Itemize without bullets

Question

I want to use the itemize environment exactly as it works by default, but hide the bullets that would otherwise appear.

Is there an easy way to do this?

Gonzalo Medina · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-31T22:48:36.040

256

You can do this in several ways: for example, by using an empty optional argument for \item (as Jake suggested), or by using the enumitem package to use an empty label, or by redefining \labelitemi; these approaches are illustrated in the following example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
  \item[] First.
  \item[] Second.
\end{itemize}

\begin{itemize}[label={}]
  \item First.
  \item Second.
\end{itemize}

{\renewcommand\labelitemi{}
\begin{itemize}
  \item First.
  \item Second.
\end{itemize}
}

\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Mar 31 '12 at 22:48

answered Mar 31 '12 at 22:41

Gonzalo Medina

505,128

11

\begin{itemize}[label={}] doesn't work; \begin{itemize}[\label{}] does! – PLG Feb 11 '14 at 10:27
3

@PLG Sure? \begin{itemize}[\label{}] will trigger an error; on the other hand, label={} as an option to the environment (having loaded enumitem), suppresses the label, as required. – Gonzalo Medina Feb 11 '14 at 12:18
3

Using the MacTex environment, [label={}] produces label= as bullet symbol. Both [\label{}] and [\label={}] seem to produce the empty bullet symbol. – PLG Feb 12 '14 at 16:21
1

@PLG Can you please upload elsewhere (and provide a link in your next reply) a simple document producing the result you mention? – Gonzalo Medina Feb 12 '14 at 17:10
1

Using the http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/biblatex-contrib/biblatex-chicago.zip template and \begin{itemize}[label={}] \item First. \item Second. \end{itemize} Results in an error. Using ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/tex/latex/llncs/latex2e/llncs2e.zip results in the label= that I described above. Perhaps it is the class files, but then it would be good to have some clarification of what is going on. Thanks in advance for your effort! =) – PLG Feb 14 '14 at 11:17
1

Oh, I should add that the files are: llncs.dem in llncs2e.zip and doc/examples/cms-trad-sample.tex in biblatex-chicago.zip. – PLG Feb 14 '14 at 18:06
1

This approach also works for nested itemize lists. – Aldoaldo Apr 26 '17 at 13:17
2

neither label={} nor \label={} allowed me to have math in the items, giving me "! LaTeX Error: Something's wrong--perhaps a missing \item." – Gus Apr 05 '21 at 18:54

score 48 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 22 '17 at 11:07

48

Why do you want to use the itemize environment, if you don't want the bullets? You could simply use the description environment which seems to be exactly what you need. No hacking required.

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
    \begin{description}
        \item Foo
        \item Bar
    \end{description}
\end{document}

answered Oct 22 '17 at 11:07

Sam

2,958

2

The description environment introduces significantly more whitespace in front of each item though – zakkak Feb 15 '18 at 08:28
4

@zakkak Agreed. This needs as much customisation as just customising the itemize environment. – LondonRob Feb 23 '18 at 13:01
1

This is imho the best answer, because if you don't have bullet points its not an enumeration but actually a description, imho. – problemofficer - n.f. Monica Nov 13 '18 at 03:00
1

With the enumitem package you can customize this solution for any whitespace to be exactly as you wish. – caw Jul 17 '19 at 16:20

John · Answer 3 · 2019-11-01T11:00:24.467

12

The following also works. The {} specifies that nothing should be placed before the items. Use \indent as needed.

\usepackage{enumerate}

\begin{document}

    \begin{enumerate}[\indent {}]
        \item ABC
        \item ABC
        \item ABC
    \end{enumerate}

\end{document}

edited Nov 01 '19 at 11:00

answered May 07 '18 at 23:45

John

323

4

This doesn't appear to work. Does it require a particular package? – jvriesem Dec 14 '18 at 18:14
@jvriesem They might have meant to put \usepackage{enumitem} in the preamble of their MWE instead of \usepackage{enumerate}. – Mailbox Aug 04 '23 at 17:38
It works for me with \usepackage{enumerate}. – xFullArgon Sep 02 '23 at 00:51

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 05 '16 at 00:08

4

Just use \null

\begin{itemize}[\null]
    \item First
    \item Second
\end{itemize}

answered Oct 05 '16 at 00:08

Esteban Richmond Salazar

57

2

Are you using any packages that provides this interface? Also, why use \null when you can use \relax or {} or ... ? – Werner Oct 05 '16 at 00:15
2

Welcome to TeX.SX! I also recommend a minimal working example (MWE) for answers. Then it is easier to reproduce the result and the MWE shows the needed package(s). – Heiko Oberdiek Oct 05 '16 at 00:31
2

You need to \usepackage{enumitem} as mentioned in the previous answer. – Hamza Abbad Apr 25 '17 at 14:09

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 16 '21 at 17:00

For those looking for an alternative solution: basically, you can pass anything in square brackets \begin{itemize}[...]

\begin{itemize}[x]
    \item First
    \item Second
\end{itemize}
\begin{itemize}[  y]
    \item First
    \item Second
\end{itemize}
\begin{itemize}[\qquad z]
    \item First
    \item Second
\end{itemize}

\hspace{10pt}, \quad, etc. commands can be used to add indentation.

Itemize without bullets

5 Answers5

Linked