Lists
List are basic elements in a document, when used correctly they keep concepts organized and structured. This article explains how to create and modify numbered and unnumbered lists in LaTeX.
Contents
Introduction
Lists are actually very simple to create.
List are really easy to create
egin{itemize}
item One entry in the list
item Another entry in the list
end{itemize}
To create a (unordered) list you have to declare the itemize environment and then put the entries inside.
Unordered lists
The unordered (unnumbered) lists are produced by the itemize
environment. Each entry must be preceded by the control sequence item
.
egin{itemize}
item The individual entries are indicated with a black dot, a so-called bullet.
item The text in the entries may be of any length.
end{itemize}
By default the individual entries are indicated with a black dot, so-called bullet. The text in the entries may be of any length.
Ordered lists
Ordered list have the same syntax inside a different environment:
egin{enumerate}
item The labels consists of sequential numbers.
item The numbers starts at 1 with every call to the enumerate environment.
end{enumerate}
The ordered lists are generated by a enumerate
environment and each entry must be preceded by the control sequence item
, which will automatically generate the number labelling the item. The enumerate labels consists of sequential numbers, these numbers starts at 1 with every call to the enumerate environment.
Nested Lists
In LaTeX you can insert a list inside another list. The above lists may be included within one another, either mixed or of one type, to a depth of four levels.
egin{enumerate}
item The labels consists of sequential numbers.
egin{itemize}
item The individual entries are indicated with a black dot, a so-called bullet.
item The text in the entries may be of any length.
end{itemize}
item The numbers starts at 1 with every call to the enumerate environment.
end{enumerate}
List styles
As many other LaTeX elements, unordered and ordered list styles can be personalized.
Ordered lists
The numbering styles change depending on the depth of the nested lists:
egin{enumerate}
item First level item
item First level item
egin{enumerate}
item Second level item
item Second level item
egin{enumerate}
item Third level item
item Third level item
egin{enumerate}
item Fourth level item
item Fourth level item
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
The default numbering scheme is:
- Arabic number (1, 2, 3, ...) for Level 1
- Lowercase letter (a, b, c, ...) for Level 2
- Lowercase Roman numeral (i, ii, iii, ...) for Level 3
- Uppercase letter (A, B, C, ...) for Level 4.
These numbers can be changed by redefining the commands that typeset the numbers of various list levels. For example:
enewcommand{labelenumii}{Roman{enumii}}
egin{enumerate}
item First level item
item First level item
egin{enumerate}
item Second level item
item Second level item
egin{enumerate}
item Third level item
item Third level item
egin{enumerate}
item Fourth level item
item Fourth level item
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
The command
enewcommand{labelenumii}{Roman{enumii}}
changes the second level to upper case Roman numeral. It is possible to change the labels of any level, replace labelenumii for one of the listed below.
heenumi
for Level 1heenumii
for Level 2heenumiii
for Level 3heenumiv
for Level 4
The command must be placed in the preamble to change the labels globally or right before egin{enumerate}
to change labels only in this list. There are some other styles, see the reference guide for a complete list.
In numbered lists the counter is incremented by item
before it is printed, and starts from 1,a,i,A,I. This can be changed:
enewcommand{labelenumii}{Roman{enumii}}
egin{enumerate}
item First level item
item First level item
egin{enumerate}
setcounter{enumii}{4}
item Second level item
item Second level item
egin{enumerate}
item Third level item
item Third level item
egin{enumerate}
item Fourth level item
item Fourth level item
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
end{enumerate}
To change the start number or letter you must use the setcounter
command. In the example, to change the start number of level 2 to V the command setcounter{enumii}{4}
was used.
To set the start number to any other counter change enumii for any of these:
enumi
for Level 1enumii
for Level 2enumiii
for Level 3enumiv
for Level 4
Unordered lists
The label scheme of unordered lists also changes depending on the depth of the nested list:
egin{itemize}
item First Level
egin{itemize}
item Second Level
egin{itemize}
item Third Level
egin{itemize}
item Fourth Level
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
The default label scheme for itemized lists is:
- Level 1 is
extbullet
(•), - Level 2 is
extendash
(–) , - Level 3 is
extasteriskcentered
(*) - Level 4 is
extperiodcentered
(·).
These labels can be changed by redefining the commands that typeset them
for various list levels. For example, to change Level 1 to black square
and Level 2 to white square we'll use :
enewcommand{labelitemi}{$lacksquare$}
enewcommandlabelitemii{$square$}
egin{itemize}
item First Level
egin{itemize}
item Second Level
egin{itemize}
item Third Level
egin{itemize}
item Fourth Level
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
end{itemize}
The mathematical symbols used in the previous example belong to the amssymb
package, so you have to add usepackage{amssymb}
to your preamble.
To redefine the label use one of the next commands, depending on the level of list mark you intend to change:
labelitemi
for Level 1labelitemii
for Level 2labelitemiii
for Level 3labelitemiv
for Level 4
You can also change the item label for a specific entry, for example:
egin{itemize}
item Default item label for entry one
item Default item label for entry two
item[$square$] Custom item label for entry three
end{itemize}
All you have to do is pass the desired mark as a parameter inside brackets to the item line.
https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Lists
Reference guide
Available styles for numbered lists:
Code | Description |
---|---|
alph |
Lowercase letter (a, b, c, ...) |
Alph |
Uppercase letter (A, B, C, ...) |
arabic |
Arabic number (1, 2, 3, ...) |
oman |
Lowercase Roman numeral (i, ii, iii, ...) |
Roman |
Uppercase Roman numeral (I, II, III, ...) |