Use of YAML metadata block

Use of YAML metadata block

[R (Chandra) Chandrasekhar]

I am a little unsure of the boundaries of what a YAML metadata block can 
contain in order for it to be correctly interpreted as a command line 
option.

While there is a certain allure to having all compile-time options 
sitting in a metadata block in the document itself to make it 
self-contained, Pandoc's versatility in format support makes this 
difficult to achieve.

My understanding is that key-value options to --variable and --metadata 
can be included in a YAML metadata block, but not standard command line 
options like --bibliography or --filter or --highlight-style (with 
title, author, date being exceptions.)

Is this correct?

Because this is a dynamic and evolving area, can someone point me to the 
definitive single source that documents current behaviour so that I 
might get some clarity, please.

Thanks.

Chandra

Re: Use of YAML metadata block

[John MacFarlane]

+++ R (Chandra) Chandrasekhar [Apr 09 16 19:37 ]:
>I am a little unsure of the boundaries of what a YAML metadata block 
>can contain in order for it to be correctly interpreted as a command 
>line option.
>
>While there is a certain allure to having all compile-time options 
>sitting in a metadata block in the document itself to make it 
>self-contained, Pandoc's versatility in format support makes this 
>difficult to achieve.
>
>My understanding is that key-value options to --variable and 
>--metadata can be included in a YAML metadata block, but not standard 
>command line options like --bibliography or --filter or 
>--highlight-style (with title, author, date being exceptions.)
>
>Is this correct?

Yes, but with one qualification:  some command-line options,
like `--bibliography`, do nothing but set a metadata value.
So that's a case where you can put it in your YAML metadata.

The section of the User's Guide/man page/README entitled
Variables is the best place to look for what can
be set in YAML metadata.