# 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...

• 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.,

\usepackage{enumitem}
...
\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.

• 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
• Using the first one produces a trailing period. – imallett Oct 28 '15 at 16:35
• See this answer for replacing the trailing period with parentheses, or otherwise changing the appearance of the label. – Annie Carter Mar 1 '16 at 18:39
• Is there a reason not to simply say \item[a)] when you want a paren afterwards, for example? – Johannes Schaub - litb May 16 '16 at 18:14
• @JohannesSchaub-litb Because then the numbering/lettering wouldn't be automatic? – frabjous May 17 '16 at 11:34

Use the package enumitem.

\usepackage[shortlabels]{enumitem}
.
.
.
\begin{enumerate}[(a)] % (a), (b), (c), ...
\item
\end{enumerate}
.
.
.
\begin{enumerate}[a)] % a), b), c), ...
\item
\end{enumerate}

• 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. – Desik Apr 20 '15 at 8:05

With enumitem package, we can do as follow:

Preamble:

\usepackage{enumitem}
\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}


• Suggestion: Use \subscript{E}{{\arabic*}}. Otherwise, starting from the tenth item, the subscripts don't work properly (only the first digit will be subscripted). – M. Vinay Nov 16 '15 at 10:48

Working example (documentation):

\documentclass[letterpaper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\begin{document}

\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item one
\item two
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

• Is there anyway I can set once and use it for the whole document? – Jay Wong Sep 25 '16 at 18:56

I was able to solve the problem with enumitem package.

From the documentation of enumitem:

\usepackage{enumitem}

% if you want to create a new list from scratch
\newlist{alphalist}{enumerate}{1}
% in that case, at least label must be specified using \setlist
\setlist[alphalist,1]{label=\textbf{\alph*.}}

...

\begin{alphalist}
\item Apple
\item Orange
\item Peach
\end{alphalist}


A solution with the package tasks by Clemens Niederberger (see also a more complete example at How to make horizontal lists?

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\bfseries Horizontal list: a = alphabetical \normalfont
\begin{tasks}[counter-format = {tsk[a].},label-offset = {0.6em},label-format = {\bfseries}](6)
\vglue5mm

\bfseries Horizontal list: A = Alphabetical \normalfont
\begin{tasks}[counter-format = {(tsk[A])},label-offset = {0.8em},label-format = {\bfseries}](3)

\end{document}


Sometimes I use linguex instead of the enumerate-like environments because the simple syntax list and because in not a closed environment, so you can insert normal paragraphs or even start a new section and follow with the same list. Unfortunately, the documentation show some indications to change the label and the counter value, but not the counter style, so I hope this could help to someone.

The MWE how to temporarily change to an alphabetic uppercase label in a environment or to the default alphabetic lowercase style of the sublist as first level, without any environment (this approach is in the documentation), in both cases without change the main arabic list.

Note: using linguex the blank lines after the items matter, as well as the number of blank lines to return to normal text. In the MWE are changed by \par commands to avoid confusions at this respect.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{linguex}
\newcounter{ExAl}
\setcounter{ExAl}{5}
\newenvironment{Alist}{%
\let\ExAl\ExNo
\setcounter{ExNo}{0}
\renewcommand{\ExLBr}{}
\renewcommand{\ExRBr}{) }
\let\oldarabic\arabic
\let\arabic\Alph}{%
\let\arabic\oldarabic
\let\ExNo\ExAl}
\begin{document}
\ex. this is an item \par
\ex. another item\par
This is a normal paragraph
\begin{Alist}
\ex. this is an item\par
\ex. another item\par
This is a normal paragraph\par
\ex. one more item !\par
\end{Alist}
This is a normal paragraph
\ex. this is item a\par
\ex. another item\par
This is a normal paragraph\par
\a. this is an item
\b. another item
\b. one more item\par
This is a normal paragraph\par
\ex. this is item a\par
\ex. another item\par
This is a normal paragraph\par
\end{document}