Feature request: Option to preserve internal LaTeX template or make standalone match direct PDF generation

[gabiteodoru]

I'm writing this as a feature request as I don't know if the intentional design is that

1. .md --pandoc--> pdf
   has identical behavior to
2. .md --pandoc -s --> .tex --xelatex--> pdf

I just run into a case where it is not: For ––〃–– in the .md:

1. yields ––〃–– (debugged this using both --verbose and .md --pandoc--> .txt, outputs matched)
2. yields ----〃----

Another example: For Decius' "Title"

1. yields Decius’$,$ “Title”
2. yields Decius' ``Title''

In this second example, the plain behavior 1) actually was buggy, as when rendering to pdf, the ending possessive apostrophe and first quote overlapped; just by using method 2) the bug was fixed

The feature request I'm making would be a way to either be able to keep the intermediate .tex file that 1) creates and that gets automatically deleted e.g. --keep-internal-tex, or when creating 2) have an option to use the same template/processing as method 1) e.g. --use-internal-template

[jgm]

The pdf-via-latex route disables the smart extension on the pandoc writer, so that unicode quotes are used. https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/blob/main/src/Text/Pandoc/PDF.hs#L123-L127

[jgm]

In your first example, this is just the difference between two unicode en-dashes and two latex ligatures for en-dash (--).

Your second example I don't understand. When I use pandoc -t latex-smart on that, I don't get the $,$ and I don't see where that could be coming from.

[gabiteodoru]

The pdf-via-latex route disables the smart extension on the pandoc writer,

Thanks for your reply. I did some thorough testing on a simple .md (––〃–– Decius' "Title") with all 4 combinations of --from smart+-markdown and --to smart+-latex.

If I use the 2 step route (--standalone to tex, then pdf), I need to disable both.
If I use the 1 step route (direct to pdf), disabling the markdown smart mode is both a necessary and sufficient condition.

I guess knowing about these smart extensions allows me to fully control everything, so perhaps rather than adding a new option, it would be great if the verbose modes could specify exactly which smart modes are enabled?

Here is my output from the 4 combinations (command goes after output):

pandoc --from markdown-smart --to latex-smart test.md -o test.tex --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="Palatino Linotype" -V CJKmainfont="Arial Unicode MS" --standalone && xelatex test.tex test.pdf && type test.tex && start test.pdf

––〃–– Decius\textquotesingle{} "Title"

Yields correct display in the PDF.

pandoc --from markdown-smart --to latex+smart test.md -o test.tex --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="Palatino Linotype" -V CJKmainfont="Arial Unicode MS" --standalone && xelatex test.tex test.pdf && type test.tex && start test.pdf

----〃---- Decius\textquotesingle{} "Title"

Dashes displayed incorrectly

pandoc --from markdown+smart --to latex-smart test.md -o test.tex --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="Palatino Linotype" -V CJKmainfont="Arial Unicode MS" --standalone && xelatex test.tex test.pdf && type test.tex && start test.pdf

––〃–– Decius’ “Title”

Apostrophe on top of quotes

pandoc --from markdown+smart --to latex+smart test.md -o test.tex --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="Palatino Linotype" -V CJKmainfont="Arial Unicode MS" --standalone && xelatex test.tex test.pdf && type test.tex && start test.pdf

----〃---- Decius' ``Title''

Dashes displayed incorrectly

I guess I could do the same for the verbose output if you need me to, just more tedious to deal with. Thanks! :)

P.S. Regarding the $ sign -- I haven't tried reproducing that; I was dealing with this text inside a table; but I may also have made a manual fix, as I have multiple versions lying around ... again if you need me to do a thorough test with the table ones as well please let me know. Thanks! :)