Change every first level item in document to bullet

Question

How can I have bullets for every first level item in the document ?

Putting renewcommand{\labelitemi}{$\bullet$} in the itemize works well but just for this itemize. I tried putting it on top of the document but it doesn't not work.

Answer 1

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{$\star$}
% instead of star you find more symbols in:
% http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/    

\begin{itemize}
\item Global setting
\end{itemize}

\begin{itemize}
\item is global
\end{itemize}


\begin{itemize}
\item[$\oplus$] this method is more flexible
\item[$\ominus$] but you have to type more
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Another suggestion is to use the enumitem package which provides a high-level interface to deal with such tweaks instead of delving into redefining macros:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{enumitem}
\setlist[itemize,1]{label=$\star$}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
\item foo
\item bar
\item foobar
   \begin{itemize}
    \item foo
    \item bar
    \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

We applied a global change by setting itemize's behaviour at level 1 and defining its new label:

\setlist[itemize,1]{label=$\star$}

There we go. :)

Answer 3

The bullet is the default for first level itemized lists, unless you load the french option for babel, which changes the symbols to a dash for every level to conform to what's decreed by the Imprimérie Nationale.

If you prefer the default bullet, then issue

\frenchbsetup{StandardItemLabels}

in your preamble. Example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage[french]{babel}
\frenchbsetup{StandardItemLabels}

\begin{document}

\begin{itemize}
\item Global setting
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

See also chip Lyx 4.2 latex

Answer 4

\documentclass{article}

% save definition of itemize
\let\olditemize\itemize
\let\endolditemize\itemize

\renewenvironment{itemize}{%
    % code for begin
    \begin{olditemize}%
    \renewcommand{\labelitemi}{$\bullet$}%
}{%
    % code for end
    \end{olditemize}%
    \ignorespacesafterend%
}

\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
\item A
\item B
\end{itemize}
\end{document}