Abbreviation extension should not inject markup in mathjax contexts

Assume we have defined an abbreviation

*[YAFR]: Yet Another Feature Request

Then the following markdown

Our function $f_\text{YAFR}$ does some things

will be expanded to (something like):

Our function $f_\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}$ does some things

This will cause a maths renderer like mathjax to fail. It is actually rather common to add subindices to notation in maths that refer to abbreviations defined in the text, so I think it would be nice to have the extension not try to expand the text.

Fix pesky math rendering issue caused by abbreviation in math

Are you using any extension for rendering math, such as arithmatex or python-markdown-math?

These extensions should take care that math does not interfere with other markup. If you are not using them, then Markdown does not know that $ means start or end of math block, and does not apply any special treatment to it.

@mitya57

Yes, Markdown doesn't know anything about MathJax or LaTeX-style syntax, and consequently doesn't care about expectations related to them. As @mitya57 mentioned, you must identify and protect such syntax from the Markdown parser via an extension if you care to preserve them for some other parser.

Are you using any extension for rendering math, such as arithmatex or python-markdown-math?

Yes, we are using arithmatex, with the default config as recommended by mkdocs-material. I'm looking at diffs between our docs for v.0.9.2 without the error and those at develop with the error and I can't spot the problem at first sight.

In both cases, the math is surrounded by <div class="arithmatex"> but in one it's rendered and in the other not (and contains the expanded abbreviation).

The markdown_extensions config hasn't changed at all, neither has mathjax's. I'm afraid I'm in for a grueling git bisect session if I want to get to the root of this :/

However I have worked around the issue by changing the text, so I don't know when I'll look into it.

@mdbenito

@mdbenito If you have an issue with Arithmatex, please create a Discussion over at: https://github.com/facelessuser/pymdown-extensions. Please provide specific, reproducible examples. I suspect this might be a user error, but without real examples, it is hard to say.

It looks like I can reproduce this with both arithmatex and python-markdown-math:

>>> import markdown
>>> text = """
... Our function $f_\\text{YAFR}$ does some things
... 
... *[YAFR]: Yet Another Feature Request
... """
>>> markdown.markdown(text, extensions=["pymdownx.arithmatex", "abbr"])
'<p>Our function <span class="arithmatex"><span class="MathJax_Preview">f_\\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</span><script type="math/tex">f_\\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</script></span> does some things</p>'
>>> markdown.markdown(text, extensions=["mdx_math", "abbr"], extension_configs={"mdx_math": {"enable_dollar_delimiter": True}})
'<p>Our function <script type="math/tex">f_\\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</script> does some things</p>'

Oh, it looks like I didn't read too close as there is a reproducible example in the opening post 🤦🏻. And yep, it is reproducible. But this is not a Python Markdown issue.

It seems that maybe these extensions need to run earlier to avoid such issues.

I've created an issue for Arithmatex that I can look into when I have a chance.

Maybe there is a bug in Python Markdown. I'm getting the feeling that Abbr is not respecting Atomic strings.

Here is an example with block and inline math:

import markdown
text = """
Our function $f_\\text{YAFR}$ does some things

$$
f_\\text{YAFR}
$$

*[YAFR]: Yet Another Feature Request
"""
print(markdown.markdown(text, extensions=["pymdownx.arithmatex", "abbr"]))

We can see that Arithmatex intercepts them with the debug statements without abbreviations:

➜  pymdown-extensions git:(main) ✗ python3 example.py
MATH DEBUG:
f_\text{YAFR}

MATH DEBUG f_\text{YAFR}
<p>Our function <span class="arithmatex"><span class="MathJax_Preview">f_\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</span><script type="math/tex">f_\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</script></span> does some things</p>
<div class="arithmatex">
<div class="MathJax_Preview">
f_\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}
</div>
<script type="math/tex; mode=display">
f_\text{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}
</script>
</div>

I've confirmed that this is a bug in abbr, not in the math extensions. I also have a fix.

MATH DEBUG:
f_\text{YAFR}

MATH DEBUG f_\text{YAFR}
<p>Our function <span class="arithmatex"><span class="MathJax_Preview">f_\text{YAFR}</span><script type="math/tex">f_\text{YAFR}</script></span> does some things</p>
<div class="arithmatex">
<div class="MathJax_Preview">
f_\text{YAFR}
</div>
<script type="math/tex; mode=display">
f_\text{YAFR}
</script>
</div>

I can replicate this bug without external dependencies:

import markdown
text = """
This <https://this.com/{YAFR}>

*[YAFR]: Yet Another Feature Request
"""
print(markdown.markdown(text, extensions=["abbr"]))

<p>This <a href="https://this.com/{YAFR}">https://this.com/{<abbr title="Yet Another Feature Request">YAFR</abbr>}</a></p>

Abbr should respect AtomicStrings

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Abbreviation extension should not inject markup in mathjax contexts #1512

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Abbreviation extension should not inject markup in mathjax contexts #1512

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mitya57 commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

mdbenito commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

mitya57 commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

facelessuser commented on Mar 11, 2025

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