marhop / pandoc-unicode-math Goto Github PK

Hi,

I get this error when I try to run the plugin in nixos:

$ pandoc --from=markdown --to=pdf --filter pandoc-unicode-math -o test.pdf test.md 
Error running filter pandoc-unicode-math:
pandoc-unicode-math: createProcess: posix_spawnp: does not exist (No such file or directory)

I am using the last binary 1.23;

The plugin works great so far with xelatex and my Unicode input via Neo2. However, it requires some discipline that is not needed when working directly with xelatex, e.g. when typing:

$$
λe^{-λx}
$$

the output won't compile as it generates:

$$
\lambdae^{-\lamdbax}
$$

I'd suggest adding a whitespace after each replaced unicode symbol if it is followed by another letter / not followed by a whitespace or control symbol.

This is:

• Unicode Character 'ALMOST EQUAL TO' (U+2248)
• Latex \approx

Silly question, how do I install this filter?

Expected behavior

• Ω should be translated to \Omega
• Ω should be translated to \si{\ohm} BUT it would require the \usepackage{siunitx} package

Actual behavior

When outputting a pdf:

• Ω OHM SIGN is translated to \Omega then to Ω GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA, which is wrong but acceptable.
• But Ω GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA is not translated to \Omega then to Ω GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA, which is bad because it makes pandoc compilation fail.

Solution

I propose that we do not use \si{\ohm} to avoid unnecessary dependencies and that we instead map everything to \Omega Ω GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMEGA.

Caveats

This will mean multiple characters map to one so the conversion will be lossy, so converting backward will be impossible for Ω OHM SIGN.

Is there any possibility you might expand this plugin to support UnicodeMath syntax more broadly? I really prefer the nearly-plain-text syntax of Unicode, especially for things like fractions, to LaTeX.

Thank you for the awesome idea.

• Could you please support this feature:

Convert latex maths symbol (such as $\alpha$, $\times$) in existing markdown documents to unicode symbols α.

https://www.johndcook.com/unidata.js has a useful list of symbols. Would it be possible to add them to symbols.hs?

Any chance of getting a binary for MacOS?

A bit of a minor issue, but what wasn't clear from the documentation was that you need to envelop any unicode characters with $ <unicode goes here> $ before the plugin picks them up. Only after looking at the example file, did I realise the problem.

A suggestion would be to mention this in the Readme.