spacing and line breaking

Question

I want to write some lines in the following format. For example:

This is my request for better writing:
   a. I want to break the first line in a the next few words and
      to continue here for next few more words.
   b. I want to break the first line in a the next few words and
      to continue here for next few more words.
   c. I want to break the first line in a the next few words and
      to continue here for next few more words.

I want that a line number "a" will start after a few spaces. When the corresponding line will break, it should continue under the first word that it started, for example in line a (start with "I" and the word under I is to... The same behaviour is wanted for b and c.

Can someone help to solve it ?

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jakun · Answer 1 · 2016-12-26T17:39:42.850

4

Sounds to me like you are looking for the enumerate environment. You can customize it with the enumitem package. You can break a line with \\ or start a new paragraph with an empty line or a \par.

Edit: You can customize the horizontal spacing with the keys leftmargin, itemindent, labelindent, labelwidth and labelsep, see page 4--5 of the enumitem package documentation.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}% display page margins to make effect of leftmargin better visible
\usepackage{enumitem}% to customize enumerate/itemize/description
\setlist[enumerate,0]{% global customization of enumerate environment, see page 9 of enumitem package documentation.
    label=\alph*.,
    leftmargin=1cm,
}

% a custom command to save some typing, displays the value of a dimension in a table
\newcommand{\displaydimension}[1]{#1 & \the\csname #1\endcsname \\}

\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item you can \\
    break a line
\item and you can \par
    start a new paragraph
\item current values for horizontal spacing:

    \begin{tabular}[t]{@{}ll@{}}
        \displaydimension{leftmargin}
        \displaydimension{itemindent}
        \displaydimension{labelindent}
        \displaydimension{labelwidth}
        \displaydimension{labelsep}
    \end{tabular}
    \[ \texttt{leftmargin} +  \texttt{itemindent} = \texttt{labelindent} + \texttt{labelwidth} + \texttt{labelsep} \]
    \hfill\scriptsize (according to \texttt{enumitem} package documentation page~4)
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

Please note that the values on the screenshot are not the default values, but for leftmargin=1cm, as visible in the source code. The default is leftmargin=25.00003pt.

edited Dec 26 '16 at 17:39

answered Dec 25 '16 at 14:47

jakun

5,981

From where and how I need to usepackage()enuitem)? – user121783 Dec 25 '16 at 14:55
or maybe usepackage(enumerate) just enough ? – user121783 Dec 25 '16 at 14:57
2

have you tried my code? It is working on my system and I would expect it to work on yours as well. – jakun Dec 25 '16 at 15:00
if you want to change the enumeration style globally you can use \setlist[enumerate,0]{label=\alph*.}. see documentation section 5 "Global settings" (page 9). – jakun Dec 25 '16 at 15:20
yes, it works. can I change or add more spase at the start of the line - let say 2 or 3 gap of tab ? – user121783 Dec 26 '16 at 06:09
yes, you can also customize the spacing. For horizontal spacing there are the keys leftmargin, itemindent, labelindent, labelwidth and labelsep. see page 4--5 of the enumitem package documentation (the link in my answer). – jakun Dec 26 '16 at 16:28
@user121783 see my edited answer. play around with leftmargin=... or labelindent=..., labelwidth=\widthof{a.}, labelsep=5pt, leftmargin=! (the latter requires \usepackage{calc}). – jakun Dec 26 '16 at 17:47

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

I don't know whether you want this in a monospaced font, or in usual text. For the latter please look at enumerations and lists:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{enumitem} % for resizing spaces in enumeration

\setlist{parsep=0pt,
    itemsep=0pt,
    %topsep=0pt
}

\usepackage{blindtext}

\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\alph{enumi}}
\begin{document}

Some Text. \blindtext
\begin{enumerate}
    \item Test 1
    \item Test 2
\end{enumerate}

More text. \blindtext
\end{document}

I used the renewcommand to change the enumeration from 1., 2., .. to a., b., ... if neccessary refer also to How do I change the `enumerate` list format to use letters instead of the default Arabic numerals?

spacing and line breaking

2 Answers2