Create table with subscripts and coloured rows using Bookdown - r

Question

I am attempting to generate a PDF from a Bookdown script which includes a complex table. The table includes some parameter names that have subscripts in them. I would also like to colour some of the rows. An example script is shown below:
---
title: "Example problem"
author: "Frida Gomam"
site: bookdown::bookdown_site
documentclass: book
output:
#bookdown::gitbook: default
bookdown::pdf_book: default
always_allow_html: yes
---
This is a test example for the problem.
```{r}
library(magrittr)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)
df <- data.frame(Parameter = c("NO~x~ emissions", "SO~2~ emissions", "CO~2~ emissions"), "Value mg/Nm^3^" = c(800,900,1000),check.names=F)
knitr::kable(df,escape = F, caption = 'Example table!', booktabs = TRUE, format = "latex") %>% #
row_spec(0, bold = T, color = "white", background = "#045a8d") %>%
row_spec(c(2), bold = T, color = "white", background = "#3690c0")
```
blah blah
I can run the script using the kable format as 'format = "html"' and the result looks fine including the coloured rows and subscripts. When I change the format to Latex, the subscripts are not displayed properly in the produced pdf.
I have tried adding the argument escape = F to kable, but the build process fails.
Quitting from lines 14-23 (_main.Rmd)
Error in kable_latex(x = c("$NO_{x}$ emissions", "SO2 emissions", "CO2 emissions", :
unused argument (example = FALSE)
Calls: <Anonymous> ... eval -> %>% -> eval -> eval -> <Anonymous> -> do.call
Can anyone help solve this problem?

Answer 1

For me it works if I use (escaped) LaTeX syntax:
---
title: "Example problem"
author: "Frida Gomam"
site: bookdown::bookdown_site
documentclass: book
output:
bookdown::pdf_book: default
#bookdown::gitbook: default
always_allow_html: yes
---
This is a test example for the problem.
```{r}
library(magrittr)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)
df <- data.frame(Parameter = c("NO\\textsubscript{x} emissions", "SO\\textsubscript{2} emissions", "CO\\textsubscript{2} emissions"),
"Value mg/Nm\\textsuperscript{3}" = c(800,900,1000),
check.names = F)
knitr::kable(df,escape = F, caption = 'Example table!', booktabs = TRUE, format = "latex") %>% #
row_spec(0, bold = T, color = "white", background = "#045a8d") %>%
row_spec(c(2), bold = T, color = "white", background = "#3690c0")
```
blah blah