can you pass multiline metadata/variables as CLI parameters?

[drammock]

I'm trying to control location of citeproc-generated references. I know I can do this with a variable $refs$ in my template, combined with putting the variable into the document header like:

refs: |
  ::: {#refs}
  :::

I know it's also possible to put that bit of YAML in a separate file instead of the doc header, and pass it in as --metadata-file=mymetadata.yml.

I'd prefer to avoid both of those options; it would be more user-proof if I were able to put the ::: {#refs}\n::: bit directly into my template, or inject the variable on the command line (I can trust that users won't tinker with Makefile or template.tex, but having metadata in the document file or an extra pandoc-metadata.yml hanging around at the root of the project folder seems easier for them to mess up).

But: putting it directly into the template the naive way doesn't work; LaTeX complains:

! You can't use `macro parameter character #' in horizontal mode.
l.363 ::: {#

and passing it in on the command line (pandoc ... --variable="refs=::: {#refs}\n:::" ...) doesn't error out, but LaTeX renders the div characters literally.

Is there a way around this, or am I stuck with putting metadata in the header or a separate YAML file?

Addendum: I tried converting the YAML snippet to LaTeX and got this:

\protect\phantomsection\label{refs}

which I tried putting into my template, but this warned: [WARNING] [makePDF] LaTeX Warning: Label 'refs' multiply defined and then failed to put the refs in the desired spot.

[jgm]

$refs$ isn't used as a variable in any of the default templates, as far as I know. Are you using a custom template ?

In any case, you can't put markdown content in a LaTeX template.

When you used LaTeX, you get a duplicate refs because pandoc will add the refs Div automatically if it isn't present in the source document. So you got a duplicate.

With citeproc, the refs identifier needs to be in the source document; adding it in the template is too late.

[drammock]

Are you using a custom template ?

yes.

you can't put markdown content in a LaTeX template

yeah, I didn't really expect it to work, but tried everything I could think of for completeness (e.g., maybe pandoc scans the template before injecting variables; IDK all the implementation details)

I'm content with the --metadata-file approach. Thanks for the quick reply.

[jgm]

Anyway, yes, you can do multiline using --variable-json, but as noted above I don't think your approach is going to work.