Add pairDelim YAML metadata option

[samueldodson]

Hi @lierdakil,

Is it possible to set my own delimiter for pairs of references? For example, I would like [@fig:one; @fig:two] to output as "figs. 1 and 2" rather than "figs. 1, 2". Perhaps a pairDelim YAML metadata option could be added to pandoc-crossref (e.g., pairDelim: "and")?

Thanks.

[lierdakil]

Possible. Need to discuss particularities though.

For one, imagine you reference a bunch of stuff (figures, for instance) that happen to form two succession sequences, f.ex. 1,2,3 and 6,7,8. At the moment, this will be rendered as 'figs. 1-3, 6-8'. Should pairDelim be applied here, to produce 'figs. 1-3 and 6-8', or should it be reserved specifically for the case of exactly two references?

If we don't limit it to the case of exactly two references, we run into another question. When exactly should this pairDelim be applied? Pairs of successive and non-successive references are handled slightly differently, and successive pairs are rendered earlier than non-successive ones. For example, 'figs. 1, 2' and 'figs. 1, 3' are slightly different, despite similar end result. Hence, when we have multiple pairs of successive references, we can have something like 'figs. 1 and 2, 4 and 5, 7 and 8' or somesuch. Moreover, if we apply pairDelim in both cases, we can get this horribleness: 'figs. 1 and 2 and 4 and 5'. This requires some careful consideration.

Let me know what you think.

[samueldodson]

What if we added a lastDelim metadata option rather than pairDelim? The value of lastDelim would be added before the last reference or range of references. For example,

• figs. 1 3 => figs 1 and 3
• figs. 1 2 3 6 8 => figs 1–3, 6 and 8.
• figs. 1 2 3 6 7 8 => figs 1–3 and 6–8.

lastDelim would not be applied when there is only one reference or one range of references. For example,

• fig. 1 => fig. 1
• figs. 1 2 3 => figs. 1–3

[lierdakil]

Okay, I figured out a relatively reasonable way to make this work. 2926e3f pairDelim is used for a pair of references or a pair of ranges, or any combination thereof (f.ex. with pairDelim: " and ", we could have fig. 2 and 4-6), and lastDelim is used in other cases. refDelim is there in case you want to override default comma delimiter.

fig. 2 and 4-6 is a weird corner case though, as would be fig. 2, 4 and 6-9 in case of lastDelim. Not so sure about that.

[samueldodson]

Thanks for adding these metadata options.

Would you please explain why "fig. 2 and 4–6" and "fig. 2, 4, and 6–9" are corner cases for pairDelim and lastDelim, respectively?

[lierdakil]

It's just somewhat counter-intuitive, IMO. Generally you wouldn't expect a range after "and" if there weren't any ranges before "and". So I was wondering if I should handle this case differently.