asciidoc: Including bold inside Code Fence

Question

Ho can I include inside an asciidoc code fence? Here is a sample:

[source,js]
----
function doit() {
    *var thing;*        //  local variable
}
----

The idea is that I would like to highlight certain parts of the code block for teaching purposes.

The above sample doesn’t work.

I have read about using something like [subs="macro"], but (a) I can’t get it working in combination with a code fence, and (b) the documentation is a little unclear about the actual details.

Thanks

BTW I am aware of a similar question AsciiDoc add bold text inside a listing block, but there is no reference to code fences. I have tried the solutions, but the don’t work in this context.

Roodepoortmaraisburg

Answer 1

According to AsciiDocs Documentation, below code

[source,java,subs="verbatim,quotes"] 
----
System.out.println("Hello *bold* text"). 
----

will be displayed as

System.out.println("Hello bold text").

So, you need this -

[source,js,subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
function doit() {

    *_var thing;_* //  local variable
}
----

It will be displayed as

verbatim and quotes subs are helpful.

NOTE:
One thing we need to keep in mind that the code block is already highlighting syntax. If you want different formatting, better not to use code block.

Noncommittal

Thanks for your answer. (Sorry for the late response — I missed this earlier). You’re right in that the syntax highlighting may compete with additional formatting, but I can work around that. – Roodepoortmaraisburg

Answer 2

In my opinion the philosophy of Asciidoctor for those use case is to use callouts.

[source,js]
----
function doit() {
    var thing; // <1>
}
----
<1> local variable

The second thing you should consider is to extract your code from a real, controled, unit-tested file. You define some markers in this code file and add an include directive in your adoc file.

Check slides 15-21 in this presentation: Writing documentation with Asciidoctor

Hearthstone

I will be using callouts as well, but I particularly want to use bold to highlight changes from a previous example. – Roodepoortmaraisburg