PDF Bibliography Double Spaced?

[kcho17]

After updating to the latest version of Pandoc, the bibliography in my PDF output started having spaces between entries, even though the main text has no space between paragraphs. I didn't experience this issue prior to updating. I will appreciate your help!

Command line:
pandoc .md -s -o .pdf --data-dir=/Users//Documents/Pandoc --pdf-engine=xelatex --resource-path=/Users//Documents/Pandoc -C --bibliography=library.bib -N

[iandol]

Try to not use your custom pandoc data dir with a small test doc, if I do that I don't see double spacing in latex output:

If so probably you are using a custom template and you have not updated your template with the latest default LaTeX template changes, the current template is comprised of a few files, the CSL bit I think is here: https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates/blob/master/common.latex#L149

Instead of outputting to PDF, output to LaTeX and you will then be able to examp=ine if your LaTeX code looks similar to the expected template markup.

[kcho17]

Thanks for your answer. I didn't explain my issue well in my original post. I started getting spaces between entries like in your output, which wasn't happening before the update. I tried not to use my custom pandoc data dir but sill the same issue occurred. I will try to update my template and let you know if that resolve the issue.

[iandol]

This is the part of the current template that sets the spacing between CSL refs I think \setlength{\itemsep}{#2\baselineskip}}}:

https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates/blob/master/common.latex#L176

[kcho17]

Should I download the template to the should I change "#2" to "#1"? Sorry but still trying to figure it out.

[iandol]

I'm no LaTeX expert either. As I understand it #2 is what is passed from the begin, so \newenvironment{CSLReferences}[2] this line of the template. This is setting #2 = 2 so 2*baseline. I think you should change to \newenvironment{CSLReferences}[0.75] then it will make a smaller gap. Otherwise just inject it directly in that line and ignore the #2. Perhaps someone with more LaTex fu can chime in. I've largely moved over to using Typst to generate PDFs from Pandoc, its so much faster and easier to read and understand...

[mohammadrezwankhan]

Do not change this:

\newenvironment{CSLReferences}[2]

The [2] means “this environment takes two arguments”; it is not the spacing. Changing it to [0.75] would make the LaTeX definition invalid while the body still refers to #1 and #2.

I can reproduce the actual version change with the same Markdown/BibTeX input:

Pandoc 3.7.0.2  -> \begin{CSLReferences}{1}{0}
Pandoc 3.10.1   -> \begin{CSLReferences}{1}{1}

The second value is the inter-entry spacing, in multiples of \baselineskip. The change began in Pandoc 3.8, when its bundled default CSL was updated from Chicago 17th to 18th edition. The old style explicitly had entry-spacing="0"; the current one omits the attribute, and the CSL default is 1.

For a durable fix, copy Pandoc's current default style and change only that setting:

pandoc --print-default-data-file default.csl > no-bib-gap.csl

In no-bib-gap.csl, find the <bibliography ...> start tag and add the attribute:

<bibliography ... entry-spacing="0">

Then add the style to your existing command:

pandoc ***.md -s -o ***.pdf \
  --data-dir=/Users/***/Documents/Pandoc \
  --pdf-engine=xelatex \
  --resource-path=/Users/***/Documents/Pandoc \
  -C --bibliography=library.bib \
  --csl=no-bib-gap.csl -N

This preserves the current Chicago 18 citation formatting and changes only the bibliography entry gap. It also works independently of your custom Pandoc data directory.

You can verify the result before making the PDF:

pandoc ***.md -s -t latex \
  -C --bibliography=library.bib \
  --csl=no-bib-gap.csl > check.tex

grep 'begin{CSLReferences}' check.tex

The output should contain:

\begin{CSLReferences}{1}{0}

So the existing reply correctly identified the CSLReferences area, but the stable control belongs in the CSL style's entry-spacing attribute, not in the template's [2] argument count.

[kcho17]

It worked! Thanks so much!