How do I force a hyphen instead of an en dash in page ranges in citations?

[robertoragno]

Description

I am writing a book in Quarto using the 'book' class to generate a PDF output. My editor insists that I use a hyphen (-) instead of the en dash (–) to indicate the page range, both for in-text citations and in the final reference list. Currently, a citation in the format [@author2024, p.86-87] is printed as 'Author 2024, pp. 86-87' when I need 'Author 2024, pp. 86-87'.

I have tried looking in my .CSL file (https://www.zotero.org/styles/taylor-and-francis-harvard-x) to see if I can change something to make it work, but I can't seem to get it right because I think Pandoc is forcing the en dash.

I am using R Studio. In Tools -> Global Options -> R Markdown -> Citations, I have set 'Use BibTex for citation keys'.

Thank you in advance for all the help, I am really losing my mind over this minor issue.

[mcanouil]

Without a reproducible example hard to help accurately.

• Quarto is rendering "--" to "–" #3828

---
title: "Quarto Playground"
format: html
from: markdown-smart
---

1--2

[robertoragno]

Thank you for the response, I do not have an issue with the rendering of two hyphens - that works as expected. My issue is related to how citations are printed through citeproc (I think?)

Simplifying a bit my book project I have:

_quarto.yml

project:
  type: book
  
book:
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - references.qmd

bibliography: references.bib
csl: taylor-and-francis-harvard-x.csl
    
format:
  pdf:
    documentclass: book
    keep-tex: false
    hyperrefoptions: draft
    linestretch: 1.18
    mainfont: Times New Roman
    sansfont: Times New Roman
    fontsize: 11pt
    toc: false 
    extra_dependencies: ["booktabs"]
    link-citations: true
    lang: en
    geometry:
      - top=2.3cm
      - left=2.2cm
      - right=2.2cm
      - bottom=2.6cm
      - paperwidth=225mm
      - paperheight=280mm
      - footskip=8mm
    include-in-header:
    - file: include_in_header_TEX/preamble.tex
    - file: include_in_header_TEX/chapter_headers.tex

index.qmd
Horden and Purcell [-@hordenCorruptingSeaStudy2000, pp. 287-297] highlighted the...

references.bib

@book{hordenCorruptingSeaStudy2000,
  title = {The Corrupting Sea: A Study of {{Mediterranean}} History},
  shorttitle = {The Corrupting Sea},
  author = {Horden, Peregrine and Purcell, Nicholas},
  year = {2000},
  publisher = {{Blackwell}},
  address = {{Oxford}},
  isbn = {978-0-631-13666-8 978-0-631-21890-6},
  lccn = {DE59 .H7 2000},
  keywords = {Civilization,Mediterranean Region,Sources}
}

Output:
Horden and Purcell (pp. 287–297) highlighted the...

*Output in references page
Horden, P. and Purcell, N., 2000. The corrupting sea: A study of Mediterranean history. Oxford: Blackwell.

This particular case does not have a page range in the bibliography, but i would also need to change that.

[mcanouil]

That's not reproducible, we don't have your CSL or you tex files.

Note that if your format is PDF thus LaTeX, then you can change how references are compiled/rendered and tweak the options: https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/citations.html#sec-biblatex

You can use keep-tex: true to look at the intermediate LaTeX file and see how you can tweak it.

---

You can share a self-contained "working" (reproducible) Quarto document using the following syntax, i.e., using more backticks than you have in your document (usually four ````).
See https://quarto.org/bug-reports.html#small-is-beautiful-aim-for-a-single-document-with-10-lines.

If you have multiple files (and if it is absolutely required to have multiple files), please share as a Git repository.

R	Python
````qmd --- title: "Reproducible Quarto Document" format: html engine: knitr --- This is a reproducible Quarto document. {{< lipsum 1 >}} ```{r} x <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) y <- c(1, 4, 9, 16, 25) plot(x, y) ``` {#fig-placeholder} {{< lipsum 1 >}} The end after @fig-placeholder. ````	````qmd --- title: "Reproducible Quarto Document" format: html engine: jupyter --- This is a reproducible Quarto document. {{< lipsum 1 >}} ```{python} import matplotlib.pyplot as plt x = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] y = [1, 4, 9, 16, 25] plt.plot(x, y) plt.show() ``` {#fig-placeholder} {{< lipsum 1 >}} The end after @fig-placeholder. ````

Additionally and if not already given, please share the output of quarto check within a code blocks (i.e., using three backticks ```txt), see https://quarto.org/bug-reports.html#check.

[sasja-san]

Earlier today I was looking at making my rendering avoiding hyphenating so much of my text and i found this link:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1609837/latex-breaking-up-too-many-words

I don't know how if this will solve your exact issue, but maybe some of the methods mentioned there might help you.

[sasja-san]

I did a quick search. Have you tried sticking something like this in your include-in-header?

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/44783/how-to-replace-a-hyphen-with-an-en-dash-automatically

[robertoragno]

I have tried including that code, but I think I need to install TexLive (with MacTex) which occupies about 9GB of space on my hard drive. I am trying another approach, keeping the latex and acting on it - even though the output is not quite the same as when rendered through R studio. Thank you so much for your help!

[cscheid]

I am trying another approach, keeping the latex and acting on it - even though the output is not quite the same as when rendered through R studio.

This is surprising - Quarto shouldn't be behaving differently depending on whether you're running it from inside RStudio or not.

[robertoragno]

I am sorry, what I meant is compiling the LaTeX file directly from a Tex compiler. The .tex file is generated by adding keep-tex: true in the yaml.

[cscheid]

Ah, I understand you now. We should do a better job at allowing you to see precisely the command used to render the latex file, so that task is easier.

In any case, I think that in order for you to solve your problem, you'll need to find a CSL file that describes the citation style you like, and then change it to use hyphens instead of en-dashes.

[cwickham]

You can set the page-range-delimiter in your CSL file. E.g. add this after the closing of the <info> tag:

  <locale>
    <terms>
      <term name="page-range-delimiter">-</term> 
    </terms>
  </locale>

Repro

Based on this repro:
index.qmd

---
title: Introduction
format: pdf
bibliography: references.bib
csl: taylor-and-francis-harvard-x-hyphen.csl
---

This is a book created from markdown and executable code.

See @knuth84 for additional discussion of literate programming.


[-@knuth84, pp. 287-297]

references.bib:

@article{knuth84,
  author = {Knuth, Donald E.},
  title = {Literate Programming},
  year = {1984},
  issue_date = {May 1984},
  publisher = {Oxford University Press, Inc.},
  address = {USA},
  volume = {27},
  number = {2},
  issn = {0010-4620},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/27.2.97},
  doi = {10.1093/comjnl/27.2.97},
  journal = {Comput. J.},
  month = may,
  pages = {97–111},
  numpages = {15}
}

taylor-and-francis-harvard-x-hyphen.csl:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<style xmlns="http://purl.org/net/xbiblio/csl" class="in-text" version="1.0" demote-non-dropping-particle="sort-only" default-locale="en-GB">
  <info>
    <title>Taylor &amp; Francis - Harvard X</title>
    <id>http://www.zotero.org/styles/taylor-and-francis-harvard-x</id>
    <link href="http://www.zotero.org/styles/taylor-and-francis-harvard-x" rel="self"/>
    <link href="http://www.zotero.org/styles/elsevier-harvard" rel="template"/>
    <link href="http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/style/reference/tf_X.pdf" rel="documentation"/>
    <author>
      <name>Sebastian Karcher</name>
    </author>
    <category citation-format="author-date"/>
    <category field="generic-base"/>
    <summary>T&amp;F Harvard style based on based on the British Standards BS 5605:1990 Recommendations for citing and
    referencing published material and BS 1629:1989 Recommendations or references to
    published materials.</summary>
    <updated>2018-03-31T04:01:14+00:00</updated>
    <rights license="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License</rights>
  </info>
  <locale>
    <terms>
      <term name="page-range-delimiter">-</term> 
    </terms>
  </locale>
  <macro name="container">
    <choose>
      <if type="chapter paper-conference" match="any">
        <text term="in" text-case="capitalize-first" suffix=": " font-style="italic"/>
        <group delimiter=". ">
          <names variable="editor translator" delimiter=", ">
            <name sort-separator=", " initialize-with="." and="text" delimiter=", "/>
            <label form="short" prefix=", "/>
          </names>
          <text variable="container-title" font-style="italic"/>
        </group>
      </if>
      <else-if type="bill book graphic legal_case legislation motion_picture report song" match="any">
        <text variable="container-title"/>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="broadcast">
        <choose>
          <if variable="container-title">
            <group delimiter=", ">
              <text variable="number" prefix="Episode "/>
              <text variable="title"/>
            </group>
          </if>
        </choose>
      </else-if>
      <else>
        <text variable="container-title" font-style="italic"/>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="author">
    <choose>
      <if type="motion_picture broadcast" match="none">
        <names variable="author">
          <name name-as-sort-order="all" sort-separator=", " initialize-with="." delimiter=", " and="text"/>
          <label form="short" prefix=", "/>
          <et-al font-style="italic"/>
          <substitute>
            <names variable="editor"/>
            <names variable="translator"/>
            <text macro="title"/>
          </substitute>
        </names>
      </if>
      <else>
        <choose>
          <if variable="container-title">
            <text variable="container-title" font-style="italic"/>
          </if>
          <else>
            <text variable="title" font-style="italic"/>
          </else>
        </choose>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="author-short">
    <choose>
      <if type="motion_picture broadcast" match="none">
        <names variable="author">
          <name form="short" and="text" delimiter=", " initialize-with=". "/>
          <et-al font-style="italic"/>
          <substitute>
            <names variable="editor"/>
            <names variable="translator"/>
            <choose>
              <if type="bill book graphic legal_case legislation motion_picture report song" match="any">
                <text variable="title" form="short" font-style="italic"/>
              </if>
              <else>
                <text variable="title" form="short"/>
              </else>
            </choose>
          </substitute>
        </names>
      </if>
      <else>
        <choose>
          <if variable="container-title">
            <text variable="container-title" font-style="italic"/>
          </if>
          <else>
            <text variable="title" font-style="italic"/>
          </else>
        </choose>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="access">
    <choose>
      <if type="webpage">
        <group>
          <text value="Available from: "/>
          <text variable="URL"/>
        </group>
        <group prefix=" [" suffix="]" delimiter=" ">
          <text term="accessed" text-case="capitalize-first"/>
          <date variable="accessed" delimiter=" ">
            <date-part name="day"/>
            <date-part name="month" form="short" strip-periods="true"/>
            <date-part name="year"/>
          </date>
        </group>
      </if>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="title">
    <choose>
      <if type="thesis" match="any">
        <group delimiter=". ">
          <text variable="title"/>
          <group>
            <text variable="genre"/>
            <text variable="number" prefix=" No. "/>
          </group>
        </group>
      </if>
      <else-if type="bill book graphic legal_case legislation report song speech" match="any">
        <group delimiter=". ">
          <text variable="title" font-style="italic"/>
          <text macro="edition"/>
        </group>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="webpage">
        <text variable="title"/>
        <text value="online" prefix=" [" suffix="]"/>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="motion_picture broadcast" match="any"/>
      <else>
        <text variable="title"/>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="report-details">
    <choose>
      <if type="report">
        <group>
          <text variable="genre"/>
          <text variable="number" prefix=" No. "/>
        </group>
      </if>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="publisher">
    <choose>
      <if type="thesis" match="any">
        <group delimiter=", ">
          <text variable="publisher"/>
          <text variable="publisher-place"/>
        </group>
      </if>
      <else>
        <group delimiter=", ">
          <group delimiter=": ">
            <text variable="publisher-place"/>
            <text variable="publisher"/>
          </group>
          <text macro="report-details"/>
        </group>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="event">
    <choose>
      <if variable="event">
        <text term="presented at" text-case="capitalize-first" suffix=" "/>
        <text variable="event"/>
      </if>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="issued">
    <choose>
      <if variable="issued">
        <date variable="issued">
          <date-part name="year"/>
        </date>
      </if>
      <else-if variable="accessed">
        <choose>
          <if type="webpage">
            <date variable="accessed">
              <date-part name="year"/>
            </date>
          </if>
          <else>
            <text term="no date" form="short"/>
          </else>
        </choose>
      </else-if>
      <else>
        <text term="no date" form="short"/>
      </else>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <macro name="edition">
    <group delimiter=" ">
      <choose>
        <if is-numeric="edition">
          <group delimiter=" ">
            <number variable="edition" form="ordinal"/>
            <text term="edition" form="short"/>
          </group>
        </if>
        <else>
          <text variable="edition" suffix="."/>
        </else>
      </choose>
    </group>
  </macro>
  <macro name="locators">
    <choose>
      <if type="article-journal article-magazine" match="any">
        <group prefix=", " delimiter=", ">
          <group delimiter=" ">
            <text variable="volume"/>
            <text variable="issue" prefix="(" suffix=")"/>
          </group>
          <text variable="page"/>
        </group>
      </if>
      <else-if type="article-newspaper" match="any">
        <date variable="issued" delimiter=" " prefix=", ">
          <date-part name="day"/>
          <date-part name="month" form="short" strip-periods="true"/>
        </date>
        <group delimiter=" " prefix=", ">
          <label variable="page" form="short"/>
          <text variable="page"/>
        </group>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="bill book graphic legal_case legislation motion_picture report song thesis" match="any">
        <group delimiter=", " prefix=". ">
          <text macro="event"/>
          <text macro="publisher"/>
        </group>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="broadcast">
        <group delimiter=". " prefix=", ">
          <text variable="publisher"/>
          <date variable="issued" delimiter=" ">
            <date-part name="month" form="short" strip-periods="true"/>
            <date-part name="day"/>
          </date>
        </group>
      </else-if>
      <else-if type="chapter paper-conference" match="any">
        <group delimiter=", " prefix=". ">
          <text macro="event"/>
          <text macro="publisher"/>
          <group>
            <text variable="page"/>
          </group>
        </group>
      </else-if>
    </choose>
  </macro>
  <citation et-al-min="3" et-al-use-first="1" disambiguate-add-year-suffix="true" disambiguate-add-names="true" collapse="year">
    <sort>
      <key macro="issued"/>
      <key macro="author"/>
    </sort>
    <layout prefix="(" suffix=")" delimiter=", ">
      <group delimiter=", ">
        <group delimiter=" ">
          <text macro="author-short"/>
          <text macro="issued"/>
        </group>
        <group delimiter=" ">
          <label variable="locator" form="short"/>
          <text variable="locator"/>
        </group>
      </group>
    </layout>
  </citation>
  <bibliography hanging-indent="true" entry-spacing="0" line-spacing="1">
    <sort>
      <key macro="author"/>
      <key macro="issued" sort="ascending"/>
    </sort>
    <layout suffix=".">
      <text macro="author" suffix=","/>
      <group delimiter=". " prefix=" ">
        <text macro="issued"/>
        <text macro="title"/>
        <text macro="container"/>
        <text variable="medium"/>
      </group>
      <text macro="locators"/>
      <text macro="access" prefix=". "/>
    </layout>
  </bibliography>
</style>

[robertoragno]

I had used exactly the same code in the CSL earlier, but had mistakenly placed it inside a macro. I thought CiteProc would override my code, but instead it works like a charm! Thanks for saving my day!