Bug: unexpected behavior of nesting braces when exporting to LaTeX

Bug: unexpected behavior of nesting braces when exporting to LaTeX

[Chlo De]

Hello,

I use Org-mode to take notes. I found that when there are nesting braces inside \emph{ }, \textit{ }, etc. the output is unexpected. The following org text

\emph{{n+1}-a}
\textit{a{b}c}

will be translated as LaTeX expressions

\emph\{\{n+1\}-a\}
\textit\{a\{b\}c\}

Can this be fixed?
Best,
Yue

Re: Bug: unexpected behavior of nesting braces when exporting to LaTeX

[Jeremie Juste]

Hello Yue,


On Friday, 20 Aug 2021 at 00:45, Chlo De wrote:

> \emph{{n+1}-a}
> \textit{a{b}c}
>
> will be translated as LaTeX expressions
>
> \emph\{\{n+1\}-a\}
> \textit\{a\{b\}c\}

I'm not sure it is a bug. Could you specify what do you expect in these
cases?


Note that there are native org-syntax for \emph and \textbf

*n+1 - a* 
/a{b}c/

(info "(org) Emphasis and Monospace")

HTH,
-- 
Jeremie Juste

Re: Bug: unexpected behavior of nesting braces when exporting to LaTeX

[Jeremie Juste]

Hello Yue,

Posting your mail below back to the list where you have a better chance
of getting the right explanation. I totally understand that many times
copy directly latex chunk is a nice feature org-mode offers.

From your example below, exporting the following script to latex would
work ok in org-mode.

#+BEGIN_SRC org
#+options: toc:nil
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{amsthm}
#+LATEX_HEADER:\theoremstyle{theorem}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}\usepackage{setspace}
#+end_src

* Theorem

 The longest word in this sentence is \emph{emphasized}.
 \begin{theorem}
   An emphasized a word looks \emph{distinguished}.
 \end{theorem}

Yes, for my part I usually wrap into a source block, if I need native
latex syntax

#+BEGIN_SRC latex
\emph{{n+1}-a}
\textit{a{b}c}
#+end_src

I don't know if it is the case by design or if it is a bug.

HTH,
Jeremie


On Sunday, 22 Aug 2021 at 09:03, Chlo De wrote:
> Hello Jeremie,
>
> Thank you for your reply. 
>
> As both \emph and \textit are commonly used LaTeX commands, I would
> expect everything inside the braces be interpreted in LaTeX way, i.e.,
> plain { }  are for semantic use only and are omitted in the output.
>
> I appreciate that you mentioned native org-syntax. There are two reasons
> that I prefer the LaTeX way. 
> - I sometimes need to copy large chunk of tex contents from my other
> notes or papers. It would be easier if I don’t need to convert them one
> by one, as it is hard to spot such a thing in a long document.
> - \emph is not exactly \textbf or \textit. With its default definition,
> in text, \emph behaves like \textit. However, in an environment where the
> text is italic by default, say, theorem, \emph will turn the text into
> normal font. Here is a minimal example.
> \documentclass{article}
> \usepackage{amsthm}
> \theoremstyle{theorem}
> \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
>
> \begin{document}
>  The longest word in this sentence is \emph{emphasized}.
>  \begin{theorem}
>    An emphasized a word looks \emph{distinguished}.
>  \end{theorem}
> \end{document}
>
> The output is
>
> [cid]                                                    
>
> Besides, this question seems related 
> https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/52510/not-scape-braces-in-latex-org-mode
>
> Best,
> Yue
>
>     On Aug 22, 2021, at 03:27, Jeremie Juste <jeremiejuste@gmail.com>
>     wrote:
>
>     Hello Yue,
>
>     On Friday, 20 Aug 2021 at 00:45, Chlo De wrote:
>
>         \emph{{n+1}-a}
>         \textit{a{b}c}
>
>         will be translated as LaTeX expressions
>
>         \emph\{\{n+1\}-a\}
>         \textit\{a\{b\}c\}
>
>     I'm not sure it is a bug. Could you specify what do you expect in
>     these
>     cases?
>
>     Note that there are native org-syntax for \emph and \textbf
>
>     *n+1 - a*
>     /a{b}c/
>
>     (info "(org) Emphasis and Monospace")
>
>     HTH,
>     --
>     Jeremie Juste
>

-- 
Jeremie Juste

Re: Bug: unexpected behavior of nesting braces when exporting to LaTeX

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

Chlo De <shiyue9621@gmail.com> writes:

> I use Org-mode to take notes. I found that when there are nesting braces inside \emph{ }, \textit{ }, etc. the output is unexpected. The following org text
>
> \emph{{n+1}-a}
> \textit{a{b}c}
>
> will be translated as LaTeX expressions
>
> \emph\{\{n+1\}-a\}
> \textit\{a\{b\}c\}
>
> Can this be fixed?

Org only supports a limited part of the LaTeX syntax as raw syntax. This
is not AucTeX mode!

For complex macros (e.g., with nested braces), you need to use dedicated
environments, as pointed out by Jérémie.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou