Incorrect modification of `\begin{table}` environment with labeled table in LaTeX

[jkrumbiegel]

Bug description

SummaryTables.jl can create latex output and I noticed that tables don't look quite right when using quarto's table label feature. It seems like quarto tries to splice its own code into the \begin{table} environment but misses the [!ht] parameters, which are then left dangling, leading to this kind of output:

Steps to reproduce

This doc just returns some raw latex with the correct MIME type, it should work with any similar latex output:

---
engine: julia

format:
    pdf:
        include-in-header:
            - text: |
                \usepackage{threeparttable}

keep-tex: true
---

```{julia}
#| label: tbl-test
struct Latex
    s::String
end

Base.show(io::IO, m::MIME"text/latex", l::Latex) = print(io, l.s)

Latex(raw"""
\begin{table}[!ht]
\setlength\tabcolsep{0pt}
\centering
\begin{threeparttable}
\begin{tabular}{@{\extracolsep{2ex}}*{5}{ccccc}}
\toprule
$\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ \\
\midrule
$\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ \\
$\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ \\
$\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ \\
$\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{threeparttable}
\end{table}
""")
```

Actual behavior

The .tex file output contains this section, notice how some code was spliced into the \begin{table} environment, leaving the [!ht] on its own line:

\begin{table}

\caption{\label{tbl-test}}

\centering{

[!ht]
\setlength\tabcolsep{0pt}
\centering
\begin{threeparttable}
\begin{tabular}{@{\extracolsep{2ex}}*{5}{ccccc}}
\toprule
$\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ & $\theta 1$ \\
\midrule
$\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ & $\theta 2$ \\
$\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ & $\theta 3$ \\
$\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ & $\theta 4$ \\
$\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ & $\theta 5$ \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{threeparttable}

}

\end{table}%

Expected behavior

No response

Your environment

No response

Quarto check output

quarto check
Quarto 1.6.32
[✓] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: /Users/krumbiegel/Library/Caches/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.4.0: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.70.0: OK
      Deno version 1.46.3: OK
      Typst version 0.11.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.6.32
      Path: /Applications/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: v2025.01
      Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Using: TinyTex
      Path: /Users/krumbiegel/Library/TinyTeX/bin/universal-darwin
      Version: 2024

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.12.2 (Conda)
      Path: /Users/krumbiegel/miniconda3/bin/python
      Jupyter: 5.5.0
      Kernels: julia-1.11, julia-1.10, julia-1.8, julia-1.7, python3

[✓] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[✓] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.3.2
      Path: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
      LibPaths:
        - /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.3-arm64/Resources/library
      knitr: 1.45
      rmarkdown: 2.26

[✓] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[mcanouil]

This is a known issue.

Third parties should not emit table environments as Quarto Cross-ref feature needs to add its own.
Quarto tries to be smart and parse the code produced by the user.

[mcanouil]

Note that this particular case was fixed in the "parser":

• Problem in processing raw LaTeX tables as floatref when table has option #11878

It will be part of the next-prerelease (1.7.14).

[mcanouil]

FYI, there is a discussion about allowing users to explicitly tell Quarto: "I am outputting raw LaTeX without cross-reference, and I want Quarto to do nothing"¹

• Raw LaTeX table with no crossref are not passthrough. Should they ? #11951

Footnotes

1. If you intend to use Quarto cross-reference (i.e., tbl- ID prefix), you should not emit table environments. ↩

[jkrumbiegel]

Note that this particular case was fixed in the "parser":

I see, thank you, could not locate that issue when I tried looking for preexisting ones. I get that quarto needs to have control of \begin{table} but I think it's ok as long as we don't do more than define the inner table structure. Latex is just not 100% composable here, so some compromises need to be made.

It would be hard or impossible to convert the structures SummaryTables wants to create in markdown, I will have another look into this though.

[mcanouil]

It would be hard or impossible to convert the structures SummaryTables wants to create in markdown, I will have another look into this though.

That's mainly why (I believe), Quarto tries to "fix" the tables but as it involves regexes, etc. and that LaTeX syntax is not very homogenous, it can't work all the time.
The simplest way to ensure Quarto cross-reference can work, is to not use the surrounding environment when possible.

[cderv]

Note that this particular case was fixed in the "parser":

• Problem in processing raw LaTeX tables as floatref when table has option #11878

It will be part of the next-prerelease (1.7.14).

It seems this is not fixed when trying to reproduce with this julia example. So something missed somehow in #11878

I'll see how to adapt.