(error) \tightlist (converting .md file into .pdf using pandoc)

The writer.latex file in Pandoc's source code currently defines \tightlist as:

\providecommand{\tightlist}{%
  \setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}

This is also currently the case in the default LaTeX template, from the jgm/pandoc-templates project on Github.

For posterity, here is a link to the most up-to-date LaTeX default template:

• https://github.com/jgm/pandoc-templates/blob/master/default.latex

I hit the same problem. It seems that pandoc started using \tightlist in \begin{itemize} sections.

My workaround was simply to add an empty macro for \tightlist to my template file (I run pandoc with --template=mytemplate.tex):

\def\tightlist{}

Pandoc doesn't use \tightlist if you leave a blank line between each item, e.g.

- one

- two

versus

- one
- two

The same is true for enumerated lists. This is the LaTeX version of "loose" and "compact" lists documented here: http://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#lists (h/t mb21).