[Tex/LaTex] Default label styles for itemize environment

bulletsitemizelists

I'm creating a CV, and when I tried to use a custom label for different list environments I had trouble matching the label to the default one created by the itemize environment. So I'm wondering what the default label style is for at least the outermost entry of itemize.

Here is a MWE (correct initialism use? Also minimal might be relative):

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,roman]{moderncv}
\moderncvstyle{casual}
\moderncvcolor{blue}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{bm}
\usepackage{xpatch}
\xpatchcmd{\cvitem}{\raggedleft\hintstyle{#2}}{\raggedright\hintstyle{#2}}{}{}
\name{First}{Last}
\address{City, State ZIPNUM}{}
\mobile{xxx-xxx-xxxx}
\email{email@email.com}

\begin{document}
\makecvtitle
\vspace{-9ex}
\section{list item}
\cvitem{sublist item}{
\begin{itemize}
\item [\color{color1}$\circ$] This is using $\backslash$circ
\item [\color{color1}\boldsymbol{$\circ$}] This is using $\backslash$boldsymbol$\backslash$circ
\item [\color{color1}\bm{$\circ$}] This is using $\backslash$bm$\backslash$circ
\item This is a regular item
\item [\large\color{color1}\boldsymbol{$\circ$}] This is using $\backslash$large$\backslash$boldsymbol$\backslash$circ
\end{itemize}}
\end{document}

Image example of label styles

The default (regular) one seems to be bolder than when only using \circ. \boldsymbol seems good, until I zoom in, then it looks less circular than the default (which could be a problem with mine and others eyesight).

So can someone let me know what the default is? Or redirect me to a stackexchange discussion about it?

Best Answer

We can use TeX's \show command to inspect the definition of a macro. So we check the definition of \item which (after some expansions) leads us to \labelitemi, the label for first order items in an itemize:

> \labelitemi=macro:
->\strut \textcolor {color1}{\marvosymbol {123}}.

And indeed

\cvitem{sublist item}{
\begin{itemize}
    \item = \textcolor {color1}{\marvosymbol {123}}
\end{itemize}}

gives

enter image description here

EDIT: moderncv loads its default symbols from a file moderncviconsawesome.sty. There we find the definition

\renewcommand*{\labelitemi}{\strut\textcolor{color1}{\tiny\faCircleO}}

This font (which requires the fontawesome package) is only loaded when compiled with xelatex or lualatex. With latex or pdflatex the symbol font switches to marvosym, which gives the result shown above.

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