md2pdf
Convert Markdown → PDF via Pandoc + XeLaTeX. Full LaTeX math + CJK support.
Prerequisites
System packages (apt):
pandoc texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra texlive-latex-extra texlive-lang-chinese
Quick Convert
bash <skill_dir>/scripts/md2pdf.sh input.md output.pdf
The script auto-detects CJK content, picks suitable fonts, sanitizes emoji, adds TOC, and configures XeLaTeX.
Manual Pandoc Command
For fine-grained control, run pandoc directly:
pandoc input.md -o output.pdf \
--pdf-engine=xelatex \
-f markdown-smart \
-H header.tex \
-V mainfont="DejaVu Sans" \
-V monofont="DejaVu Sans Mono" \
-V geometry:margin=20mm \
-V fontsize=10pt \
-V colorlinks=true \
--highlight-style=tango \
--toc -V toc-title="Table of Contents"
Where header.tex contains:
\usepackage{xeCJK}
\setCJKmainfont{<CJK font name>}
Key Details
- Math: Pandoc natively converts
$...$(inline) and$$...$$(display) to LaTeX math. No MathJax/KaTeX needed. - CJK fonts: Script auto-detects from: Noto Sans CJK SC > WenQuanYi Micro Hei > Droid Sans Fallback > AR PL UMing CN.
- Emoji: Replaced with text equivalents (
✅→[Y],❌→[N],⭐→*) since most LaTeX fonts lack emoji glyphs. - Smart quotes: Use
-f markdown-smartto avoid curly quote rendering issues. - Long tables: Pandoc may struggle with complex tables; keep tables simple or use
longtableLaTeX package.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Missing character warnings | Check fc-list :lang=zh for available CJK fonts; install fonts-noto-cjk if needed |
xelatex not found | Install texlive-xetex |
| PDF has no math rendering | Ensure markdown uses $...$ / $$...$$ (not HTML math tags) |
| Broken table layout | Simplify table or add -V geometry:margin=15mm for more width |