Possible to create bullets for \subitems using \itemize without a nested list?

Question

I have made a list of questions and subquestions using nested \itemize commands, like this:

\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage[british]{babel}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item{First item}
    \begin{itemize}
      \item{First subitem}
      \item{Second subitem}
      \item{Third subitem}
    \end{itemize}
  \item{Second item}
  \item{Third item}
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Now this works fine for me, but I am just wondering, could you also create bullets when using \subitem instead of a nested list, like below? I do get an indentation at my subquestions, but no bullets.

\begin{itemize}
  \item{First item}
    \subitem{First subitem}
    \subitem{Second subitem}
    \subitem{Third subitem}
  \item{Second item}
  \item{Third item}
\end{itemize}

Don't use \subitem for this purpose. It's defined only for working in an index. — egreg, Nov 25 '12 at 15:07
I am having the same problem. What is the suggested alternative? Using a nested list, particularly when I only need one sub-item, is a waste of space — Jeff, Dec 04 '12 at 22:13
Found package outlines, suits my needs... Hopefully this will help others — Jeff, Dec 04 '12 at 22:41
See http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/32182/using-indentation-to-automatically-begin-and-end-itemize-environments — Fran, Jan 17 '13 at 04:23
I find your answer satisfactory. That being said, the outlines package does look like an admittedly simpler way to obtain similar functionality. — fuzzybear3965, Apr 19 '16 at 18:41
@fuzzybear3965: I am not familiar with that package. Please post an answer that shows how to use the package to achieve this as that might be helpful to others. — Peter Grill, May 25 '16 at 21:46

score 48 · Answer 1 · answered May 27 '16 at 19:56

48

An alternative to this approach, which facilitates the production of nested lists is the outlines package. To produce a bulleted list with three levels it is as simple as

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{outlines}
\begin{document}
\begin{outline}
 \1 Top level item
   \2 Sub item
     \3 sub sub item
\end{outline}
\end{document}

To make a numbered list (as opposed to a bulleted list) one can simply pass the enumerate option to this package

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{outlines}
\begin{document}
\begin{outline}[enumerate]
 \1 Top level item
   \2 Sub item
     \3 sub sub item
\end{outline}
\end{document}

answered May 27 '16 at 19:56

fuzzybear3965

890

This is a beautifully simple solution, and should be marked as correct – Diesel Apr 14 '22 at 16:13
How could you get dashes instead of bullets for sub items (2nd level)? – Mackie Jan 14 '23 at 10:53
2

Hey @Mackie I'm not sure as it's been sometime since I used this solution or have written any La(TeX). But, the documentation for this package is at https://ctan.org/pkg/outlines and you may be able to find instructions for using dashes instead of bullets for unordered lists, there. – fuzzybear3965 Jan 14 '23 at 14:01

score 23 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

While you should not use \subitem, you can use a different name like \SubItem to achieve the desired results with some small hackery. For comparison purposes I put the two lists (one on the right uses \SubItem) in a minipage:

enter image description here

Warning:

In this answer to strange interaction between mdframed and item, egreg mentions that

Redefining \item can be dangerous and have impredictable results

I have not seen any issues here, but then I am not an expert on this.

Code:

\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage[british]{babel}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\newlist{SubItemList}{itemize}{1}
\setlist[SubItemList]{label={$-$}}

\let\OldItem\item
\newcommand{\SubItemStart}[1]{%
    \let\item\SubItemEnd
    \begin{SubItemList}[resume]%
        \OldItem #1%
}
\newcommand{\SubItemMiddle}[1]{%
    \OldItem #1%
}
\newcommand{\SubItemEnd}[1]{%
    \end{SubItemList}%
    \let\item\OldItem
    \item #1%
}
\newcommand*{\SubItem}[1]{%
    \let\SubItem\SubItemMiddle%
    \SubItemStart{#1}%
}%

\begin{document}
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.4\linewidth}
    \begin{itemize}
     \item{First item}
      \begin{itemize}
        \item{First subitem}
        \item{Second subitem}
        \item{Third subitem}
      \end{itemize}
      \item{Second item}
      \item{Third item}
    \end{itemize}
\end{minipage}
%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.4\linewidth}
    \begin{itemize}
      \item{First item}
      \SubItem{First subitem}
      \SubItem{Second subitem}
      \SubItem{Third subitem}
      \item{Second item}
      \item{Third item}
    \end{itemize}
\end{minipage}
\end{document}

I'd never recommend doing it this way. A nested list is the way to go. — egreg, Nov 25 '12 at 22:36
Sorry, but I didn't see any difference between both lists in your figure. What did I miss? — Danilo Gregorin Afonso, Aug 29 '17 at 20:19
@DaniloGregorin: That is exactly the point. The one on the left is produced using a nested list, the one on the right is produced using the \SubItem macro defined here, which is what the question was all about. — Peter Grill, Sep 01 '17 at 00:09
Oh, now I see. Got confused with the English, but now I understand. Thank you very much — Danilo Gregorin Afonso, Sep 02 '17 at 01:22

cya · Answer 3 · 2018-07-07T19:31:05.547

How about doing something like this?

No need to use additional package, just defining it as a new command. It needs to be in extra brackets, otherwise new indent is applied to all items afterwards.

\documentclass[11pt]{report}
\usepackage[british]{babel}
%\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\newcommand{\SubItem}[1]{
    {\setlength\itemindent{15pt} \item[-] #1}
}


\begin{itemize}
  \item{First item}
    \SubItem{First subitem}
    \SubItem{Second subitem}
    \SubItem{Third subitem}
  \item{Second item}
  \item{Third item}
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

M_0090 · Answer 4 · 2022-08-04T01:08:45.970

4

This is the simplest way - no extra packages are needed.

\begin{itemize}
      \item{First item}
      \begin{itemize}
            \item{First subitem}
            \item{Second subitem}
            \item{Third subitem}
       \end{itemize}
       \item{Second item}
       \item{Third item} 
\end{itemize}

edited Aug 04 '22 at 01:08

answered Aug 04 '22 at 01:04

M_0090

49
3

4

This is a nested list, which the person who asked the question is trying to avoid. (Even though it's the method usually recommended.) – barbara beeton Aug 04 '22 at 01:59

score 3 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 30 '17 at 11:07

I appreciated fuzzybear3965's answer, and I think it could also be modified to this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{outlines}
\begin{document}
  \begin{description}
    \item[An_Item_Which_Should_Be_Displayed_As_Usual]
    \begin{outline}
      \begin{description}
        \item[An_Item_Which_Sould_Be_Indented_Below_The_First_One]
      \end{description}
    \end{outline}
  \end{description}
\end{document}

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 13 '23 at 05:25

\frame{\frametitle{Methodology [Contd.]}
 \begin{itemize}
    \item The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) IQ Test was administered to assess students' intelligence. The WAIS, recognized as the most advanced measure of cognitive ability for adults, involved the development of testing software and comprised 5 core subtests and 5 supplemental subtests.
    \begin{itemize}
        \item In the domain of biomedical research, established methodologies, and processes are available for the classification of fingerprint patterns.
    \end{itemize}
    \end{itemize}
}

Not was this answer already given, but it's also what the original poster didn't want to do. — Miyase, Nov 13 '23 at 05:42

score -2 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 02 '21 at 09:54

-2

Simple solution, which gives you flexibility, use the following command: \subitem $diamond$. This would allow one to choose any of the math symbols to use in the lists.

edited Jul 02 '21 at 09:54

NBur

4,326
10
27

answered Jul 02 '21 at 08:26

stu r-t

1

Possible to create bullets for \subitems using \itemize without a nested list?

7 Answers7

Warning:

Code:

Linked