Strange pdf output when writing `"avg"` in spanish

[cganterh]

I'm including some code in a spanish text and it seems that LaTeX combines (hyphenates?) the "a" letter when I write "avg". I don't know if this is an expected behaviour in LaTeX, but it is totally not expected in markdown. So I think it's a bug.

This is a very short version of my text:

---
lang: spanish
...

`"avg"`

`"a`

\verb|"a|

And here is an image of the output:

As you can see when I use \verb| | it works as espected.

[jgm]

This is completely weird. The latex is

 \texttt{"avg"}

and it works fine when we don't use [spanish] in the
documentclass and \usepackage[spanish]{babel}.

So something in the babel package is affecting the behavior
of ". I'd need to know more about why this is happening
to know how to fix it. If nobody posts here, you may want
to consult latex experts (e.g. on texoverflow). Or you might try
posting to pandoc-discuss, where there are babel-users who
might be able to help.

+++ cganterh [Sep 26 14 15:28 ]:

I'm including some code in a spanish text and it seems that LaTeX
combines (hyphenates?) the "a" letter when I write "avg". I don't
know if this is an expected behaviour in LaTeX, but it is totally not
expected in markdown. So I think it's a bug.

This is a very short version of my text:

lang: spanish
...

"avg"

"a

\verb|"a|

And here is an image of the output:

[1]sin nombre

As you can see when I use \verb| | it works as espected.

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References

1. https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/5922460/4428354/484276f8-45cb-11e4-8693-1f07eee931b1.png
2. Strange pdf output when writing "avg" in spanish #1648

[cganterh]

I tested it in german too, then you get the ä character. So there are probably other languages affected.
Maybe this post can help: Prevent hyphenation in \texttt words.
I will ask in texoverflow anyway.

[jgm]

There's a reason why we use texttt with escapes rather than
a verb environment, though at the moment I don't recall what
it was (would have to search a ways back through issues and
commit history). But it seems that babel is redefining "
(and probably other characters) as some kind of accent character.

+++ cganterh [Sep 26 14 15:50 ]:

I tested it in german too, then you get the ä character. So there are
probably other languages affected.

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References

1. Strange pdf output when writing "avg" in spanish #1648 (comment)

[cganterh]

I asked in texoverflow. Here is the link to the question.

[cganterh]

Ok, I found out that when I generate the pdf file with xelatex (--latex-engine=xelatex), then polyglossia is used and I get the right output.

[njbart]

Babel defines a number of characters, depending on the language chosen, as "shortcuts". For spanish, e. g., shortcuts include " . < > ’.

Adding shorthands=off to the babel package options, as in the following, seems to produce the expected result.

\documentclass[spanish,]{article}
\usepackage[spanish,shorthands=off]{babel}
\begin{document}

\texttt{"avg"}

\texttt{"a}

\verb|"a|

\end{document}

@jgm: If pandoc does not use babel shortcuts for any other purposes, it would seem best to deactivate them permanently by including shorthands=off in the latex template(s) in the pandoc distribution.

[jgm]

Thanks, that's just what I was looking for.

[cganterh]

Thanks guys!

[artemisart]

Forcing shorthands=off breaks spacing for french, couldn't that be an option ?