Pandoc filter to restore pre 1.16 behavior of wrapping Span contents in braces in LaTeX output

pandoc-brace-spans.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
Pandoc filter to restore pre 1.16 behavior of wrapping Span contents in braces in LaTeX output,
since I and maybe others have documents and/or filters relying on the old behavior
"""

import pandocfilters as pf

want_braces = None
open_brace = [pf.RawInline('tex', '{')]
close_brace = [pf.RawInline('tex', '}')]


def brace_spans(key, val, fmt, meta):
    global want_braces
    if not 'Span' == key:
        return
    if want_braces is None:
        want_braces = 'latex' == fmt
    if not want_braces:
        return
    attrs = val[0]
    text = open_brace + val[1] + close_brace
    return pf.Span(attrs, text)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    pf.toJSONFilter(brace_spans)