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I have a self-hosted WP install, and have been using codecolorer (and have tried a few others along the way) to highlight R syntax. Looks nice, too.

The problem is that R uses a <- symbol instead of = when assigning objects (on pretty much every single line), and when you switch from 'Visual' to 'HTML' while editing a post it will mangle the code - <- becomes &lt;-; worse, sections of the code will disappear.

It would be possible to use = for the 'assign' command but it's not, strictly-speaking, correct. At the moment I have to do all the pretty writing and inserting of images in WYSIWYG 'visual' mode, then switch to HTML just before I post to fix up the R code, and then be careful never to switch back again. Ever.

Any fixes for this behaviour?

EDIT: examples! Putting this into the Visual editor:

[cc]
lorum <- ipsum
[/cc]

Produces the following in the final post:

lorum &lt;- ipsum

Going back to HTML mode and putting a <- code worked for the final post but then I could never switch back to Visual without the < being interpreted as part of a tag.

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  • Have you tried wrapping those chunks in <code></code>?
    – SickHippie
    Mar 22, 2012 at 16:09
  • Yep - they're all wrapped nicely. <code lang="rsplus"></code>.
    – Simbamangu
    Mar 22, 2012 at 18:13
  • 1
    I found some sample R code and pasted it into the WP editor. I switched back and forth between Visual and HTML mode with no ill effects. The transliteration of '<' into '&lt;' is supposed to happen. The '<' character has special meaning as a start-of-tag in HTML, so it must be escaped into the '&lt;' entity to show up correctly in text. Were you by chance changing it back to a '<' while in HTML mode? Because that would wreak havoc on your post. Mar 22, 2012 at 21:08
  • The only way to make '&lt' not appear in the post within the code was to put it in while in HTML mode - try 'preview' to see what I mean. Indeed, that's why it gets mangled twixt Visual and HTML ...
    – Simbamangu
    Mar 23, 2012 at 6:33
  • Okay, you've edited with more details... When you switch to HTML editor, DO NOT change '&lt;' back to '<'. This is what is causing your problems. Leave it alone. It's doing what it's supposed to do. Mar 24, 2012 at 2:41

1 Answer 1

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Solved it. A real RTFM moment.

The FAQ for CodeColorer makes a note about this (though it's not mentioned in the main how-to text).

Using the escaped = "true" code in the [cc] tag brings back the behaviour I was looking for – now it's possible to write the <- operator in Visual (and it becomes &lt in HTML), but the published post displays <- correctly.

Thus, entering this in the visual editor:

[cc escaped="true"]
lorum <- ipsum
[/cc]

Produces, in the published post:

lorum <- ipsum

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