Cross-referencing multiple items

Question

I've looked for an answer to my LaTeX question, but even though there are some that are similar, none addresses my issue. I'm trying to label and cross-reference the first and last items of a set to make reference to the entire set. For example, imagine we have the following case:

(1) a. This is sentence one.

b. This is sentence two.

c. This is sentence three.

I'm trying to write in text something like "... if we look at examples (1a-c), we find that..."

The only way I know how to cross-reference in LaTeX is this way:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
    \begin{enumerate}
        \item \begin{enumerate}
            \item One \label{ex1}
            \item Two \label{ex2}
            \item Three \label{ex3}
            \end{enumerate}
    \end{enumerate}

    We can see in examples (\ref{ex1}-\ref{ex3}) that...

\end{document}

The code above produces the following output:

How can I change my code so that it shows as "...in examples (1a-c) we find that..." I don't want the number 1 to be repeated again. The way I want the output is a convention in my field, and the way it shows on LaTeX is considered "awkward." That's why I would like to find a way that works while still being able to cross-reference my labeled items.

Answer 1

The cross-referencing commands of the cleveref package -- specifically, \cref and \crefrange -- may be your friend. Note that in the solution shown below, there are no parentheses around the cross-referenced items. I don't believe that these parentheses are either necessary or helpful.

The \crefrange command, which takes two arguments, is designed for cross-references to a contiguous range of items. The \cref command takes one argument, a comma-separated list of labels. The \cref command automatically sorts the contents of its argument; it's not necessary to enter them in ascending order.

Optionally, you could load the hyperref package. Doing so will make the cross-references generated by \cref and \crefrange into hyperlinks to the associated "targets". If you load the hyperref package, be sure to load it immediately before cleveref. Basically, hyperref and cleveref should be the last two packages loaded in the preamble.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[inline]{enumitem} 
\usepackage[colorlinks]{hyperref} % optional
\prepackage{cleveref}
\crefname{enumi}{example}{examples}
\newcommand{\crefrangeconjunction}{--}
\newcommand{\creflastconjunction}{, and } % optional, for "Oxford comma"

\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item \begin{enumerate*}  % inline list saves space
  \item One   \label{ex1}    \item Two   \label{ex2}    \item Three \label{ex3}    
  \item Four  \label{ex4}    \item Five  \label{ex5}    \item Six   \label{ex6}
  \item Seven \label{ex7}    \item Eight \label{ex8}    \item Nine  \label{ex9}   
  \end{enumerate*}
\end{enumerate}

We can see in \crefrange{ex1}{ex5} that \dots

We can see in \cref{ex9,ex3,ex7,ex5,ex6,ex1,ex2} that \dots
\end{document}

---

---

Addendum: The cleveref package provides some very powerful utility macros. For instance, as explained in section of package's user guide, one can strip the common prefix -- here, "1" -- from ranges of cross-references.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[inline]{enumitem} 
\usepackage[colorlinks]{hyperref} 

\usepackage{cleveref}
\crefname{enumi}{example}{examples}
%\newcommand{\crefrangeconjunction}{--}
\newcommand{\creflastconjunction}{, and } % optional, for "Oxford comma"
\crefrangelabelformat{enumi}{#3#1#4--#5\crefstripprefix{#1}{#2}#6}

\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item \begin{enumerate*}  % inline list saves space
  \item One   \label{ex1}   \item Two   \label{ex2}   \item Three \label{ex3}   
  \item Four  \label{ex4}   \item Five  \label{ex5}   \item Six   \label{ex6}
  \item Seven \label{ex7}   \item Eight \label{ex8}   \item Nine  \label{ex9}
  \end{enumerate*}
\end{enumerate}

We can see in \crefrange{ex1}{ex5} that \dots

We can see in \cref{ex9,ex3,ex7,ex5,ex6,ex1,ex2} that \dots
\end{document}

Answer 2

With enumitem you can set separate label and ref values. Below I've used that with an additional \label as part of the higher level enumerate to set three separate elements for \reference:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}[label={\arabic*.},ref={\arabic*}]
  \item \label{ex0}
    \begin{enumerate}[label={(\alph*)},ref={\alph*}]
      \item One \label{ex1}
      \item Two \label{ex2}
      \item Three \label{ex3}
    \end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}

We can see in examples (\ref{ex0}\ref{ex1}-\ref{ex3}) that...

\end{document}