Comma-separated list environment

Question

This question is somewhat of a follow up to an answer to a previous question (https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/11587/13522).

I would like to create a list environment (similar to itemize and enumerate) such that the output of the list environment is a comma-separated list.

For example, the following input:

\begin{commalist}
    \item Item A
    \item Item B
    \item Item C
\end{commalist}

Should produce the following output:

Item A, Item B and Item C.

Additionally, it would be nice to be able to specify the use of a comma instead of the final and (so that the output is instead Item A, Item B, Item C..

score 26 · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-08T15:28:06.697

26

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[inline]{enumitem}
\newlist{commalist}{description*}{4}
\setlist[commalist]{itemjoin={{,}},itemjoin*={{, and}},afterlabel=\unskip{{~}}}

\begin{document}
\begin{commalist}
    \item Item A
    \item Item B
    \item Item C
\end{commalist}
\end{document}

enter image description here

If there should be no comma before and, then delete it in the setting.

edited Jul 08 '12 at 15:28

answered Jul 08 '12 at 15:03

@Herbert. Wow, great! Thanks. Only problem I have is that the text from the list is spaced evenly along the row, whereas I want the whole text to be left-justified. Can this be fixed? – Joshua Spence Jul 08 '12 at 21:49
1

@JoshuaSpence: write the first entry as \item[\kern-0.3em] Item A. I suppose that there is no easy way to get rid of the space – Jul 09 '12 at 06:16
@Herbert: that didn't work but \hfill does the job. – Joshua Spence Jul 09 '12 at 09:22
1

\setlist[commalist]{before=\kern-0.3em, ...} seems to work. – Hans Lundmark Aug 14 '12 at 12:59
1

I find spacing is not good without also specifying mode=unboxed. However in this case "itemjoin* is ignored". – Joe Corneli Mar 09 '16 at 13:35

egreg · Answer 2 · 2013-12-11T07:54:40.213

A solution with expl3:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse,environ,xspace}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewEnviron{commalist}[1][\space]{\spence_comma_list:V \BODY #1}
\seq_new:N \l_spence_items_seq
\cs_new_protected:Npn \spence_comma_list:n #1
 {
  \seq_set_split:Nnn \l_spence_items_seq { \item } { #1 }
  \seq_pop_left:NN \l_spence_items_seq \l_tmpa_tl % we have an empty element at the beginning
  \seq_use:Nnnn \l_spence_items_seq { ~ and ~ } { , ~ } { , ~ and ~ }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \spence_comma_list:n { V }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}
Here is a comma list
\begin{commalist}
\item Item A
\item Item B
\item Item C
\end{commalist}
and another
\begin{commalist}
\item Item A
\item Item B
\end{commalist}
and another
\begin{commalist}
\item Item A
\end{commalist}
which ends the game.
Another one to see that a period can follow
\begin{commalist}[.]
\item Item A
\item Item B
\item Item C
\end{commalist}
\end{document}

A punctuation after the list should be specified beforehand as optional argument, because \NewEnviron works hard to gobble a space following \end{commalist}.

The code prior to the addition of \seq_use:Nnnn follows, just in order to appreciate the elegance of the new method. Thanks to Bruno for providing it.

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewEnviron{commalist}[1][\space]{\spence_comma_list:V \BODY#1}
\cs_new_protected:Npn \spence_comma_list:n #1
 {
  \seq_set_split:Nnn \l_spence_items_seq { \item } { #1 }
  \seq_pop_left:NN \l_spence_items_seq \l_tmpa_tl % we have an empty element at the beginning
  \seq_pop_right:NN \l_spence_items_seq \l_spence_lastitem_tl
  \seq_if_empty:NTF \l_spence_items_seq
   {
    \tl_use:N \l_spence_lastitem_tl
   }
   {
    \spence_andify:
   }
 }
\cs_new_protected:Npn \spence_andify:
 {
  \seq_pop_right:NN \l_spence_items_seq \l_spence_lastbutoneitem_tl
  \seq_map_inline:Nn \l_spence_items_seq { ##1,~ }
  \tl_use:N \l_spence_lastbutoneitem_tl
  \c_space_token and ~ 
  \tl_use:N \l_spence_lastitem_tl
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \spence_comma_list:n { V }
\tl_new:N \l_spence_lastbutoneitem_tl
\tl_new:N \l_spence_lastitem_tl
\seq_new:N \l_spence_items_seq
\ExplSyntaxOff

With the upcoming CTAN update (in July 2012), you'll be able to simplify this to \seq_set_split:Nnn and \seq_use:Nnnn \l_spence_items_seq { ~ and ~ } { , ~ } { , ~ and ~ }. — Bruno Le Floch, Jul 09 '12 at 12:15
And since \seq_use:Nnnn is expandable, coding it was a mess (no \seq_pop_right:NN available, for instance). — Bruno Le Floch, Jul 09 '12 at 13:48

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 08 '12 at 14:44

6

The package enumitem may give a solution. Use inline-list. See section 4 in the manual, and especially the possibility to set up a list using itemjoin (see page 9).

answered Jul 08 '12 at 14:44

Sveinung

20,355

Comma-separated list environment

3 Answers3

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