Cheatsheets:Pandoc - Revision history

Rongzhou: /* Standalone documents, TOC & metadata */

2026-08-24T07:30:09Z

Standalone documents, TOC & metadata

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:30, 24 August 2026
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	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	Title, author, date ~~live~~ in a YAML block at the top of the file:		Title, author, date must be specified in a YAML block at the top of the source Markdown file:

	<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>

Rongzhou: /* PDF output */

2026-08-23T22:41:44Z

PDF output

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:41, 23 August 2026
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	== PDF output ==		== PDF output ==

	~~PDF~~ needs a typesetting engine~~; the~~ default is LaTeX:		Pandoc needs a typesetting engine to output PDF.

			The default engine is LaTeX.

	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
	pandoc report.md -o report.pdf # pdflatex		pandoc report.md -o report.pdf # default engine: pdflatex
	pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex		pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex
	pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=weasyprint # HTML-based, no LaTeX needed		pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=weasyprint # HTML-based, no LaTeX needed
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	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	'''LaTeX ~~must be~~ installed~~''' or~~ you get <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>pdflatex not found</syntaxhighlight>. ~~No LaTeX available? Use~~ <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=weasyprint</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=typst</syntaxhighlight>.		'''If LaTeX is not installed, you may get <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>pdflatex not found</syntaxhighlight> error.''' <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=weasyprint</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=typst</syntaxhighlight> circumvents the problem.
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

Rongzhou: /* Converting between formats */

2026-08-23T22:37:57Z

Converting between formats

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:37, 23 August 2026
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	\|-		\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc report.md -o report.docx</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → Word		\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc report.md -o report.docx</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → Word
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc notes.docx -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Word → Markdown~~
	\|-
	~~\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc page.html -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> \|\| HTML → Markdown~~
	\|-		\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc book.md -o book.epub</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → EPUB e-book		\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc book.md -o book.epub</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → EPUB e-book
	\|-		\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc slides.md -t revealjs -s -o slides.html</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → HTML slide deck		\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc slides.md -t revealjs -s -o slides.html</syntaxhighlight> \|\| Markdown → HTML slide deck
			\|-
			\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc page.html -o page.md</syntaxhighlight> \|\| HTML → Markdown
	\|-		\|-
	\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc data.csv -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> \|\| CSV → Markdown table		\| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc data.csv -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> \|\| CSV → Markdown table
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	\|}		\|}

	No <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight>~~? Output~~ goes to stdout ~~— pipe it:~~		When <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight> is not provided, output goes to <code>stdout</code>

	<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
	pandoc notes.docx -t markdown \| less		pandoc notes.docx -t markdown \| less
	echo "# Hi" \| pandoc -t html ~~# no input file = read stdin~~		</syntaxhighlight>

			Similarly, when no input file is specified, pandoc reads from <code>stdin</code>

			<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
			echo "# Hi" \| pandoc -t html
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	~~'''The <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight> extension decides~~ the ~~output~~ format~~''' — an extensionless~~ <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o out</syntaxhighlight> ~~fails with~~ <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>Unknown output format</syntaxhighlight>~~. Pandoc never guesses from content~~.		Since pandoc infers the file format from the file extension and not from file content, a file without extension (e.g., <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o out</syntaxhighlight>) causes <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>Unknown output format</syntaxhighlight> error.
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

Rongzhou: /* Basic example */

2026-08-23T22:28:13Z

Basic example

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:28, 23 August 2026
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	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

			turns
	<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>
			!pancake.md
	# Pancakes		# Pancakes

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	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	~~becomes~~		into

	<syntaxhighlight lang="html" copy>		<syntaxhighlight lang="html" copy>
			!pancake.html
	<h1 id="pancakes">Pancakes</h1>		<h1 id="pancakes">Pancakes</h1>
	<p>A quick pancake recipe for two.</p>		<p>A quick pancake recipe for two.</p>
	</syntaxhighlight>		</syntaxhighlight>

	~~Formats are guessed~~ from file extensions: input from the source file's, output from <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight>'s. Override either with <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-f</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-t</~~syntaxhighlight~~>.		<blockquote>
			Pandoc automatically infers the file formats from file extensions!
			</blockquote>

	== Converting between formats ==		== Converting between formats ==

RonzzWikiCowriterAI: Create Pandoc cheatsheet (AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter)) (via create-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-08-23T22:22:03Z

Create Pandoc cheatsheet (AI-assisted (RonzzWikiCowriter)) (via create-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

New page

{{Cheatsheet}}

Pandoc is a universal document converter: write once in Markdown, output to HTML, PDF, DOCX, EPUB, LaTeX, or slides — and convert back from nearly any format.

New to Pandoc? Try the [https://pandoc.org/getting-started.html 20-minute tutorial] or skim the [https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html manual].

<blockquote>
Commands assume Pandoc 3.x — check yours with <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc --version</syntaxhighlight>.
</blockquote>

== Basic example ==

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
pandoc pancake.md -o pancake.html
</syntaxhighlight>

<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>
# Pancakes

A quick pancake recipe for two.
</syntaxhighlight>

becomes

<syntaxhighlight lang="html" copy>
<h1 id="pancakes">Pancakes</h1>
<p>A quick pancake recipe for two.</p>
</syntaxhighlight>

Formats are guessed from file extensions: input from the source file's, output from <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight>'s. Override either with <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-f</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-t</syntaxhighlight>.

== Converting between formats ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Command !! Conversion
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc report.md -o report.html</syntaxhighlight> || Markdown → HTML
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc report.md -o report.pdf</syntaxhighlight> || Markdown → PDF (see [[#PDF output|PDF output]])
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc report.md -o report.docx</syntaxhighlight> || Markdown → Word
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc notes.docx -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> || Word → Markdown
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc page.html -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> || HTML → Markdown
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc book.md -o book.epub</syntaxhighlight> || Markdown → EPUB e-book
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc slides.md -t revealjs -s -o slides.html</syntaxhighlight> || Markdown → HTML slide deck
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc data.csv -t markdown</syntaxhighlight> || CSV → Markdown table
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>pandoc ch1.md ch2.md -o book.html</syntaxhighlight> || several files, concatenated
|}

No <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight>? Output goes to stdout — pipe it:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
pandoc notes.docx -t markdown | less
echo "# Hi" | pandoc -t html # no input file = read stdin
</syntaxhighlight>

<blockquote>
'''The <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o</syntaxhighlight> extension decides the output format''' — an extensionless <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o out</syntaxhighlight> fails with <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>Unknown output format</syntaxhighlight>. Pandoc never guesses from content.
</blockquote>

== PDF output ==

PDF needs a typesetting engine; the default is LaTeX:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
pandoc report.md -o report.pdf # pdflatex
pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=xelatex
pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=weasyprint # HTML-based, no LaTeX needed
pandoc report.md -o report.pdf --pdf-engine=typst # pandoc >= 3.1.5
</syntaxhighlight>

<blockquote>
'''LaTeX must be installed''' or you get <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>pdflatex not found</syntaxhighlight>. No LaTeX available? Use <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=weasyprint</syntaxhighlight> or <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=typst</syntaxhighlight>.
</blockquote>

== Standalone documents, TOC & metadata ==

A bare conversion emits a '''fragment''' — no <syntaxhighlight lang="html" inline><head></syntaxhighlight>, no title, no TOC. Add <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-s</syntaxhighlight> for a full document:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
pandoc report.md -s -o report.html # full HTML page
pandoc report.md -s --toc -o report.html # ... with a table of contents
pandoc report.md -s --toc -N -o report.docx # TOC + numbered sections
</syntaxhighlight>

Title, author, date live in a YAML block at the top of the file:

<syntaxhighlight lang="markdown" copy>
---
title: "Pancake report"
author: Ada
date: 2025-06-01
---
</syntaxhighlight>

...or on the command line:

<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" copy>
pandoc report.md -s -o report.html -M title="Pancake report"
</syntaxhighlight>

<blockquote>
'''<syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--toc</syntaxhighlight> has no effect without <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-s</syntaxhighlight>''' — a fragment has no place to put the table of contents.

Also, Pandoc reads its own '''pandoc markdown''' dialect by default. Other dialects: <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-f gfm</syntaxhighlight> (GitHub) or <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-f commonmark</syntaxhighlight>.
</blockquote>

== Common options ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Option !! Effect
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-f FORMAT</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--from=FORMAT</syntaxhighlight> || input format: <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>markdown</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>gfm</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>commonmark</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>html</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>docx</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>epub</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>csv</syntaxhighlight>, ...
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-t FORMAT</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--to=FORMAT</syntaxhighlight> || output format — same list, plus <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>pdf</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>revealjs</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>beamer</syntaxhighlight>, <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>typst</syntaxhighlight>
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-o FILE</syntaxhighlight> || write to FILE instead of stdout
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-s</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--standalone</syntaxhighlight> || full document, not a fragment
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--toc</syntaxhighlight> || table of contents; <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--toc-depth=2</syntaxhighlight> limits the depth
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-N</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--number-sections</syntaxhighlight> || number the headings
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-M key=value</syntaxhighlight> || set metadata, e.g. <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>-M title="Report"</syntaxhighlight>
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--pdf-engine=ENGINE</syntaxhighlight> || pdflatex (default), xelatex, lualatex, weasyprint, typst
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--reference-doc=FILE</syntaxhighlight> || style template for docx / pptx / odt
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--highlight-style=NAME</syntaxhighlight> || code highlight theme: pygments (default), tango, zenburn, monochrome, ...
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--wrap=auto|none|preserve</syntaxhighlight> || line wrapping in text output
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--extract-media=DIR</syntaxhighlight> || where images from docx / epub are saved
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--citeproc</syntaxhighlight> || process citations and bibliography
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--lua-filter=FILE</syntaxhighlight> || transform the document with a Lua script
|-
| <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--list-input-formats</syntaxhighlight> / <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--list-output-formats</syntaxhighlight> || list every supported format
|}

<blockquote>
'''docx → Markdown keeps the images''' — Pandoc extracts them into a <syntaxhighlight lang="text" inline>media/</syntaxhighlight> folder next to your output by default; <syntaxhighlight lang="bash" inline>--extract-media=DIR</syntaxhighlight> changes that directory.
</blockquote>

== For more ==

* [https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html Pandoc manual] — the official, exhaustive reference
* [https://pandoc.org/getting-started.html Pandoc tutorial] — the recommended quick tour
* [https://pandoc.org/try Try Pandoc] — run conversions in the browser
* [https://pandoc.org/filters.html Pandoc filters] — extending Pandoc with Lua scripts
* [[Cheatsheets:Quarto]] — a publishing system built on Pandoc