBackgroundImage`, which produces a parallax scrolling background. You must also set `parallaxBackgroundSize`, and can optionally set `parallaxBackgroundHorizontal` and `parallaxBackgroundVertical` to configure the scrolling behaviour. See the [reveal.js documentation](https://revealjs.com/backgrounds/#parallax-background) for more details about the meaning of these options.
In reveal.js’s overview mode, the parallaxBackgroundImage will show up only on the first slide.
### On individual slides (reveal.js, pptx)
To set an image for a particular reveal.js or pptx slide, add `{background-image="/path/to/image"}` to the first slide-level heading on the slide (which may even be empty).
As the [HTML writers pass unknown attributes through](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-link_attributes), other reveal.js background settings also work on individual slides, including `background-size`, `background-repeat`, `background-color`, `transition`, and `transition-speed`. (The `data-` prefix will automatically be added.)
Note: `data-background-image` is also supported in pptx for consistency with reveal.js – if `background-image` isn’t found, `data-background-image` will be checked.
### On the title slide (reveal.js, pptx)
To add a background image to the automatically generated title slide for reveal.js, use the `title-slide-attributes` variable in the YAML metadata block. It must contain a map of attribute names and values. (Note that the `data-` prefix is required here, as it isn’t added automatically.)
For pptx, pass a `--reference-doc` with the background image set on the “Title Slide” layout.
### Example (reveal.js)
```
---
title: My Slide Show
parallaxBackgroundImage: /path/to/my/background_image.png
title-slide-attributes:
data-background-image: /path/to/title_image.png
data-background-size: contain
---
## Slide One
Slide 1 has background_image.png as its background.
## {background-image="/path/to/special_image.jpg"}
Slide 2 has a special image for its background, even though the heading has no content.
```
## EPUBs
## EPUB Metadata
There are two ways to specify metadata for an EPUB. The first is to use the [`--epub-metadata`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--epub-metadata) option, which takes as its argument an XML file with [Dublin Core elements](https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dces/).
The second way is to use YAML, either in a [YAML metadata block](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-yaml_metadata_block) in a Markdown document, or in a separate YAML file specified with [`--metadata-file`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata-file). Here is an example of a YAML metadata block with EPUB metadata:
```
---
title:
- type: main
text: My Book
- type: subtitle
text: An investigation of metadata
creator:
- role: author
text: John Smith
- role: editor
text: Sarah Jones
identifier:
- scheme: DOI
text: doi:10.234234.234/33
publisher: My Press
rights: © 2007 John Smith, CC BY-NC
ibooks:
version: 1.3.4
...
```
The following fields are recognized:
`identifier`
Either a string value or an object with fields `text` and `scheme`. Valid values for `scheme` are `ISBN-10`, `GTIN-13`, `UPC`, `ISMN-10`, `DOI`, `LCCN`, `GTIN-14`, `ISBN-13`, `Legal deposit number`, `URN`, `OCLC number`, `Co-publisher’s ISBN-13`, `ISMN-13`, `ISBN-A`, `JP e-code`, `OLCC number`, `JP Magazine ID`, `UPC-12+5`, `BNF Control number`, `ISSN-13`, `ARK`, `Digital file internal version number`.
`title`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `file-as` and `type`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `type` are `main`, `subtitle`, `short`, `collection`, `edition`, `extended`.
`creator`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `role`, `file-as`, and `text`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `role` are [MARC relators](https://loc.gov/marc/relators/relaterm.html), but pandoc will attempt to translate the human-readable versions (like “author” and “editor”) to the appropriate marc relators.
`contributor`
Same format as `creator`.
`date`
A string value in `YYYY-MM-DD` format. (Only the year is necessary.) Pandoc will attempt to convert other common date formats.
`lang` (or legacy: `language`)
A string value in [BCP 47](https://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp47) format. Pandoc will default to the local language if nothing is specified.
`subject`
Either a string value, or an object with fields `text`, `authority`, and `term`, or a list of such objects. Valid values for `authority` are either a [reserved authority value](https://idpf.github.io/epub-registries/authorities/) (currently `AAT`, `BIC`, `BISAC`, `CLC`, `DDC`, `CLIL`, `EuroVoc`, `MEDTOP`, `LCSH`, `NDC`, `Thema`, `UDC`, and `WGS`) or an absolute IRI identifying a custom scheme. Valid values for `term` are defined by the scheme.
`description`
A string value.
`type`
A string value.
`format`
A string value.
`relation`
A string value.
`coverage`
A string value.
`rights`
A string value.
`belongs-to-collection`
A string value. Identifies the name of a collection to which the EPUB Publication belongs.
`group-position`
The `group-position` field indicates the numeric position in which the EPUB Publication belongs relative to other works belonging to the same `belongs-to-collection` field.
`cover-image`
A string value (path to cover image).
`css` (or legacy: `stylesheet`)
A string value (path to CSS stylesheet).
`page-progression-direction`
Either `ltr` or `rtl`. Specifies the `page-progression-direction` attribute for the [`spine` element](http://idpf.org/epub/301/spec/epub-publications.html#sec-spine-elem).
`accessModes`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["textual"]`.
`accessModeSufficient`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["textual"]`.
`accessibilityHazards`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to `["none"]`.
`accessibilityFeatures`
An array of strings ([schema](https://kb.daisy.org/publishing/docs/metadata/schema.org/index.html)). Defaults to
```
- "alternativeText"
- "readingOrder"
- "structuralNavigation"
- "tableOfContents"
```
`accessibilitySummary`
A string value.
`ibooks`
iBooks-specific metadata, with the following fields:
- `version`: (string)
- `specified-fonts`: `true`\|`false` (default `false`)
- `ipad-orientation-lock`: `portrait-only`\|`landscape-only`
- `iphone-orientation-lock`: `portrait-only`\|`landscape-only`
- `binding`: `true`\|`false` (default `true`)
- `scroll-axis`: `vertical`\|`horizontal`\|`default`
## The `epub:type` attribute
For `epub3` output, you can mark up the heading that corresponds to an EPUB chapter using the [`epub:type` attribute](http://www.idpf.org/epub/31/spec/epub-contentdocs.html#sec-epub-type-attribute). For example, to set the attribute to the value `prologue`, use this Markdown:
```
# My chapter {epub:type=prologue}
```
Which will result in:
```
<body epub:type="frontmatter">
<section epub:type="prologue">
<h1>My chapter</h1>
```
Pandoc will output `<body epub:type="bodymatter">`, unless you use one of the following values, in which case either `frontmatter` or `backmatter` will be output.
| `epub:type` of first section | `epub:type` of body |
|---|---|
| prologue | frontmatter |
| abstract | frontmatter |
| acknowledgments | frontmatter |
| copyright-page | frontmatter |
| dedication | frontmatter |
| credits | frontmatter |
| keywords | frontmatter |
| imprint | frontmatter |
| contributors | frontmatter |
| other-credits | frontmatter |
| errata | frontmatter |
| revision-history | frontmatter |
| titlepage | frontmatter |
| halftitlepage | frontmatter |
| seriespage | frontmatter |
| foreword | frontmatter |
| preface | frontmatter |
| frontispiece | frontmatter |
| appendix | backmatter |
| colophon | backmatter |
| bibliography | backmatter |
| index | backmatter |
## Linked media
By default, pandoc will download media referenced from any `<img>`, `<audio>`, `<video>` or `<source>` element present in the generated EPUB, and include it in the EPUB container, yielding a completely self-contained EPUB. If you want to link to external media resources instead, use raw HTML in your source and add `data-external="1"` to the tag with the `src` attribute. For example:
```
<audio controls="1">
<source src="https://example.com/music/toccata.mp3"
data-external="1" type="audio/mpeg">
</source>
</audio>
```
If the input format already is HTML then `data-external="1"` will work as expected for `<img>` elements. Similarly, for Markdown, external images can be declared with `{external=1}`. Note that this only works for images; the other media elements have no native representation in pandoc’s AST and require the use of raw HTML.
## EPUB styling
By default, pandoc will include some basic styling contained in its `epub.css` data file. (To see this, use `pandoc --print-default-data-file epub.css`.) To use a different CSS file, just use the [`--css`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--css) command line option. A few inline styles are defined in addition; these are essential for correct formatting of pandoc’s HTML output.
The `document-css` variable may be set if the more opinionated styling of pandoc’s default HTML templates is desired (and in that case the variables defined in [Variables for HTML](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-html) may be used to fine-tune the style).
## Chunked HTML
`pandoc -t chunkedhtml` will produce a zip archive of linked HTML files, one for each section of the original document. Internal links will automatically be adjusted to point to the right place, images linked to under the working directory will be incorporated, and navigation links will be added. In addition, a JSON file `sitemap.json` will be included describing the hierarchical structure of the files.
If an output file without an extension is specified, then it will be interpreted as a directory and the zip archive will be automatically unpacked into it (unless it already exists, in which case an error will be raised). Otherwise a `.zip` file will be produced.
The navigation links can be customized by adjusting the template. By default, a table of contents is included only on the top page. To include it on every page, set the `toc` variable manually.
## Jupyter notebooks
When creating a [Jupyter notebook](https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), pandoc will try to infer the notebook structure. Code blocks with the class `code` will be taken as code cells, and intervening content will be taken as Markdown cells. Attachments will automatically be created for images in Markdown cells. Metadata will be taken from the `jupyter` metadata field. For example:
```
---
title: My notebook
jupyter:
nbformat: 4
nbformat_minor: 5
kernelspec:
display_name: Python 2
language: python
name: python2
language_info:
codemirror_mode:
name: ipython
version: 2
file_extension: ".py"
mimetype: "text/x-python"
name: "python"
nbconvert_exporter: "python"
pygments_lexer: "ipython2"
version: "2.7.15"
---
# Lorem ipsum
**Lorem ipsum** dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc luctus
bibendum felis dictum sodales.
``` code
print("hello")
```
## Pyout
``` code
from IPython.display import HTML
HTML("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
## Image
This image  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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-fenced_divs) or [native divs](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#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("""
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
""")
```
::: {.output .execute_result execution_count=2}
```{=html}
<script>
console.log("hello");
</script>
<b>HTML</b>
hello
```
:::
::::::
```
If you include raw HTML or TeX in an output cell, use the [raw attribute](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension-raw_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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--wrap) will preserve soft line breaks in Markdown cells; [`--markdown-headings=setext`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--markdown-headings) will cause Setext-style headings to be used; and [`--preserve-tabs`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--preserve-tabs[) will prevent tabs from being turned to spaces.
## Vimdoc
Vimdoc writer generates Vim help files and makes use of the following metadata variables:
```
abstract: "A short description"
author: Author
title: Title
# Vimdoc-specific
filename: "definition-lists.txt"
vimdoc-prefix: pandoc
```
Complete header requires `abstract`, `author`, `title` and `filename` to be set. Compiling file with such metadata produces the following file (assumes [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone), see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates)):
```
*definition-lists.txt* A short description
Title by Author
Type |gO| to see the table of contents.
[...]
vim:tw=72:sw=4:ts=4:ft=help:norl:et:
```
If `vimdoc-prefix` is set, all non-command tags are prefixed with its value, it is used to prevent tag collision: all headers have a tag (either inferred or explicit) and multiple help pages can have the same header names, therefore collision is to be expected. Let our input be the following markdown file:
```
## Header
`:[range]Fnl {expr}`{#:Fnl}
: Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b`{#vim.b}
: Buffer-scoped (`:h b:`) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or unset
key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access variables for a
specific buffer.
[Span]{#span}
: generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not inherently
represent anything.
```
Convert it to vimdoc:
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
```
Convert it to vimdoc with metadata variable set (e.g. with [`-M vimdoc-prefix=pandoc`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--metadata))
```
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Header *pandoc-header*
:[range]Fnl {expr} *:Fnl*
Evaluates {expr} or range
`vim.b` *pandoc-vim.b*
Buffer-scoped (|b:|) variables for the current buffer. Invalid or
unset key returns `nil`. Can be indexed with an integer to access
variables for a specific buffer.
Span *pandoc-span*
generic inline container for phrasing content, which does not
inherently represent anything.
```
`vim.b` and `Span` got their prefixes but not `:Fnl` because ex-commands (those starting with `:`) don’t get a prefix, since they are considered unique across help pages.
In both cases `:help b:` became reference `|b:|` (also works with `:h b:`). Links pointing to either <https://vimhelp.org/> or <https://neovim.io/doc/user> become references too.
Vim traditionally wraps at 78, but Pandoc defaults to 72. Use [`--columns 78`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--columns) to match Vim.
## Syntax highlighting
Pandoc will automatically highlight syntax in [fenced code blocks](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fenced-code-blocks) that are marked with a language name. The Haskell library [skylighting](https://github.com/jgm/skylighting) is used for highlighting. Currently highlighting is supported only for HTML, EPUB, Docx, Ms, Man, Typst, 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 [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting) 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`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--print-highlight-style) to generate a JSON `.theme` file which can be modified and used as the argument to [`--syntax-highlighting`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). To get a JSON version of the `pygments` style, for example:
```
pandoc -o my.theme --print-highlight-style pygments
```
Then edit `my.theme` and use it like this:
```
pandoc --syntax-highlighting my.theme
```
If you are not satisfied with the built-in highlighting, or you want to highlight a language that isn’t supported, you can use the [`--syntax-definition`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-definition) option to load a [KDE-style XML syntax definition file](https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/kate/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).
If you receive an error that pandoc “Could not read highlighting theme”, check that the JSON file is encoded with UTF-8 and has no Byte-Order Mark (BOM).
To disable highlighting, use [`--syntax-highlighting=none`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting).
To use a format’s idiomatic syntax highlighting instead of pandoc’s built-in highlighting, use [`--syntax-highlighting=idiomatic`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--syntax-highlighting). Currently, `idiomatic` only affects the following formats:
- In reveal.js, it causes reveal.js’s highlighting plugin to be used for source code highlighting. The style may be customized by setting the `highlightjs-theme` variable.
- In Typst, it causes Typst’s built-in highlighting to be used. (This is also the default for Typst.)
- In LaTeX, it causes the [`listings`](https://ctan.org/pkg/listings) package to be used. Note that `listings` does not support multi-byte encoding for source code. To handle UTF-8 you would need to use a custom template. This issue is fully documented here: [Encoding issue with the listings package](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Source_Code_Listings#Encoding_issue).
- In other formats, `idiomatic` will have the same result as `default`.
## Custom Styles
Custom styles can be used in the docx, odt and ICML formats.
## Output
By default, pandoc’s odt, 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 doc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-doc) 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, Span, or Table 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 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.
Styles will be defined in the output file as inheriting from normal text (docx) or Default Paragraph Style (odt), if the styles are not yet in your [reference doc](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--reference-doc). If they are already defined, pandoc will not alter the definition.
This feature allows for greatest customization in conjunction with [pandoc filters](https://pandoc.org/filters.html). 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 or odt output, you don’t need to enable any extensions for custom styles to work.
For icml output, you can also set an `object-style` in images:
```
{object-style="fixedSizeImage"}
```
In InDesign you’ll see that object style given to the image, and you’ll be able to customize it, or load its definition from a template of yours.
## 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](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#ext-styles) in the docx reader ([`-f docx+styles`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from)), you can produce output that maintains the styles of the input document, using the `custom-style` class. A `custom-style` attribute will be added for each style. Divs will be created to hold the paragraph styles, and Spans to hold the character styles. Table styles will be applied directly to the Table.
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 readers and writers
Pandoc can be extended with custom readers and writers written in [Lua](https://www.lua.org/). (Pandoc includes a Lua interpreter, so Lua need not be installed separately.)
To use a custom reader or writer, simply specify the path to the Lua script in place of the input or output format. For example:
```
pandoc -t data/sample.lua
pandoc -f my_custom_markup_language.lua -t latex -s
```
If the script is not found relative to the working directory, it will be sought in the `custom` subdirectory of the user data directory (see [`--data-dir`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--data-dir)).
A custom reader is a Lua script that defines one function, Reader, which takes a string as input and returns a Pandoc AST. See the [Lua filters documentation](https://pandoc.org/lua-filters.html) for documentation of the functions that are available for creating pandoc AST elements. For parsing, the [lpeg](http://www.inf.puc-rio.br/~roberto/lpeg/) parsing library is available by default. To see a sample custom reader:
```
pandoc --print-default-data-file creole.lua
```
If you want your custom reader to have access to reader options (e.g. the tab stop setting), you give your Reader function a second `options` parameter.
A custom writer is a Lua script that defines a function that specifies how to render each element in a Pandoc AST. See the [djot-writer.lua](https://github.com/jgm/djot.lua/blob/main/djot-writer.lua) for a full-featured example.
Note that custom writers have no default template. If you want to use [`--standalone`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--standalone) with a custom writer, you will need to specify a template manually using [`--template`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--template) or add a new default template with the name `default.NAME_OF_CUSTOM_WRITER.lua` to the `templates` subdirectory of your user data directory (see [Templates](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates)).
## Reproducible builds
Some of the document formats pandoc targets (such as EPUB, docx, and ODT) include build timestamps in the generated document. That means that the files generated on successive builds will differ, even if the source does not. To avoid this, set the `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` environment variable, and the timestamp will be taken from it instead of the current time. `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` should contain an integer unix timestamp (specifying the number of seconds since midnight UTC January 1, 1970).
For reproducible builds with LaTeX, you can either specify the `pdf-trailer-id` in the metadata or leave it undefined, in which case pandoc will create a trailer-id based on a hash of the `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` and the document’s contents.
Some document formats also include a unique identifier. For EPUB, this can be set explicitly by setting the `identifier` metadata field (see [EPUB Metadata](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#epub-metadata), above).
## Accessible PDFs and PDF archiving standards
PDF is a flexible format, and using PDF in certain contexts requires additional conventions. For example, PDFs are not accessible by default; they define how characters are placed on a page but do not contain semantic information on the content. However, it is possible to generate accessible PDFs, which use tagging to add semantic information to the document.
Pandoc defaults to LaTeX to generate PDF. LaTeX’s `\DocumentMetadata` interface supports PDF standards and tagging when using LuaLaTeX; set the `pdfstandard` variable to enable this (see below). For older LaTeX installations, alternative engines must be used.
The PDF standards PDF/A and PDF/UA define further restrictions intended to optimize PDFs for archiving and accessibility. Tagging is commonly used in combination with these standards to ensure best results.
Note, however, that standard compliance depends on many things, including the colorspace of embedded images. Pandoc cannot check this, and external programs must be used to ensure that generated PDFs are in compliance.
## LaTeX
Set the `pdfstandard` variable to produce tagged PDFs conforming to PDF/A, PDF/X, or PDF/UA standards. For example:
```
pandoc -V pdfstandard=ua-2 --pdf-engine=lualatex doc.md -o doc.pdf
```
Multiple standards can be combined:
```
---
pdfstandard:
- ua-2
- a-4f
---
```
The required PDF version is inferred automatically. This feature requires LuaLaTeX in TeX Live 2025 with LaTeX kernel 2025-06-01 or newer.
## ConTeXt
ConTeXt always produces tagged PDFs, but the quality depends on the input. The default ConTeXt markup generated by pandoc is optimized for readability and reuse, not tagging. Enable the [`tagging`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#extension--tagging) format extension to force markup that is optimized for tagging. For example:
```
pandoc -t context+tagging doc.md -o doc.pdf
```
A recent `context` version should be used, as older versions contained a bug that lead to invalid PDF metadata.
## WeasyPrint
The HTML-based engine WeasyPrint includes experimental support for PDF/A and PDF/UA since version 57. Tagged PDFs can created with
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=weasyprint \
--pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-variant=pdf/ua-1 ...
```
The feature is experimental and standard compliance should not be assumed.
## Prince XML
The non-free HTML-to-PDF converter `prince` has extensive support for various PDF standards as well as tagging. E.g.:
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=prince \
--pdf-engine-opt=--tagged-pdf ...
```
See the prince documentation for more info.
## Typst
Typst 0.12 can produce PDF/A-2b:
```
pandoc --pdf-engine=typst --pdf-engine-opt=--pdf-standard=a-2b ...
```
## Word Processors
Word processors like LibreOffice and MS Word can also be used to generate standardized and tagged PDF output. Pandoc does not support direct conversions via these tools. However, pandoc can convert a document to a `docx` or `odt` file, which can then be opened and converted to PDF with the respective word processor. See the documentation for [Word](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-accessible-pdfs-064625e0-56ea-4e16-ad71-3aa33bb4b7ed) and [LibreOffice](https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/ref_pdf_export_general.html).
## Running pandoc as a web server
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to `pandoc-server`, or if you call pandoc with `server` as the first argument, it will start up a web server with a JSON API. This server exposes most of the conversion functionality of pandoc. For full documentation, see the [pandoc-server](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/doc/pandoc-server.md) man page.
If you rename (or symlink) the pandoc executable to `pandoc-server.cgi`, it will function as a CGI program exposing the same API as `pandoc-server`.
`pandoc-server` is designed to be maximally secure; it uses Haskell’s type system to provide strong guarantees that no I/O will be performed on the server during pandoc conversions.
## Running pandoc as a Lua interpreter
Calling the pandoc executable under the name `pandoc-lua` or with `lua` as the first argument will make it function as a standalone Lua interpreter. The behavior is mostly identical to that of the [standalone `lua` executable](https://www.lua.org/manual/5.4/manual.html#7), version 5.4. All `pandoc.*` packages, as well as the packages `re` and `lpeg`, are available via global variables. Furthermore, the globals `PANDOC_VERSION`, `PANDOC_STATE`, and `PANDOC_API_VERSION` are set at startup. For full documentation, see the [pandoc-lua](https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/master/doc/pandoc-lua.md) man page.
## A note on security
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. Several input formats (including LaTeX, Org, RST, and Typst) support `include` directives that allow the contents of a file to be included in the output. An untrusted attacker could use these to view the contents of files on the file system. (Using the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option can protect against this threat.)
3. Several output formats (including RTF, FB2, HTML with [`--self-contained`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--self-contained[), EPUB, Docx, and ODT) will embed encoded or raw images into the output file. An untrusted attacker could exploit this to view the contents of non-image files on the file system. (Using the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option can protect against this threat, but will also prevent including images in these formats.)
4. In reading HTML files, pandoc will attempt to include the contents of `iframe` elements by fetching content from the local file or URL specified by `src`. If untrusted HTML is processed on a server, this has the potential to reveal anything readable by the process running the server. Using the [`-f html+raw_html`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--from) will mitigate this threat by causing the whole `iframe` to be parsed as a raw HTML block. Using [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) will also protect against the threat.
5. 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](https://pandoc.org/using-the-pandoc-api.html) for more details. (This corresponds to the use of the [`--sandbox`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--sandbox[) option on the command line.)
6. 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. Note that the `commonmark` parser (including `commonmark_x` and `gfm`) is much less vulnerable to pathological performance than the `markdown` parser, so it is a better choice when processing untrusted input.
7. 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 URLs and attributes. To be safe, you should run all HTML generated from untrusted user input through an HTML sanitizer.
## Authors
Copyright 2006–2024 John MacFarlane ([\[email protected\]](https://pandoc.org/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection)). Released under the [GPL](https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html "GNU General Public License"), 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.
***
1. The point of this rule is to ensure that normal paragraphs starting with people’s initials, like
```
B. Russell won a Nobel Prize (but not for "On Denoting").
```
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
```
[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref1)
2. I have been influenced by the suggestions of [David Wheeler](https://justatheory.com/2009/02/modest-markdown-proposal/).[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref2)
3. 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).[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref3)
4. Note that if [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[) is used, a div written this way will be given an identifier of the form `FILE__refs`, to avoid duplicate identifiers (see [`--file-scope`](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#option--file-scope[)). In view of this possibility, pandoc will place the bibliography in any div whose identifier is `refs` *or* ends with `__refs`.[↩︎](https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#fnref4) |
| Shard | 55 (laksa) |
| Root Hash | 16540373644897488655 |
| Unparsed URL | org,pandoc!/MANUAL.html s443 |