Pandoc: No command-line switch for coloring links in PDF format?

[todd-a-jacobs]

I'm using Pandoc to generate PDF from Markdown using the xelatex engine with BasicTex installed. Both URLs and internal links _work_, but you have to know they are there or pass your mouse over them to see the cursor change. They aren't colored, underlined, or in any way set off from the surrounding text.

After reading the Pandoc documentation, it seemed I should be able to pass arguments to Pandoc like:

--urlcolor=cyan

but this just generates an error. For example:

pandoc: unrecognized option `--urlcolor=cyan'

Does Pandoc support arguments to the chosen LaTeX engine? If not, what is the current way that this feature is supported? It's non-obvious from the documentation how to implement link and url colors, even though the keywords are mentioned in the Pandoc User's Guide.

[jgm]

Try

--variable urlcolor=cyan

Notice that in the manual, urlcolor appears under the list
of Variables for LaTeX, in the section Templates. If you
look up at the top of the section, it says: "Variables may
be set within the document using YAML metadata blocks.
They may also be set at the command line using the
-V/--variable option." You can look at the documentation
for that option to see how to use it.

+++ Todd A. Jacobs [Dec 07 15 08:47 ]:

I'm using Pandoc to generate PDF from Markdown using the xelatex engine
with BasicTex installed. Both URLs and internal links work, but you
have to know they are there or pass your mouse over them to see the
cursor change. They aren't colored, underlined, or in any way set off
from the surrounding text.

After reading the Pandoc documentation, it seemed I should be able to
pass arguments to Pandoc like:
--urlcolor=cyan

but this just generates an error. For example:

pandoc: unrecognized option `--urlcolor=cyan'

Does Pandoc support arguments to the chosen LaTeX engine? If not, what
is the current way that this feature is supported? It's non-obvious
from the documentation how to implement link and url colors, even
though the keywords are mentioned in the Pandoc User's Guide.

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References

1. https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/2581

[todd-a-jacobs]

Thanks, @jgm. That worked perfectly. I think the issue is that, cognitively, it didn't occur to me that LaTeX options could or should be set as _template_ options with the --variable flag. It may be worth explaining that somehow, or having a link in the relevant options sections back to the Template section.

I can't think of the best way to word that right now, but could take a stab at it and make a pull-request if you think that adds value. If the problem is solely between keyboard and chair on this end, though, then you can close the ticket as resolved and with my gratitude.

[jgm]

Feel free to make a suggestion if you like. colorlinks is already described inside the Template section, so I'm not sure it makes sense to link from there to the Template section.

[gandalfsaxe]

Noob question, how can this be set in the YAML block?

I tried

urlcolor: blue
---

and

urlcolor: "blue"
---

[jgm]

You also need to set colorlinks: true.

+++ Gandalf Saxe [Mar 05 18 02:28 ]:

Noob question, how can this be set in the YAML block?

I tried

urlcolor: blue

and

urlcolor: "blue"

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References

1. https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/2581#issuecomment-370375958
2. https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAL5BI-PT1MMAQe7u9GZt5lvISo2-fKks5tbRNJgaJpZM4GwSp_

[gandalfsaxe]

Thanks. In the manual it says that colorlinks should be "automatically enabled if any of linkcolor, citecolor, urlcolor, or toccolor are set". Is this implicitly only true when setting the variable as a command option, not in the yaml header?

[jgm]

You're right -- and from a look at the source, this should
work. What version of pandoc are you using?

+++ Gandalf Saxe [Mar 07 18 09:34 ]:

Thanks. In the manual [1]it says that colorlinks should be
"automatically enabled if any of linkcolor, citecolor, urlcolor, or
toccolor are set". Is this implicitly only true when setting the
variable as a command option, not in the yaml header?

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References

1. https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#variables-for-latex
2. https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/2581#issuecomment-371079165
3. https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAL5EgAZwXM27gdcdvd9T0wNEdf27lzks5tb6mOgaJpZM4GwSp_

[gandalfsaxe]

I thought I was using a new version, but I can see now that I'm on pandoc 1.19.2.1.

Apparently my system defaults to using Anaconda3's pandoc, not homebrew's pandoc. I can't get a newer version with condo upgrade pandoc, but I can get a newer one from https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/pandoc. Is conda-forge or brew preferred on Mac or is it purely a matter of taste?

Anyway I'll try to do this again when I upgrade to the newest pandoc version.

[gandalfsaxe]

Can confirm that colorlinks: true does not need to be set in pandoc 2.1.2, and thus appears to be correctly set as default value in the newest version 👍

[pepas24]

Hi, how can I use an hex color like #9068be?

[noraj]

pandoc 2.8

markdown to pdf no link color by default

adding urlcolor: "RedOrange"

But something is still wrong, the documentation is saying

including the dvipsnames, svgnames, and x11names lists

RedOrange from dvipsnames works (previous screenshot) but DarkOrange from svgnames doesn't work.

Error producing PDF.
! Package xcolor Error: Undefined color `DarkOrange'.

See the xcolor package documentation for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...                                   

Same error with DarkOrange2 from x11names.

@jgm Do you want me to open a new issue svgnames and x11names not supported for xcolor color names

[jgm]

Yes, a new issue would make sense; it's a simple doc change but we should try to figure out why that was in the docs in the first place.

[smokris]

Hi, how can I use an hex color like #9068be?

@pepas24, try this syntax: --variable urlcolor='[HTML]{9068be}'