[Tex/LaTex] Symbols instead of foonotes numbers

footnotes

I have already seen such questions here, but I need a different solution here.
Could someone please explain me, how can I change numbers of my footnotes to the multiple symbols, e.g. *, **,*** etc. without creating errors and chaos in the .tex code?

Thank you!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
\item Hello, I am the first sentence!\footnote{Ummh.. Looks good with a text!}
\item $\forall n \in \mathbb{N} \ \exists m: n=2m\footnote{I am the second footnote, and not a $m^2$ expression.} \lor n=2m+1$
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

Best Answer

The typical symbol-like style of \footnotes are defined in the LaTeX kernel in the following way:

\def\@fnsymbol#1{%
   \ifcase#1\or \TextOrMath\textasteriskcentered *\or
   \TextOrMath \textdagger \dagger\or
   \TextOrMath \textdaggerdbl \ddagger \or
   \TextOrMath \textsection  \mathsection\or
   \TextOrMath \textparagraph \mathparagraph\or
   \TextOrMath \textbardbl \|\or
   \TextOrMath {\textasteriskcentered\textasteriskcentered}{**}\or
   \TextOrMath {\textdagger\textdagger}{\dagger\dagger}\or
   \TextOrMath {\textdaggerdbl\textdaggerdbl}{\ddagger\ddagger}\else
   \@ctrerr \fi
}%

When printing the footnote number, it conditions on the value of the counter using \ifcase, and each possible outcome is listed in the sequential order of the counter.

We can follow the same approach using *s:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}

\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\ifcase\value{footnote}
  \or *% 1
  \or **% 2
  \or ***% 3
  \or ****% 4
  \or *****% 5
  \or ******% 6
  \or *******% 7
  \or ********% 8
  \or *********% 9
  \else \arabic{footnote}\fi}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item First item\footnote{First footnote}
  \item Second item\footnote{Second footnote}
  \item Third item\footnote{Third footnote}
  \item Fourth item\footnote{Fourth footnote}
  \item Fifth item\footnote{Fifth footnote}
  \item Sixth item\footnote{Sixth footnote}
  \item Seventh item\footnote{Seventh footnote}
  \item Eighth item\footnote{Eighth footnote}
  \item Ninth item\footnote{Ninth footnote}
  \item Last item\footnote{Last footnote}
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

It does get a bit unwieldy for large footnote numbers, as the asterisks butt into the margin.

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