I have a file of metadata (yaml format) which I am processing along with a markdown file. to create an epub

So basically

   pandoc x.yml x.md -o x.epub

I have include the text

epub-chapter-level: 2

In the metadata file as I thought this was the equivalent of using the --epub-chapter-level=2 command line option

Whilst other items in the metadata file are used (e.g. css) the directive

epub-chapter-level: 2

is ignored.

Could someone let me know where I'm going wrong?

Many thanks!

'ö-Dzin