Adding Background Color to Inline Code Blocks in Quarto PDF Output

quatro
latex
A note on using LaTeX’s xcolor package to add background color to inline code blocks in Quarto PDF output.
Published

2026-02-04

Modified

2026-02-04

Note

Original Japanese version: QuartoでPDF出力時にインラインコードブロックに背景色を付ける方法

Unlike HTML output, Quarto PDF output does not provide a default setting for adding background color to inline code blocks.

I used LaTeX’s xcolor package to add background color to inline code blocks, so this article summarizes the method.

Preamble Settings

First, add the include-in-header option to the YAML header as follows, and specify a file that contains the preamble for loading the xcolor package and setting the background color. Here, that file is named preamble.tex.

---
format:
  pdf:
    include-in-header: preamble.tex
---

With the include-in-header option, the specified content is added before the document. In LaTeX terms, this corresponds to the preamble.

In this example, the preamble.tex file is assumed to be saved in the same directory as the document. If it is saved in another directory, specify it with a relative or absolute path. The file name can also be changed to any name.

Contents of the Preamble

Next, create preamble.tex and write the following content.

preamble.tex
\usepackage{xcolor}

\definecolor{inlinecodebg}{RGB}{245,245,245}

\let\OldTexttt\texttt
\renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{%
  \colorbox{inlinecodebg}{\OldTexttt{#1}}%
}
NoteExplanation
  • \usepackage{xcolor}: loads the xcolor package. This makes it possible to define colors and set background colors.
  • \definecolor{inlinecodebg}{RGB}{245,245,245}: defines a background color named inlinecodebg. This example uses a light gray, but you can change the RGB values to use any color.
  • \let\OldTexttt\texttt and \renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{...}: saves the existing \texttt command and defines a new \texttt command with a background color. This makes inline code blocks appear with a background color.

The reason for using \OldTexttt is to preserve the original functionality of the \texttt command while adding new behavior.

The \texttt command is a LaTeX command for displaying text in a monospaced, typewriter-style font, and Quarto uses it for inline code blocks.

Checking the Result

After applying the settings above, create a Quarto document containing inline code blocks and output it as PDF. If you want to change the color, adjust the RGB values while checking the PDF output.

References