) 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 divs and spans
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
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*
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 above.
Extension: header_attributes
Headings can be assigned attributes using this syntax at the end of the
line containing the heading text:
{#identifier .class .class key=value key=value}
Thus, for example, the following headings will all be assigned the
identifier foo:
# My heading {#foo}
## My heading ## {#foo}
My other heading {#foo}
---------------
(This syntax is compatible with PHP Markdown Extra.)
Note that although this syntax allows assignment of classes and
key/value attributes, writers generally don’t use all of this
information. Identifiers, classes, and key/value attributes are used in
HTML and HTML-based formats such as EPUB and slidy. Identifiers are used
for labels and link anchors in the LaTeX, ConTeXt, Textile, Jira markup,
and AsciiDoc writers.
Headings with the class unnumbered will not be numbered, even if
--number-sections is specified. A single hyphen (-) in an attribute
context is equivalent to .unnumbered, and preferable in non-English
documents. So,
# My heading {-}
is just the same as
# My heading {.unnumbered}
If the unlisted class is present in addition to unnumbered, the heading
will not be included in a table of contents. (Currently this feature is
only implemented for certain formats: those based on LaTeX and HTML,
PowerPoint, and RTF.)
Extension: implicit_header_references
Pandoc behaves as if reference links have been defined for each heading.
So, to link to a heading
# Heading identifiers in HTML
you can simply write
[Heading identifiers in HTML]
or
[Heading identifiers in HTML][]
or
[the section on heading identifiers][heading identifiers in
HTML]
instead of giving the identifier explicitly:
[Heading identifiers in HTML](#heading-identifiers-in-html)
If there are multiple headings with identical text, the corresponding
reference will link to the first one only, and you will need to use
explicit links to link to the others, as described above.
Like regular reference links, these references are case-insensitive.
Explicit link reference definitions always take priority over implicit
heading references. So, in the following example, the link will point to
bar, not to #foo:
# Foo
[foo]: bar
See [foo]
Block quotations
Markdown uses email conventions for quoting blocks of text. A block
quotation is one or more paragraphs or other block elements (such as
lists or headings), with each line preceded by a > character and an
optional space. (The > need not start at the left margin, but it should
not be indented more than three spaces.)
> This is a block quote. This
> paragraph has two lines.
>
> 1. This is a list inside a block quote.
> 2. Second item.
A “lazy” form, which requires the > character only on the first line of
each block, is also allowed:
> This is a block quote. This
paragraph has two lines.
> 1. This is a list inside a block quote.
2. Second item.
Among the block elements that can be contained in a block quote are
other block quotes. That is, block quotes can be nested:
> This is a block quote.
>
> > A block quote within a block quote.
If the > character is followed by an optional space, that space will be
considered part of the block quote marker and not part of the
indentation of the contents. Thus, to put an indented code block in a
block quote, you need five spaces after the >:
> code
Extension: blank_before_blockquote
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:
...
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
{ 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.
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, 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:
This is the abstract.
It consists of two paragraphs.
Variables can contain arbitrary YAML structures, but the template must
match this structure. The author variable in the default templates
expects a simple list or string, but can be changed to support more
complicated structures. The following combination, for example, would
add an affiliation to the author if one is given:
---
title: The document title
author:
- name: Author One
affiliation: University of Somewhere
- name: Author Two
affiliation: University of Nowhere
...
To use the structured authors in the example above, you would need a
custom template:
$for(author)$
$if(author.name)$
$author.name$$if(author.affiliation)$ ($author.affiliation$)$endif$
$else$
$author$
$endif$
$endfor$
Raw content to include in the document’s header may be specified using
header-includes; however, it is important to mark up this content as raw
code for a particular output format, using the raw_attribute extension,
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
*hello*
instead of
hello
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
. 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):
Underline
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:
Small caps
For compatibility with other Markdown flavors, CSS is also supported:
Small caps
This will work in all output formats that support small caps.
Highlighting
To highlight text, use the mark class:
[Mark]{.mark}
Or, without the bracketed_spans extension (but with native_spans):
Mark
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