[Tex/LaTex] Adding headers and footers using Pandoc

pandoc

Pandoc uses Tex as an intermediary step when generating PDF, so I thought asking this question on the Tex part of StackExchange may be the right place. If not, please let me know, and I will delete it.

How do you specify that Pandoc should use a specific header and footer when generating a PDF from Markdown?

Currently I use the following to create my doc from the command line:

pandoc -s -V geometry:margin=1in --number-sections -o doc.pdf doc.mkd

This gives a lovely result with numbered sections.

What I would like to do, is to include a header and footer on each page. How do I go about it?

The extensions mechanism, e.g. pandoc_title_block may hold the key, but how do you use it?

Lastly (as a bonus), is there some way to create a title page for a document using pandoc?

Best Answer

With pandoc 1.12.x and it’s new YAML metadata capabilities you could add all the information and all LaTeX-code you need in your markdown document like this:

---
title: Test
author: Author Name
header-includes: |
    \usepackage{fancyhdr}
    \pagestyle{fancy}
    \fancyhead[CO,CE]{This is fancy}
    \fancyfoot[CO,CE]{So is this}
    \fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\thepage}
abstract: This is a pandoc test . . . 
...

# This is a test

Lorem ipsum....

That way you don't have to modify the template, simply calling pandoc doc.md -o doc.pdf will suffice.

enter image description here

If you want more control, you can add new metadata like this:

---
title: Test
author: Author Name
header: This is fancy
footer: So is this
geometry: margin=1in
abstract: This is a pandoc test . . . 
...

# This is a test

Lorem ipsum....

To make this work, you have to modify the template (pandoc -D latex > template.latex) accordingly:

% filename: template.latex

\documentclass[$if(fontsize)$$fontsize$,$endif$$if(lang)$$lang$,$endif$$if(papersize)$$papersize$,$endif$$for(classoption)$$classoption$$sep$,$endfor$]{$documentclass$}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

% -----------------------
% Using abstracts
\usepackage{abstract}

% -----------------------
% Using fancy headers and footers
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhead[CO,CE]{$header$}
\fancyfoot[CO,CE]{$footer$}
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\thepage}

\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath}
\usepackage{ifxetex,ifluatex}
\usepackage{fixltx2e} % provides \textsubscript
% use upquote if available, for straight quotes in verbatim environments
\IfFileExists{upquote.sty}{\usepackage{upquote}}{}
\ifnum 0\ifxetex 1\fi\ifluatex 1\fi=0 % if pdftex
  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
$if(euro)$
  \usepackage{eurosym}
$endif$
\else % if luatex or xelatex
  \ifxetex
    \usepackage{mathspec}
    \usepackage{xltxtra,xunicode}
  \else
    \usepackage{fontspec}
  \fi
  \defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text,Scale=MatchLowercase}
  \newcommand{\euro}{€}
$if(mainfont)$
    \setmainfont{$mainfont$}
$endif$
$if(sansfont)$
    \setsansfont{$sansfont$}
$endif$
$if(monofont)$
    \setmonofont[Mapping=tex-ansi]{$monofont$}
$endif$
$if(mathfont)$
    \setmathfont(Digits,Latin,Greek){$mathfont$}
$endif$
\fi
% use microtype if available
\IfFileExists{microtype.sty}{\usepackage{microtype}}{}
$if(geometry)$
\usepackage[$for(geometry)$$geometry$$sep$,$endfor$]{geometry}
$endif$
$if(natbib)$
\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{$if(biblio-style)$$biblio-style$$else$plainnat$endif$}
$endif$
$if(biblatex)$
\usepackage{biblatex}
$if(biblio-files)$
\bibliography{$biblio-files$}
$endif$
$endif$
$if(listings)$
\usepackage{listings}
$endif$
$if(lhs)$
\lstnewenvironment{code}{\lstset{language=Haskell,basicstyle=\small\ttfamily}}{}
$endif$
$if(highlighting-macros)$
$highlighting-macros$
$endif$
$if(verbatim-in-note)$
\usepackage{fancyvrb}
$endif$
$if(tables)$
\usepackage{longtable}
$endif$
$if(graphics)$
\usepackage{graphicx}
% Redefine \includegraphics so that, unless explicit options are
% given, the image width will not exceed the width of the page.
% Images get their normal width if they fit onto the page, but
% are scaled down if they would overflow the margins.
\makeatletter
\def\ScaleIfNeeded{%
  \ifdim\Gin@nat@width>\linewidth
    \linewidth
  \else
    \Gin@nat@width
  \fi
}
\makeatother
\let\Oldincludegraphics\includegraphics
{%
 \catcode`\@=11\relax%
 \gdef\includegraphics{\@ifnextchar[{\Oldincludegraphics}{\Oldincludegraphics[width=\ScaleIfNeeded]}}%
}%
$endif$
\ifxetex
  \usepackage[setpagesize=false, % page size defined by xetex
              unicode=false, % unicode breaks when used with xetex
              xetex]{hyperref}
\else
  \usepackage[unicode=true]{hyperref}
\fi
\hypersetup{breaklinks=true,
            bookmarks=true,
            pdfauthor={$author-meta$},
            pdftitle={$title-meta$},
            colorlinks=true,
            citecolor=$if(citecolor)$$citecolor$$else$blue$endif$,
            urlcolor=$if(urlcolor)$$urlcolor$$else$blue$endif$,
            linkcolor=$if(linkcolor)$$linkcolor$$else$magenta$endif$,
            pdfborder={0 0 0}}
\urlstyle{same}  % don't use monospace font for urls
$if(links-as-notes)$
% Make links footnotes instead of hotlinks:
\renewcommand{\href}[2]{#2\footnote{\url{#1}}}
$endif$
$if(strikeout)$
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
% avoid problems with \sout in headers with hyperref:
\pdfstringdefDisableCommands{\renewcommand{\sout}{}}
$endif$
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{6pt plus 2pt minus 1pt}
\setlength{\emergencystretch}{3em}  % prevent overfull lines
$if(numbersections)$
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{5}
$else$
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}
$endif$
$if(verbatim-in-note)$
\VerbatimFootnotes % allows verbatim text in footnotes
$endif$
$if(lang)$
\ifxetex
  \usepackage{polyglossia}
  \setmainlanguage{$mainlang$}
\else
  \usepackage[$lang$]{babel}
\fi
$endif$
$for(header-includes)$
$header-includes$
$endfor$

$if(title)$
\title{$title$}
$endif$
$if(subtitle)$
\subtitle{$subtitle$}
$endif$
\author{$for(author)$$author$$sep$ \and $endfor$}
\date{$date$}

\begin{document}
$if(title)$
\maketitle
$endif$

$for(include-before)$
$include-before$

$endfor$
$if(toc)$
{
\hypersetup{linkcolor=black}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{$toc-depth$}
\tableofcontents
}
$endif$
%-----------------------------------
% Adding the abstract

$if(abstract)$
\begin{abstract}
$abstract$
\end{abstract}
$endif$

$body$

$if(natbib)$
$if(biblio-files)$
$if(biblio-title)$
$if(book-class)$
\renewcommand\bibname{$biblio-title$}
$else$
\renewcommand\refname{$biblio-title$}
$endif$
$endif$
\bibliography{$biblio-files$}

$endif$
$endif$
$if(biblatex)$
\printbibliography$if(biblio-title)$[title=$biblio-title$]$endif$

$endif$
$for(include-after)$
$include-after$

$endfor$
\end{document}

This is also the place to create a title page. As you can see, the template is nothing but a LaTeX document with some $variables$, so it should be easy to customize to your liking.

Now just call pandoc with the template option:

pandoc -s -N --template=template.latex doc.md -o doc.pdf

You can find the documentation for templates here: https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#templates

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