Re: Blank lines in LaTeX output due to org-mode comments

[Mark Edgington <edgimar@gmail.com>]

Nicolas Goaziou <mail <at> nicolasgoaziou.fr> writes:
> Mark Edgington <edgimar <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Assume we have the following sample org-mode document:
> >
> > * Test Heading
> > test test test test test test test
> > test test test test test test test
> > test test test test test test test
> > # HERE IS A COMMENT
> > TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST
> > TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST
> > TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST
> >
> > I would assume that in org-mode the comment line would be completely
> > ignored when exporting the document, however this seems not to be the
> > case -- notice the difference when exporting the following to LaTeX:
> 
> The behavior is correct. Actually, what you suggest was reported as
> a bug a couple of years ago. Comments separate paragraphs, so you really
> have two paragraphs in the first example, but only one in the second
> example.
> 
> You can handle comments differently by adding a function in, e.g.
> `org-export-before-processing-hook', that will take care of removing
> commented lines. These are easy to recognize. See
> `org-export--delete-comments' for an example.

I'm inclined to view it more as a bug, because it makes it impossible to
place comments within a paragraph.  Paragraphs consist of sentences, and
perhaps you'd like to make a note related to one of those sentences (in fact
I do).

On the other hand, if the behavior was to not create blank lines, it
wouldn't be difficult to add a blank line either before or after a comment
if desired.  Furthermore, the behavior is inconsistent with how LaTeX
comments behave (which may not matter, but it may be easier for people who
know both org-mode and LaTeX for the behavior to be consistent).

At the least, I think it would be helpful to have a built-in option that
allows one to select the preferred behavior.