Setting the directory to get chapters from in Quarto's books

[arnaudgallou]

Description

I'm working on a Quarto book that has many chapters that currently live at the root of the project.

book:
  chapters:
    - chapter_1.qmd
    - chapter_2.qmd
    - chapter_n.qmd

I'd like to move those files to their own directory (say foo/) to make the project a bit cleaner and better organized. Instead of prefixing every file name listed under chapters with foo/, I'm wondering if there's a way to set the directory to get chapters from.

Something like this for example:

book:
  chapters-dir: foo
  chapters:
    - chapter_1.qmd
    - chapter_2.qmd
    - chapter_n.qmd

I couldn't find any YAML key to do that but I may have missed it. Is this possible? If not, could you consider it as a feature request?

[mcanouil]

No. You have to add directory/ for each entry.

Note that the book structure is documented at https://quarto.org/docs/books/book-structure.html and you have a reference page for YAML options at https://quarto.org/docs/reference/projects/books.html

[arnaudgallou]

Does the "no" also apply to the feature request consideration?

[mcanouil]

I can't speak for feature requests being considered or not.
Simply answering your question.

[cscheid]

Does the "no" also apply to the feature request consideration?

Currently, yes, it does apply. I understand the convenience of the feature, but it's not consistent with the way that we configure paths throughout Quarto and it adds a lot of subtle complexity (about relative paths, path calculations, etc). I don't think this feature is necessary enough to justify our time working on it.