Re: Orgtbl-mode in latex: escaped braces and dollars, and other arbitrary transformations

[Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr>]

Hello,

Thibaut Verron <thibaut.verron@gmail.com> writes:

> I'm forwarding this question asked on stackexchange: 
> http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/186605/with-orgtbl-how-to-ensure-
> that-braces-and-dollars-are-not-escaped 
>
> After some investigation, it seems that the behavior is hidden deep in the 
> export routines, and I was wisely suggested to ask the question on this list 
> instead.
>
> I have given some tex-related details in the linked question, including some 
> motivations and an example, the tl;dr is that in some conditions, the 
> orgtbl-to-latex exporter will perform arbitrary escape of some characters in 
> the cells, or other kind of transformations:
>
>  $\text{test}$ 
> is exported verbatim (OK).
>
> But
>  \pbox{test}    
> becomes
>  \pbox\{test\}

You should upgrade to Org 8.

>  {test}
> becomes
>  \{test\}

This is intended.

>  {$test$}
> becomes
>  \{\$test\$\}

This is to be expected as matching single dollar math snippets is
fragile. I suggest to use \(...\) instead: {\(test\)}

> And the exporter seems to be trying to be smart, because it will still 
> ensure that the result is correct:
>
>  {$\infty$}
> becomes
>  \{\$$\infty$\$\}

Ditto. Use \(...\). Or, better, {\infty} as \infty is an Org entity
which will properly translated into LaTeX code.

> The weirdest of all might be this one:
>  \pbox{Foo: \\${bar= (2^{3},1)}$, ${baz= (8^{4})}$}
> becomes 
>  \pbox\{Foo: \\${bar= (2^{3},1)}$, \$\{baz= (8$^{\text{4}}$)\}\$\}

You cannot write raw LaTeX macros with complicated arguments (e.g.,
containing braces) in an Org buffer. In this case, you have to tell the
exporter it is LaTeX code and don't expect it to find it out:

  @@latex:\pbox{Foo: \\${bar= (2^{3},1)}$, ${baz= (8^{4})}$}@@

This will be ignored in any exporter but latex (and beamer).

> The option `:no-export`, as expected, has no effect, since it only controls 
> whether `#_^&%` are escaped or not. 

This option doesn't exist anymore in Org 8.

> Is this a known feature, or a bug? And is there a known workaround?

Actually, this is consistent if you understand the limitations of Org.
As a rule of thumb, avoid using $..$ constructs and macros with
convoluted arguments (but "\hfill{}" and "\vspace{1cm}" are fine) when
writing raw LaTeX in an Org buffer.

For anything more complicated, use @@latex:...@@
or #+BEGIN_LATEX...#+END_LATEX (inline and non-inline version).

Again, all this assumes you are using Org 8.

HTH,


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou