6

I know I can change a counter style as this:

\renewcommand\thechapter{\Roman{chapter}}

(The above command will make chapter numbers be written in upper case roman numerals)

However, according to Wikibooks and an answer to this question, I can only choose among arabic, roman, greek and footnote symbols:

  • \arabic 1, 2, 3 ...
  • \alph a, b, c ...
  • \Alph A, B, C ...
  • \roman i, ii, iii ...
  • \Roman I, II, III ...
  • \fnsymbol Aimed at footnotes; prints a sequence of symbols.

Is there a way I can define my own symbol sequence for a counter?

1 Answer 1

13

You can easily adapt the definition of \alph which is defined like this in latex.ltx:

\def\alph#1{\expandafter\@alph\csname c@#1\endcsname}
\def\@alph#1{%
  \ifcase#1\or a\or b\or c\or d\or e\or f\or g\or h\or i\or j\or
   k\or l\or m\or n\or o\or p\or q\or r\or s\or t\or u\or v\or w\or x\or
    y\or z\else\@ctrerr\fi}

So here is a MWE for a custom sequence.

\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\mysequence#1{\expandafter\@mysequence\csname c@#1\endcsname}
\def\@mysequence#1{%
  \ifcase#1\or AAA\or BBB\or CCC\else\@ctrerr\fi}
\makeatother
\renewcommand\thesection{\mysequence{section}}
\begin{document}
\section{Section}
\section{Section}
\section{Section}
%\section{Section} % --> LaTeX Error: Counter too large
\end{document}

Be aware, that this implementation stops working if the counter value is too high (in my example 4). So make sure you define enough symbols.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .