Provide a way to continue paragraphs after block quotes

[AthanasiusOfAlex]

I am using pandoc to write a paper that includes many block quotes that I need to comment on.

There is currently no native way to indicate that the text after the block quote is a continuation of the paragraph that precedes it. For example,

Here is some commentary on some text:

> This is the text from the original source.

The commentary continues below.

What I chiefly need is a way to indicate that the text after the block quote should not be indented. Right now, the only work-around is to use the \noindent LaTeX command.

This works well if the output is LaTeX or PDF, obviously, and it sort of works for Word. (The text is given the “First Paragraph” style, but this only gives the correct output if the template does not indent the first paragraph, which is not correct for many publications.) However, it does not work at all for HTML.

My suggestion is to include a native syntax to indicate that the paragraph continues. Thinking out loud, that could be:

Here is some commentary on some text:

> This is the text from the original source.
_
The commentary continues below.

or perhaps just continuing the > with an entirely blank line, but connected to the continuing text:

Here is some commentary on some text:

> This is the text from the original source.
>
The commentary continues below.

In LaTeX, this should output a \noindent command for text immediately below the block quote, and in Word, it should apply a style like “Paragraph Continued after Block Quote” or “Paragraph with No Indent” instead of “First Paragraph.” In HTML it should add a class like .noindent to the <p> element. That way, in Word and HTML, the user can easily modify the styles to get the desired effect.

[badumont]

I wrote a filter some time ago that does this thing: https://bastien-dumont.onmypc.net/git/bdumont/pandoc-lua-filters/src/branch/master/composite-paragraphs I can extend it to other formats if you indicate what it should do.

[jgm]

This is a problem I run into all the time, and eventually I'd like some built-in way to deal with it.

But this is the filter I use: You start a paragraph with a single _ if it's a continuation.

function Para(el)
  local ils = el.content
  if #ils >= 2 and ils[1].t == "Str" and ils[1].text == "_" and ils[2].t == "Space" then
    el.content:remove(1)
    el.content[1] = pandoc.RawInline("latex", "\\noindent ")
    return el
  end
end

This is a bit simpler to write than an enclosing div. Currently it only works for LaTeX, though.

[jgm]

Here's a link to an discussion of the same issue in the djot repository: jgm/djot#50

[paul-kelleher]

I have used @badumont's lua filter in the past, and it's worked great. The flexibility across latex/pdf/docx is exactly what I need. (My standard workflow, however, begins with composition in Scrivener, which I have set up to apply \noindent to a select piece of text if output is latex or pdf, and otherwise wrap that text in an enclosing div that tells Pandoc to use a reference docx file that follows the same rule.)

If Pandoc doesn't end up incorporating a format-flexible no-indent command natively, I'd be most grateful if that lua filter could be kept compatible with Pandoc going forward. It's that essential for me, since a lot of my writing these days involves equation blocks, after which I often want a continuation rather than a new paragraph. Thanks!

[badumont]

I'm happy that it helps! At least as long as I use it, it will be kept compatible. By the way, it could be easily adapted to support John's lighter syntax too.