How can I prevent Pandoc from escaping braces in template variables for LaTeX?

[sh9temp]

TL;DR

Want to stop this:

$ echo >temp.md '$x$'
$ echo >test.md '---
  x: a{b}c
  ---'
$ pandoc --template temp.md test.md -t markdown
a{b}c
$ pandoc --template temp.md test.md -t latex
a\{b\}c

How can I do that?

Details

I need LaTeX preamble like this:

\setmainjfont[
  CharacterWidth=Proportional,
  YokoFeatures={JFM=prop},
  UprightFont={*-Regular},
  BoldFont={*-Bold}]{__font__}

So, I wrote this:

---
CJKfontoptions:
- CharacterWidth=Proportional
- YokoFeatures={JFM=prop}
- UprightFont={*-Regular}
- BoldFont={*-Bold}
...

But, I got this:

\setmainjfont[
  CharacterWidth=Proportional,
  YokoFeatures=\{JFM=prop\},
  UprightFont=\{*-Regular\},
  BoldFont=\{*-Bold\}]{__font__}

This causes an error.

[tarleb]

Pandoc won't escape strings if

1. it knows that it's raw LaTeX, e.g.

   ---
   CJKfontoptions:
   - `CharacterWidth=Proportional`{=latex}
   - `YokoFeatures={JFM=prop}`{=latex}
   ...
   
   or
   

2. the strings are variable values, defined, for example, in a defaults file

   variables:
     CJKfontoptions:
       - CharacterWidth=Proportional
       - YokoFeatures={JFM=prop}

[jgm]

You could also try using a raw attribute:

- `YokoFeatures={JFM=prop}`{=latex}

[sh9temp]

Thanks for the quick answers. I had read that markdown notation can be used in YAML headers, but I didn't really understand it. I had used simple one (e.g. x: $\alpha^n$) in YAML header, but never thought to use div/span/blocks.
By the way, I think it must be this:

---
CJKoptions:
- '`CharacterWidth=Proportional`{=latex}'
- '`YokoFeatures={JFM=prop}`{=latex}'
...

Thanks again.

[jgm]

ah yes, you need to quote because of YAML rules.