[Tex/LaTex] Horizontal space in lists

enumitemlistsspacing

What is the best way to change the amount of horizontal space in list environments?

Examples:

1.############################ % Near the enumerated item - compacted horizontal space
  ############################

2.############################
  ############################

3.############################
  ############################

and

1.     ############################ % Far from the enumerated item - stretched horizontal space
       ############################

2.     ############################
       ############################

3.     ############################
       ############################

Best Answer

You can adjust all list parameters easily using the enumitem package. For the example you give, the relevant parameter is the labelsep key:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}[labelsep=5em]
\item foo
\item bar
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

For other parameters, check the documentation or look for other questions on the site that use the enumitem package.

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Remove space around bullet points in itemized or enumerated list

The paralist package provides compressed lists, the new environments are called compactitem, compactenum and compactdesc. Use it just like the corresponding standard list environments. It can even keep lists within a paragraph.

The enumitem provides more features but also compressed lists, for instance by

\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist{nolistsep,leftmargin=*}

\setlist modifies all lists, \setitemize just itemize etc. It takes an optional parameter that stands for the level that should be changed, default it alters all levels. Since enumitem allows a lot more customization I prefer it over paralist, but the latter is easier to use and fits better to the question here.

[Tex/LaTex] Vertical space in lists

The easiest way to do this is to use the enumitem package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} % for dummy text
\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist{nosep} % or \setlist{noitemsep} to leave space around whole list

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{enumerate}
\item foo
\item bar
\end{enumerate}
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

The enumitem package also allows you to set the list spacing for a particular type or level of list, or for any particular individual list:

\setlist[2]{noitemsep} % sets the itemsep and parsep for all level two lists to 0
\setenumerate{noitemsep} % sets no itemsep for enumerate lists only
\begin{enumerate}[noitemsep] % sets no itemsep for just this list
...
\end{enumerate}

The nosep parameter removes all vertical spacing within and around the list; the noitemsep parameter removes spacing from items but leaves space around the whole list.

You can also set any of the spacing parameters to exact values, either globally (using \setlist) or locally, using the optional argument [...] after the beginning of the environment:

\begin{itemize}[topsep=8pt,itemsep=4pt,partopsep=4pt, parsep=4pt]
\item Some text
\item Some text
\end{itemize}

To see how all of these parameters work, see the following question:

\topsep, \itemsep, \partopsep and \parsep - what does each of them mean (and what about the bottom)?

The package also allows complete control over all other aspects of the list formatting too.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Remove space around bullet points in itemized or enumerated list

[Tex/LaTex] Vertical space in lists

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