Combine numbered paragraphs, two columns, hanging indentation

columnshangindentnumberingparagraphstwo-column

I have trouble combining several features. In an environment like "numberedpars" below, I would like to

… automatically number paragraphs exclusively on the left side in a two-sided book and reset the counter for each new environment. The numbers should be flushed right. Preferably, the numbers should be part of the text and not in the margin.
… have the text in two columns.
… have the first line of a paragraph not indented and the following lines hanging.

Is this even possible?

What I got so far: Automatically numbered paragraphs (even though it's not exclusively on the left side, the numbers are not flushed right, and the numbers are in the margin). Borrowed from the reply by T.H. here: Automatically assign a number to every paragraph

% !TeX TXS-program:compile = txs:///lualatex/[-synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode]

\documentclass[11pt]{scrbook}

\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}

\usepackage[excludeor]{everyhook}
\setlength{\marginparwidth}{8pt}
\newcounter{parcount}
\newif\ifnumberedpars
\newenvironment{numberedpars}{%
    \PushPreHook{par}{%
        \ifnumberedpars
        \stepcounter{parcount}%
        \numberedparsfalse
        \marginpar{\arabic{parcount}}%
        \numberedparstrue
        \fi
    }%
    \numberedparstrue
}{%
    \PopPreHook{par}%
}

\reversemarginpar

\begin{document}

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}


\section*{Section Headline}

\subsection*{Subsection Headline}

Some info

\subsubsection*{Subsubsection Headline 1}

\begin{numberedpars}
AA: This is a short paragaph.

BB: This is a rather long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.

AA: Again another rather long long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.

BB: And here we stop this conversation.
\end{numberedpars}

\subsubsection*{Subsubsection Headline 2}

\setcounter{parcount}{0}
\begin{numberedpars}
    AA: This is a short paragaph.
    
    BB: This is a rather long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    AA: Again another rather long long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    BB: And here we stop this conversation.
\end{numberedpars}

\subsubsection*{Subsubsection Headline 3}

\setcounter{parcount}{0}
\begin{numberedpars}
    AA: This is a short paragaph.
    
    BB: This is a rather long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    AA: Again another rather long long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    BB: And here we stop this conversation.
\end{numberedpars}


\subsubsection*{Subsubsection Headline 4}

\setcounter{parcount}{0}
\begin{numberedpars}
    AA: This is a short paragaph.
    
    BB: This is a rather long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    AA: Again another rather long long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    BB: And here we stop this conversation.
\end{numberedpars}

\subsubsection*{Subsubsection Headline 5}

\setcounter{parcount}{0}
\begin{numberedpars}
    AA: This is a short paragaph.
    
    BB: This is a rather long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    AA: Again another rather long long paragraph spanning more than one line if we extend this really really long.
    
    BB: And here we stop this conversation.
\end{numberedpars}

\end{document}

All my attempts to add more of the mentioned features has broken things for me. I greatly appreciate any working ideas.

Edit: Because it is rather difficult to explain, here is a screenshot of what I'm trying to do, created with LibreOffice Writer (though it's still missing the numbers being flushed right):

Edit 2: Ah sorry, the first screenshot was still missing the hanging indentation, it should look like this (even though not everything is perfectly aligned yet):

Edit 3: Celdor, your EDIT3 almost does it. It is still missing a genuine hanging indent. Let me explain. In case I use short initials (like "II") and long initials (like "WvW") spacing is not so nice anymore. There is either too much white space around "II" or not enough around "WvW" because the size of the initials label is fixed. It also becomes apparent that the initials are centered:

I think a genuine hanging indent needs the initials and the text to be connected. What I manage to do is have the initials flush left/justify (justification is what I'm looking for) by changing c to l in the line \hspace{#3}\makebox[#4][l]{\textbf{#6:}}% and raise the space after the initials (changing 1em to 2em in \NewDocumentCommand{\numpar}{s O{0.5cm} O{2em} O{#2} O{#3} m}{%). Now the paragraph numbers are flush right, and the initials are flush left and there is enough space for both "II" and "WvW":

Now justification is all good and there is some space between paragraph numbers and initials. Perfect. – But initials and text are still disconnected. What I'm looking for is this:

Initials and text are connected, still a hanging indent with a certain size is used throughout. To summarize: I don't want the space around the initials to be fixed, but initials and text to be connected and the size of the hanging indent to be fixed. I hope this clarifies what I'm missing.

Best Answer

If I have got the description right, I'd propose using a mix of hangindent, hspace, and makebox

EDIT. Example with multi-columns. The solution is based on tabular.

EDIT2.
Added an option for a single column, which is executed by *; this can be broken between pages. The two columns solution has a flow from one column to the other as requested but can't be spread between pages. It seems each solution I came up with required usage of boxes. Perhaps it would require some internal coding which I am still learning, hence no solution on that particular feature, I am afraid.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{geometry}

\newcounter{parcounter}
\newlength\hanglength

\NewDocumentCommand{\mypar}{s O{0pt} O{1cm} O{6pt} O{#3} O{#4} m m}{%
    % #1 - * for a single column
    % #2 - indentation before a number
    % #3 - width of a box containing a paragraph number
    % #4 - separation length after the number
    % #5 - width of a box containing a label
    % #6 - separation length after the label
    % #7 - label
    % #8 - the paragraph
    \setlength{\hanglength}{\dimexpr(#2 + #3 + #4 + #5 + #6)}
    \stepcounter{parcounter}
    \noindent
    \IfBooleanTF{#1}%
    {%
        \hspace{#2}\makebox[#3][r]{\arabic{parcounter}}%
        \hspace{#4}\makebox[#5][c]{#7}%
        \hspace{#6}%
        \hangindent=\hanglength\relax%
        #8\par
    }{%
        \begin{tabular*}{\textwidth}{
                @{\hspace{#2}}
                >{\raggedleft\arraybackslash}p{#3}
                @{\hspace{#4}}
                >{\centering\arraybackslash}p{#5}
                @{\hspace{#6}}
                p{\dimexpr(\textwidth-\hanglength)}
                @{}
            }
            \arabic{parcounter} &
            #7 &
            \begin{minipage}[t]{\linewidth}
                \null\vspace{-\baselineskip}\begin{multicols}{2}#8\end{multicols}
            \end{minipage}
        \end{tabular*}\vspace{0.5\baselineskip}\par}}
\NewDocumentEnvironment{numberedpars}{+b}{%
    \setcounter{parcounter}{0}
    \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0pt}\par#1}{}


\begin{document}
\parindent=0pt

\section*{Section Headline}

\subsection*{Subsection Headline}

Some info

\begin{numberedpars}
    \mypar{AA}{\kant*[1][1-2]}
    \mypar{BB}{\kant*[2][1]}
    \mypar{AA}{\kant*[3][1]}
    \mypar{BB}{\kant*[4][1]}
    \mypar{AA}{\kant*[5][1]}
    \mypar{BB}{\kant*[6][1]}
    \mypar{CC}{\kant*[7][1]}
    \mypar{AA}{\kant*[8][1-3]}
    \mypar{BB}{\kant*[1][1-3]}
    \mypar{AA}{\kant*[2][1]}
    \mypar{BB}{\kant*[3][1]}
\end{numberedpars}

\subsection*{Subsection Headline}

\kant[2][1]

\begin{numberedpars}
    \mypar*{CC}{\kant*[1][1-3]}
    \mypar*{DD}{\kant*[2][1-3]}
    \mypar{CC}{\kant*[3][1-3]}
    \mypar{DD}{\kant*[4][1-3]}
    \mypar*{CC}{\kant*[5][1-2]}
    \mypar*{DD}{\kant*[6][1-2]}
\end{numberedpars}

\end{document}

EDIT3

A solution with the two-column sections.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}

\newcounter{parcounter}

\NewDocumentCommand{\numpar}{s O{0.5cm} O{1em} O{#2} O{#3} m}{%
    % #1 - star - suppresses annotations
    % #2 - width of a box containing a paragraph number
    % #3 - separation length after the number
    % #4 - width of a box containing a label
    % #5 - separation length after the label
    % #6 - label
    %
    % \dimen0 contains width of a numbers and labels
    \setlength{\dimen0}{\dimexpr(#2 + #3 + #4 + #5)}
    \noindent
    \IfBooleanTF{#1}{\hspace{\dimen0}}{%
        \stepcounter{parcounter}%
        \makebox[#2][r]{\arabic{parcounter}}%
        \hspace{#3}\makebox[#4][c]{\textbf{#6:}}%
        \hspace{#5}}%
    \hangindent=\dimen0}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{numberedpars}{O{0.25pt} +b}{%
    \setcounter{parcounter}{0}
    \setlength{\columnseprule}{#1}
    \begin{multicols}{2}
        #2%
    \end{multicols}}{}

\begin{document}
\parindent=0pt

\section*{Section Headline}

\subsection*{Subsection Headline}

Some info

\begin{numberedpars}
    \numpar{AA} \kant*[1][1-2]
    
    \numpar{BB} \kant*[2][1-2]
    
    \numpar{AA} \kant*[3][1-2]
    
    \numpar{BB} \kant*[4][1-2]
    
    \numpar{AA} \kant*[5][1-2]
    
    \numpar{BB} \kant*[6][1-2]
    
    \numpar{AA} \kant*[7][1-2]
    
    \numpar{BB} \kant*[8][1-2]
    
    \numpar*{AA} \kant*[9][1-2]
    
    \numpar*{BB} \kant*[10][1-2]
    
    \numpar{BB} \kant*[3][1-3]
\end{numberedpars}

\section*{Another Section Headline}

\subsection*{Another Subsection Headline}

Even more info

\begin{numberedpars}[2pt]
    \numpar{CC}\kant*[1][1-3]
    
    \numpar*{}\kant*[2][1]
    
    \numpar{DD} \kant*[2][1-3]
    
    \numpar{CC} \kant*[3][1-3]
    
    \numpar{DD} \kant*[4][1-3]
    
    \numpar{CC} \kant*[5][1-2]
    
    \numpar{DD} \kant*[6][1-2]
\end{numberedpars}

\end{document}

EDIT4
Initials are no longer tabulated.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}

\makeatletter
    \newcounter{p@rc@unter}
    \NewDocumentCommand{\numpar}{s O{0.5cm} O{6pt} O{1cm} m}{%
        % #2 - width of a box containing a paragraph number
        % #3 - space between the number and initials
        % #4 - space of a hanging indentation
        % #5 - initials
        \hangindent=#4
        \IfBooleanTF{#1}{\hspace{#4}}{
            \stepcounter{p@rc@unter}
            \settowidth{\dimen0}{\arabic{p@rc@unter}}
            \setlength{\dimen1}{#2}
            \ifdim\dimen0<\dimen1
                \setlength{\dimen0}{\dimen1}
            \fi
            \makebox[\dimen0][r]{\arabic{p@rc@unter}}\hspace{#3}%
            \notblank{#5}{\textbf{#5:}}{}}}
    \NewDocumentEnvironment{numberedpars}{s O{0.4pt} O{14pt} +b}{%
        % #1 - * - if present, keep counting paragraphs without cancelling
        % #2 - column rule width
        % #3 - space between columns
        \IfBooleanF{#1}{\setcounter{p@rc@unter}{0}}
        \setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
        \setlength{\columnseprule}{#2}
        \setlength{\columnsep}{#3}
        \begin{multicols}{2}
            #4\par
        \end{multicols}}{}
\makeatother


\begin{document}
% \setlength{\parindent}{0pt}

\section*{Section Headline}
\subsection*{Subsection Headline}
Some info

\begin{numberedpars}
    \numpar{AA}
    \kant[1][1]

    \numpar{BB}
    \kant*[2][1-3]

    \numpar{II} \kant*[4][1-2]

    \numpar{WwW} \kant*[5][1]

    \numpar{D} \kant*[6][1]

    \numpar{EEE} \kant*[7][1-2]

    \numpar{II} \kant*[4][1-2]

    \numpar{WwW} \kant*[5][1]

    \numpar{D} \kant*[6][1]

    \numpar{EEE} \kant*[7][1-2]
\end{numberedpars}

\kant[10][1-3]


\section*{Section Headline}
\subsection*{Subsection Headline}
Some other info

\begin{numberedpars}
    \numpar{CDT}
    \kant*[8][1-2]

    \numpar{JPJ}
    \kant*[9][1-2]
\end{numberedpars}

Something

\begin{numberedpars}*
    \numpar{XYZABCD} \kant*[10][1-2]

    \numpar{II} \kant*[11][1-2]

    \numpar{WvW} \kant*[12][1-2]

    \numpar{D} \kant*[13][1-2]
\end{numberedpars}
\end{document}

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to number paragraphs (and sections) in the margin

After giving a look at the linked document, I could detect six sectional units: chapters, sections, numbered subsections with title, numbered subsections without title, numbered subsubsections with title, and numbered subsubsections without title. So the problem is how to define these six sectional units.

The code below shows a possible solution using the titlesec package; the underlaying idea is to use \llap and \parboxes to typeset the numbers hanging onto the margin. The length \titleindent allows you to easily control the hanging indent.

\paragraph has been changed so that it will allow numbered subsections without title and \subparagraph was also redefined to allow numbered subsubsections.

The following table shows the "dictionary" between each secional unit of the document and the LaTeX command that will be used to typeset it:

Chapters -> \chapter
Sections -> \section
Numbered subsections with title -> \subsection
Numbered subsections without title -> \paragraph
Numbered subsubsections with title -> \subsubsection
Numbered subsubsections without title -> \subparagraph

And here's the code (feel free to make the necessary adjustments to satisfy your requirements):

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{5}
\renewcommand\thesection{\arabic{section}}

% this length controls tha hanging indent for titles
% change the value according to your needs
\newlength\titleindent
\setlength\titleindent{2cm}

\pretocmd{\paragraph}{\stepcounter{subsection}}{}{}
\pretocmd{\subparagraph}{\stepcounter{subsubsection}}{}{}

\titleformat{\chapter}[block]
  {\normalfont\huge\bfseries}{}{0pt}{\hspace*{-\titleindent}}

\titleformat{\section}
  {\normalfont\Large\bfseries}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesection\hfill}}}{0em}{}

\titleformat{\subsection}
  {\normalfont\large}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsection\hfill}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titleformat{\subsubsection}
  {\normalfont\normalsize}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsubsection}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titleformat{\paragraph}[runin]
  {\normalfont\large}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsection\hfill}}}{0em}{}

\titleformat{\subparagraph}[runin]
  {\normalfont\normalsize}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsubsection\hfill}}}{0em}{}

\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{0pt}{20pt}
\titlespacing*{\subsubsection}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}
\titlespacing*{\paragraph}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{0em}
\titlespacing*{\subparagraph}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{0em}

\begin{document}

\chapter{Test chapter}
\section{Test Section}
\lipsum[2]
\subsection{Test Subsection}
\lipsum[2]
\paragraph{}% acts like a numbered subsection without title
\lipsum[2]
\subsubsection{Test Subsubsection}
\lipsum[2]
\subparagraph{}% acts like a numbered subsubsection without title
\lipsum[2]

\end{document}

enter image description here

The previous approach assumes that you won't use \paragraph and \subparagraph with their standard formatting; another (perhaps more sensible) option is to define two fresh new sectional units; this, of course, requires a little additional work, but now you will have the standard sectional units plus the two new ones.

The following code illustrates this approach defining \subsectionwt (for numbered subsections without titles) and \subsubsectionwt (for numbered subsubsections without titles); it also makes the necessary provisions for the ToC.

The new "dictionary" is now:

Chapters -> \chapter
Sections -> \section
Numbered subsections with title -> \subsection
Numbered subsections without title -> \subsectionwt
Numbered subsubsections with title -> \subsubsection
Numbered subsubsections without title -> \subsubsectionwt
Paragraphs -> \paragraph
Subparagraphs -> \subparagraph

The example code:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{titlesec,titletoc}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{5}
\renewcommand\thesection{\arabic{section}}

% this length controls tha hanging indent for titles
% change the value according to your needs
\newlength\titleindent
\setlength\titleindent{2cm}

% counters for the new sectional units
\newcounter{subsectionwt}
\newcounter{subsubsectionwt}

% definition of the new sectional units with the representation of the counters
\titleclass{\subsectionwt}{straight}[\subsubsection]
\renewcommand{\thesubsectionwt}{\thesection.\arabic{subsectionwt}}

\titleclass{\subsubsectionwt}{straight}[\subsectionwt]
\renewcommand{\thesubsubsectionwt}{\thesubsection.\arabic{subsubsectionwt}}

% \subsection must increase the subsectionwt counter
% and \subsectionwt must increase the subsection counter
% Analogous treatment for \subsubsection and \subsubsectionwt
\pretocmd{\subsectionwt}{\stepcounter{subsection}}{}{}
\pretocmd{\subsection}{\stepcounter{subsectionwt}}{}{}
\pretocmd{\subsubsectionwt}{\stepcounter{subsubsection}}{}{}
\pretocmd{\subsubsection}{\stepcounter{subsubsectionwt}}{}{}

% format for the sectional units
\titleformat{\chapter}[block]
  {\normalfont\huge\bfseries}{}{0pt}{\hspace*{-\titleindent}}

\titleformat{\section}
  {\normalfont\Large\bfseries}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesection\hfill}}}{0em}{}

\titleformat{\subsection}
  {\normalfont\large}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsection\hfill}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titleformat{\subsectionwt}[runin]
  {\normalfont\large}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsectionwt\hfill}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titleformat{\subsubsection}
  {\normalfont\normalsize}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsubsection}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titleformat{\subsubsectionwt}[runin]
  {\normalfont\normalsize}{\llap{\parbox{\titleindent}{\thesubsubsectionwt}}}{0em}{\bfseries}

\titlespacing*{\chapter}{0pt}{0pt}{20pt}
\titlespacing*{\subsection}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}
\titlespacing*{\subsectionwt}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{0em}
\titlespacing*{\subsubsection}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}
\titlespacing*{\subsubsectionwt}{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{0em}

% numbered entries without title shouldn't go to the ToC
\titlecontents{subsectionwt}[]{}{}{}{}
\titlecontents{subsubsectionwt}[]{}{}{}{}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents

\chapter{Test chapter}
\section{Test Section}
\lipsum[2]
\subsection{Test Subsection}
\lipsum[2]
\subsectionwt{}% for numbered subsections without title
\lipsum[2]
\subsubsection{Test Subsubsection}
\lipsum[2]
\subsubsectionwt{}% for numbered subsubsections without title
\lipsum[2]

\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] How to remove the indentation from the first line of a paragraph

You can attempt to use

enter image description here

\paragraph{1. Number of Sides (n)\\}
For each iteration, every segment of the figure from the previous iteration 
will be converted to four segments in the following iteration. Since we begin 
with three sides, the formula for the number of sides in the Koch curve is

\paragraph{1. Number of Sides (n)} \mbox{}\par\nobreak
\noindent For each iteration, every segment of the figure from the previous iteration 
will be converted to four segments in the following iteration. Since we begin 
with three sides, the formula for the number of sides in the Koch curve is

The above technically finished the paragraph initiated by \paragraph, inserts a blank box and starts a new \paragraph. \nobreak ensures that the paragraph title and subsequent paragraph stays together near a page break, while \noindent ensures that the paragraph doesn't have an indent.

There are better ways of doing this, but I'm not sure to what extent you would use this, and what other limitations you might have in terms of packages. Moreover, manually numbering sectional titles (\paragraph is a sectional unit) is error-prone.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to number paragraphs (and sections) in the margin

[Tex/LaTex] How to remove the indentation from the first line of a paragraph

Related Question