Slides with Columns in Pandoc - latex

I would like to have code and an image side-by-side in a Beamer slide.
In LaTeX I would do this with columns. I would like to use markdown within the column structure.
\begin{columns}
\column{.5\textwidth}
~~~~~~~~Python
>>> some python code
~~~~~~~
\column{.5\textwidth}
![](A_generated_image.pdf)
\end{columns}
Unfortunately Pandoc doesn't process the markdown within the \begin{columns} and \end{columns} statements. Is there a way around this?
Is there a way to use markdown within inlined LaTeX?
Is there a pure markdown solution?

Current versions of pandoc (i.e., pandoc 2.0 and later) supports fenced divs. Specially named divs are transformed into columns when targeting a slides format:
# This slide has columns
::: columns
:::: column
left
::::
:::: column
right
::::
:::
Pandoc translates this into the following LaTeX beamer code:
\begin{frame}{This slide has columns}
\protect\hypertarget{this-slide-has-columns}{}
\begin{columns}[T]
\begin{column}{0.48\textwidth}
left
\end{column}
\begin{column}{0.48\textwidth}
right
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
This is simple and has the additional advantage of giving similar results when targeting other presentational formats like reveal.js.
More than two columns work out of the box for Beamer output. Powerpoint, however, only supports two columns. For reveal.js, the widths of three or more columns must be given explicitly:
::: columns
:::: {.column width=30%}
left
::::
:::: {.column width=30%}
middle
::::
:::: {.column width=30%}
right
::::
:::

The problem is that pandoc ignores markdown if it finds a \begin{}. An alternative is to edit the beamer template and add the following:
\newcommand{\columnsbegin}{\begin{columns}}
\newcommand{\columnsend}{\end{columns}}
And write it like this:
\columnsbegin
\column{.5\textwidth}
~~~~~~~~Python
>>> some python code
~~~~~~~
\column{.5\textwidth}
![](A_generated_image.pdf)
\columnsend

I hope still valuable. I made a Pandoc filter in Python to put columns easily, so you can write your presentations in this way:
# Hello World
[columns]
[column=0.5]
~~~python
if __name__ == "__main__":
print "Hello World"
~~~
[column=0.5]
This is how a "Hello World" looks like in Python
[/columns]
that the filter will convert each markup to \begin{columns} and \column{.5\textwidth}, so, the document above will turn in
\begin{frame}[fragile]{Hello}
\begin{columns}
\column{0.5\textwidth}
\begin{Shaded}
\begin{Highlighting}[]
\NormalTok{some python code}
\end{Highlighting}
\end{Shaded}
\column{0.5\textwidth}
Hello World
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
The code filter is here
import pandocfilters as pf
def latex(s):
return pf.RawBlock('latex', s)
def mk_columns(k, v, f, m):
if k == "Para":
value = pf.stringify(v)
if value.startswith('[') and value.endswith(']'):
content = value[1:-1]
if content == "columns":
return latex(r'\begin{columns}')
elif content == "/columns":
return latex(r'\end{columns}')
elif content.startswith("column="):
return latex(r'\column{%s\textwidth}' % content[7:])
if __name__ == "__main__":
pf.toJSONFilter(mk_columns)
If you never use a pandoc filter, just save the filter to the same document location as columnfilter.py (or other name you want) and run
pandoc -t beamer --filter columnfilter.py yourDocument.mkd
And enjoy!

Beamer Specific Answer. I ran across a solution when attempting to add multiple columns for Pandoc in a regular document. It works here as well, though it does constrain you to Beamer; though that is your use case.
In the slide deck, insert once:
---
header-includes:
- \newcommand{\hideFromPandoc}[1]{#1}
- \hideFromPandoc{
\let\Begin\begin
\let\End\end
}
---
Then add content thus:
\Begin{columns}
\Begin{column}{0.3\textwidth}
Res ipsum loquiter, sed in inferno decit?
\End{column}
\Begin{column}{0.3\textwidth}
Res ipsum loquiter, sed in inferno decit?
\End{column}
\Begin{column}{0.3\textwidth}
Res ipsum loquiter, sed in inferno decit?
\End{column}
\End{columns}
Creating the "hideFromPandoc" command lets you insert begin/end statements throughout without depriving you of markdown in the block.
Fenced Div Answer. There's an answer above that refers to fenced divs. I commented that the answer only works with two columns. It breaks down with more. Here is how that answer works with multiple divs:
::: {.columns}
:::: {.column width=0.3}
Test
::::
:::: {.column width=0.3}
Test
::::
:::: {.column width=0.3}
Test
::::
:::
To get this answer, I had to look at the commit that added the column feature specifically.

You could use FletcherPenney MultiMarkdown which can process markdown to LaTeX/Beamer. Compared to Pandoc, MultiMarkdown has not so many features. However, especially when working with LaTeX it has the advantage that you can embed LaTeX code directly into the Markdown in HTML comments.
Your code would look like this:
<!-- \begin{columns} -->
<!-- \column{.5\textwidth} -->
>>> some python code
<!-- \column{.5\textwidth} -->
![](A_generated_image.pdf)
<!-- \end{columns} -->
For me this solution works fine. With a good editor (e.g. Scrivener, Sublime Text) you can write the latex code without all the comments and find/replace them after editing. In addition, the Metadata support in Multimarkdown is much more flexible, so that it is easier to customize presentations.
In the meantime, I hope that the Pandoc team provides a solution to this problem. I think there are some users who would like to embed small LaTex code particles throughout their markdown documents without having them converted/escaped.

You can use MultiMarkDown comments ( "<!-- Your LaTeX Code inside -->" ) with Pandoc when you enclose the Pandoc command in which you transform your markdown to LaTeX with two sed commands.
In the first sed run, you change the MultiMarkDown comments to "\verb+AAAAAAALaTeX-StuffZZZZZZ+". Then you transform to LaTeX with Pandoc as usual, everything inside "\verb+AAAAAAALaTeX-StuffZZZZZZZ+" is left alone. Then you run sed on the TeX-File and delete the "\verb+AAAAAAA" and "ZZZZZZ+" unfolding your LaTeX code.
The first sed command line before the Pandoc transformation could look like this:
sed -E -e "s/<\\!--(.+)--\\>/\\\\verb\+AAAAAAA\1ZZZZZZZ\+/g " \
source.md > source.i.md
Then use Pandoc on source.i.md as usual to create source.tex. Second sed run like this:
sed -E -e "s/\\\\verb\+AAAAAAA(.+)ZZZZZZZ\+/\1/g" -i "" source.tex
I automated everything in a Makefile so that I can make more changes e.g. to table definitions in one step. On first glance this approach works fine (tested it on column definitions with the beamer class).
With this little sed scripts, you can use all the nice things from Pandoc. You need only to mmd-comment those TeX and LaTeX commands which become either escaped or enclose larger parts of your Markdown.

Related

Pandoc Column Width for Twocolumn not working

I cannot get column width recognized. It is as if it is just ignored and each column is exactly 50% of the available space. Additionally the example implies I can tell it when I want the 2nd column to start but that is also ignored.
The following is from the Pandoc manual column example, but when I compile it via pandoc they are just each 50% width not what is specified. The frontmatter in my example was not provided in their example but its what I figure it must be to get the columns working. I've tried this with and without the frontmatter.
I'm using ubuntu 18.04 within WSL2 and pandoc version:
pandoc 2.17.1.1 Compiled with pandoc-types 1.22.1, texmath 0.12.4,
skylighting 0.12.2, citeproc 0.6.0.1, ipynb 0.2
I'm using these command line entry for compiling it: (I've also tried pdflatex engine as well)
pandoc mat_doc.md --pdf-engine=xelatex -o mat_doc.pdf
Here is the file:
---
output: pdf_document
classoption: twocolumn
---
:::::::::::::: {.columns}
::: {.column width="60%"}
contents
:::
::: {.column width="40%"}
contents
:::
::::::::::::::
How do I get different sized columns? Why does this not work per their manual? Thx!
The beamer columns you are trying to use, are something special in the beamer class and don't work with normal classes.
However under the hood, these columns are just glorified minipages - and these you can use in normal latex classes.
---
output: pdf_document
---
\noindent\begin{minipage}{.6\textwidth}
test
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{.4\textwidth}
test
\end{minipage}

How to remove parentheses around pandoc citations?

Here's how I do my citations in latex
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[
backend=biber, style=apa,
giveninits=true, uniquename=init,
citestyle=authoryear]{biblatex}
\bibliography{references.bib}
\begin{document}
... catastrophic population declines (\cite{McIntyre__2015}).
\end{document}
I'm using pandoc to convert this to docx or odt so I can get track changes from colleagues.
pandoc ./main.tex -f latex -t odt --bibliography=./references.bib --csl ../apa.csl -o output.odt
However... in the resulting document, pandoc automatically surrounds every \cite call with an extra set of parenthesis.
...catastrophic population declines ((McIntyre et al. 2015)).
I really like doing parentheses manually... is there a way for me to get pandoc to stop adding these extra citation parentheses?
I have the impression that this can be done with lua filters in pandoc... I was hoping someone could give me some pointers in the right direction on how to address this.
A Lua filter could be used to change the citation mode such that the parens are omitted:
function Cite(cite)
for _, c in ipairs(cite.citations) do
c.mode = pandoc.AuthorInText
end
return cite
end
Make sure that the filter runs before citeproc, i.e., it must occur first in the call to pandoc:
pandoc --lua-filter=modify-citations.lua --citeproc ...
The alternative would be to change \cite into \citet.
The answer from tarleb didn't solve the question, but it did lead me to the right documentation.
I now understand that pandoc relies on CSL for the actual formatting of citations, while lua filters can modify what kind of citation is used (author in text, vs author in parenthesis).
<citation et-al-min="3" et-al-use-first="1" disambiguate-add-year-suffix="true" disambiguate-add-names="true" disambiguate-add-givenname="true" collapse="year" givenname-disambiguation-rule="primary-name-with-initials">
<layout prefix="" suffix="" delimiter="; ">
</layout>
</citation>
In my CSL doc, I just removed the parentheses from the prefix and suffix attributes of the <citation> <layout> node.
Now only my manually placed parentheses appear in the compiled doc.
...catastrophic population declines (McIntyre et al., 2015).

Pandoc-generated PDF: Change list numbering style

What is the way to change the style of numbers in ordered lists generated by Pandoc?
For the following Markdown input
1. One
2. Two
1. Sub 1
2. Sub 2
Pandoc generates the following Latex output
\begin{enumerate}
\def\labelenumi{\arabic{enumi}.}
\itemsep1pt\parskip0pt\parsep0pt
\item
One
\item
Two
\begin{enumerate}
\def\labelenumii{\arabic{enumii}.}
\itemsep1pt\parskip0pt\parsep0pt
\item
Sub 1
\item
Sub 2
\end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}
This results in the following PDF output:
1. One
2. Two
1. Sub 1
2. Sub 2
While I'm trying to achieve
1. One
2. Two
2.1. Sub 1
2.2. Sub 2
I tried to redefine style of numbering in the default template with these commands
\renewcommand{\labelenumii}{\theenumii}
\renewcommand{\theenumii}{\theenumi.\arabic{enumii}.}
but as Pandoc generates explicit definition for labelenumii this solution does not work.
Update
It turns out that the problem could be resolved by using #. notation instead of 1. one. For whatever reason Pandoc skips styling only for lists defined this way and interprets the standard Markdown notation as an instruction to style list with plain numbers. Hopefully in future versions it will be a bit more flexible and will add the support for nested numbers in lists.
edit
This function of the latex writer that adds the \def\labelenumi{} part checks for numstyle == DefaultStyle && numdelim == DefaultDelim. As #oleg found out, this might be accomplished with #. list markers, so that this should work:
---
header-includes:
- \renewcommand{\labelenumii}{\theenumii}
- \renewcommand{\theenumii}{\theenumi.\arabic{enumii}.}
---
#. One
#. Two
#. Sub 1
#. Sub 2
There are two feature requests asking for a native markdown solution on the issue tracker (336 and 1627), as well as a discussion on the mailing list.
pre-edit answer
Of course, you could always compile to latex, postprocess the file to remove those \def\labelenumi{} lines, and then compile the latex file. Here is an example that works with the standard latex template.
test.md
---
header-includes:
- \renewcommand{\labelenumii}{\theenumii}
- \renewcommand{\theenumii}{\theenumi.\arabic{enumii}.}
---
1. One
2. Two
1. Sub 1
2. Sub 2
commands:
pandoc test.md -t latex -s | sed '/\\def\\labelenumi/d' > test.tex
xelatex test.tex
But all the lists of your document will be affected, and you need to write the latex compilation commands yourself.

How can I mention the name of a LaTeX command in my beamer presentation?

I am preparing a presentation in beamer with gradientframe package. But it's giving me an error.
How can I write the name of the command in \frame?
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Introduction}
The gradientframe package provides a command, \gradientframe for simple and discreet
rectangular grayscale gradient frames around objects, such as figures or tables, to set
them apart from the surrounding text.
\end{frame}
As in several answers to the linked question (thanks #Bas Swinckels), the way advised to insert a backslash \ in the output is to use \textbackslash in the source.
Then, you can use (or not) just \texttt{} (rather than verbatim or else) to mark command names.
Finally, if you have to mention these command name(s) many times in your slides, you may want to put the above two in a newcommand:
\documentclass{beamer}
\newcommand{\mycomm}[1]{\texttt{\textbackslash #1}}
%\newcommand{\commgf}{\texttt{\textbackslash gradientframe}}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Introduction}
... a command, \textbackslash gradientframe for simple ...
or:
... a command, \texttt{\textbackslash gradientframe} for simple ...
or, better:
... a command, \mycomm{gradientframe} for simple ...
%... a command, \commgf{} for simple ...
\end{frame}
\end{document}
This code gives you:

Pandoc generation of pdf from markdown 4th header is rendered differently

I am using pandoc to generate a pdf from some markdown. I am using h1 through h4 via hash symbols. Example h1=#, h4=####. When I generate my document like this:
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf
I get a document where h1, h2 and h3 have a newline after them but h4 does not have a new line. The text starts on the same line as the header (it isn't formatted the same way, but there isn't a newline character between).
I've tried adding spaces after the #### and adding manual line returns using my editor but nothing seems to work.
Any ideas?
While the mentioned solutions work fine, pandoc offers a build-in variable to enable block-headings for \paragraph.
pandoc -s -o out.pdf some.md -V block-headings
Pandoc Manual
pandoc generates PDFs via LaTeX. In LaTeX, "headers" are generated using the following commands:
\section
\subsection
\subsubsection
\paragraph
\subparagraph
As you can see, a "level four heading" corresponds to the \paragraph command, which is rendered as you describe. There simply isn't a \subsubsubsection command to use.
The only way to get what you want is to redefine the \paragraph command, which is quite tricky. I haven't been able to make it work with Pandoc.
While #tarleb’s answer is surely the best (except that it specifies a
wrong amount of vertical space), here is a “simpler” (by some measure)
but more hacky (in LaTeX terms at least) solution which optionally uses a Pandoc Lua filter or a LaTeX hack but avoids loading another LaTeX package.
We want the LaTeX source to look something like this:
\hypertarget{level-4-heading}{%
\paragraph{Level 4 heading}\label{level-4-heading}}
\hfill
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
This LaTeX looks awful, but if you don’t need to keep or share the LaTeX
source it does what you probably want: a space between the level 4
heading and the paragraph after it equal to the space between a level 3
heading and the paragraph after it.
Here is how it works: since a \hfill on a line on its own is about as
close as you can get to an empty paragraph in LaTeX you get a first
paragraph — the one running in with the heading — containing only
horizontal white space until the end of the line, and then immediately
after a new paragraph — the actual first paragraph after the heading —
with just a normal paragraph space between it and the heading. This
probably also upsets LaTeX’s idea about what a \paragraph should be
like as little as possible.
The “manual” way to do this is as follows:
#### Level 4 heading
````{=latex}
\hfill
````
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
This uses Pandoc’s relatively new raw markup syntax — the “code block”
is actually a raw LaTeX block — but it looks even more awful than the
resulting LaTeX source! It is also a tedious chore to have to insert
this after every level 4 heading. In other words you want to insert that
raw LaTeX automatically, and that can be done with a Lua filter:
--[======================================================================[
latex-h4-break.lua - Pandoc filter to get break after a level 4 heading.
Usage:
$ pandoc --lua-filter latex-h4-break.lua input.md -o output.pdf
--]======================================================================]
-- create it once, use it many times!
local hfill_block = pandoc.RawBlock('latex', '\\hfill')
function Header (elem)
if 4 == elem.level then
return { elem, hfill_block }
else -- ignore headings at other levels!
return nil
end
end
However you can also do a simple LaTeX hack in a header-includes
metadata block to get the same effect:
---
header-includes:
- |
``` {=latex}
\let\originAlParaGraph\paragraph
\renewcommand{\paragraph}[1]{\originAlParaGraph{#1} \hfill}
```
---
#### Level 4 heading
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
This works by first creating an “alias” of the \paragraph command and
then redefining the \paragraph command itself, using the alias in the
new definition so that now wherever the LaTeX source created by Pandoc
contains \paragraph{Foo} it is if it instead had contained
\paragraph{Foo} \hfill which does what we want with zero extra
dependencies! (In case you wonder the wacky spelling of the “aliased”
command is to minimize the risk that it collides with anything which
already exists, since the TeX \let command doesn’t check for that. We
certainly don’t want to overwrite any existing command!)
NOTE: If you really should want more or less space than a normal
paragraph break after the heading just add an appropriate \vspace
command after the \hfill: \hfill \vspace{-0.5\parskip}.
Shifting Headers
Arguably the best way to solve this would be to avoid the problem altogether by shifting what a level 4 header corresponds to. The default for pandoc is to use \section commands for 1st level and \paragraph for 4th level headers. This can be altered via the --top-level-division parameter:
--top-level-division=[default|section|chapter|part]
Treat top-level headers as the given division type in LaTeX [...] output. The hierarchy order is part, chapter, then section; all headers are shifted such that the top-level header becomes the specified type. The default behavior is to determine the best division type via heuristics [...]
So with --top-level-division=chapter, a 4th-level header would be generated via the \subsubsection command.
Styling via LaTeX
If this is not an option, the next best way is to configure the layout of the corresponding LaTeX command: for level-four headers, this is \paragraph by default. The following methods are taken from TeX StackExchange answers.
Please also check the answer by bpj, which is much simpler than what's proposed below.
Default document-classes
The default way would be to configure \paragraph via the titlesec package. We can use the header-includes metadata field for this, which pandoc will include in the intermediate LaTeX document.
---
header-includes: |
``` {=latex}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\titlespacing*{\paragraph}{0pt}{1ex}{-\parskip}
\titleformat{\paragraph}[hang]
{\normalfont\bfseries}
{}
{0pt}
{}
```
---
KOMA document-classes
Using titlesec won't work properly for documents using KOMA classes (like scrartcl), as KOMA has it's own ways of doing things. For these, use this alternative snippet:
---
documentclass: scrartcl
header-includes: |
``` {=latex}
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\paragraph{\#startsection{paragraph}{4}{\z#}%
{-3.25ex \#plus -1ex \#minus -0.2ex}%
{0.01pt}%
{\raggedsection\normalfont\sectfont\nobreak\size#paragraph}%
}
\makeatother
```
---
I am not sure, why, but this works for me:
Put $\ \\ $ in the first line after your #### headline

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