# How do I change the enumerate list format to use letters instead of the default Arabic numerals?

I've seen documentation whereby an \alph command is put around the \begin{enumerate} somewhere, but I'm not entirely sure how that operates...

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checkout this answer, which gives more flexibility and also works in LyX. –  Sparkler Nov 21 '14 at 21:54

Without any package you could do it by redefining the command \theenumi for formatting the enumi counter. (Also enumii, etc., for nested lists.)

\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\Alph{enumi}}


inside the environment.... Or better, you could use a package like enumitem which allows, e.g.,

\begin{enumerate}[label=\Alph*]
\item this is item a
\item another item
\end{enumerate}


Use \alph for lowercase letters, \Alph for uppercase, etc. See the package documentation for more info.

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I prefer to define it in once the preamble instead of for each enumerate list: \setenumerate[0]{label=(\Alph*)} this way the first enum counter (level 0) will get this style in the whole document. If would you later decide to change this numbering, there's just the preamble statement to adjust. –  Stefan Kottwitz Aug 25 '10 at 11:42
\usepackage{enumerate}
.
.
.
\begin{enumerate}[(a)] % (a), (b), (c), ...
\item
\end{enumerate}
.
.
.
\begin{enumerate}[a)] % a), b), c), ...
\item
\end{enumerate}

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That requires the enumerate package. That's fine too, though I prefer enumitem because it has more options. –  frabjous Aug 25 '10 at 6:46
It works with enumitem with the option shortlabels: \usepackage[shortlabels]{enumitem} –  Stefan Kottwitz Aug 25 '10 at 11:38
And package enumitem supersedes enumerate, thus is preferred in all contexts. –  Denis Bogdanas Apr 20 at 8:05

With enumitem package, we can do as follow:

Preamble: \newcommand{\subscript}[2]{$#1 _ #2$}
In document use:
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\subscript{E}{\arabic*})]
\item
Generated by the $f*\tilde{g}$, where $f\in C_c(G)$, $g\in C_c(G)$;
\item
Generated by the $h*\tilde{h}$, where $h\in C_c(G)$;
\end{enumerate}


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