Hello all, my original problem was how to get "a_b" exported literal using the latex exporter. I explored a bit the sub/superscript options and I think that there are some buggy behaviors.
The following code: * test - subscript a_b - subscript escaped a\_b - superscript a^b - superscript escaped a\^b Will produce with Org-mode version 7.9.4: \begin{itemize} \item subscript a$_b$ \item subscript escaped a\_b \item superscript a$^b$ \item superscript escaped a\^b \end{itemize} And will produce with Org-mode version 8.2.1 (release_8.2.1-75-g45d81d ...) \begin{itemize} \item subscript a$_{\text{b}}$ \item subscript escaped a$\backslash$$_{\text{b}}$ \item superscript a$^{\text{b}}$ \item superscript escaped a$\backslash$$^{\text{b}}$ \end{itemize} According to the manual http://orgmode.org/manual/Subscripts-and-superscripts.html#Subscripts-and-superscripts - The subscript escape is working correctly in 7.9.4 - The subscript escape is not working correctly in 8.2.1 - The superscript escape is not working correctly in 8.2.1. - I do think that superscript escape is not working correctly in 7.9.4. It produces something like a LATIN SMALL LETTER B WITH CIRCUMFLEX instead of the expected b with "^" before. I did not have any success following the suggestion in the manual, eg: (setq org-use-sub-superscripts "{}") But at the end writing: #+OPTIONS: ^:{} and a plain "a_b" solved the issue for me. Regards, Daniele