Enumeration with several items per line, several lines and nicely formatted

Question

Based on Alan's answer here, I would like to be able to create nicely formatted "inline" enumerated lists.

The issue I have is that the space between items on a line is always fixed, which does not look nice. I'm looking for a way to level out the spacing across lines. Any suggestion and help how to achieve something good looking would be appreaciated. Maybe I should not be using a enumeration environment? The lists in question are either just bullet points or a)-d).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[inline]{enumitem}
\makeatletter
% This command ignores the optional argument for itemize and enumerate lists
\newcommand{\inlineitem}[1][]{%
\ifnum\enit@type=\tw@
    {\descriptionlabel{#1}}
  \hspace{\labelsep}
\else
  \ifnum\enit@type=\z@
       \refstepcounter{\@listctr}\fi
    \quad\@itemlabel\hspace{\labelsep}
\fi}
\makeatother

\begin{document}

% Combined inline list
\noindent This is a combined inline enumerated list.
\begin{itemize}
\item Less than 5 years \inlineitem Between 5 and 10 years
\item More than 10 years \inlineitem Do not know
\end{itemize}

\bigskip

\noindent Another list.
\begin{itemize}
\item £850
\inlineitem £1,000
\inlineitem £1,150
\inlineitem £1,500
\inlineitem Do not know
\end{itemize}

\bigskip

\noindent And the final one
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item Agree strongly \inlineitem Tend to agree \inlineitem Neither agree nor disagree
\item Tend to disagree \inlineitem Disagree strongly \inlineitem Don't know
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}

Answer 1

Here's a possible solution if you know how many items you want on each line. Your MWE does suggest that's OK.

\documentclass{article}

\newcounter{myitemcounter}

\newcommand{\myitemlabel}{$\bullet$\ }

\newcommand{\myitem}{%
\stepcounter{myitemcounter}
\myitemlabel
}

\newcommand{\anitem}[1]{%
\myitem #1 &
}

\newcommand{\lastitem}[1]{%
\myitem #1 \\
}

\newenvironment{inlineitemize}
{\setcounter{myitemcounter}{0}
\begin{tabular}{llllllllll} % you won't want more columns
}
{\end{tabular}}

\newenvironment{inlineenumerate}
{\setcounter{myitemcounter}{0}
\renewcommand{\myitemlabel}{(\alph{myitemcounter})\ }
\begin{tabular}{lllllllllll}
}
{\end{tabular}}

\begin{document}

\begin{inlineenumerate}
 \anitem{Agree strongly}
 \anitem{Tend to agree}
 \lastitem{Neither agree nor disagree}
 \anitem {Tend to disagree}
 \anitem{Disagree strongly}
 \lastitem{Don't know}
\end{inlineenumerate}

\begin{inlineitemize}
\anitem{Less than 5 years} \lastitem{Between 5 and 10 years} 
\anitem{More than 10 years} \lastitem{Do not know}
\end{inlineitemize}

\end{document}

With a little more work you could pass an integer argument to the new environments to specify the number of columns in order to automate the time to invoke lastitem instead of anitem. You can also set the interline spacing in the tabular environments to match your MWE.

Answer 2

It's not clear exactly what space you wish to change. You have some missing % at ends of lines causing additional space in the output. The following fixes that and replaces the fixed \labelsep space by glue that can shrink 20% or extend 50% of that value. It doesn't make that much difference on these examples though.

\newcommand{\inlineitem}[1][]{%
\ifnum\enit@type=\tw@
    {\descriptionlabel{#1}}%
  \hspace{1\labelsep\@plus .5\labelsep  \@minus .2\labelsep}%
\else
  \ifnum\enit@type=\z@
       \refstepcounter{\@listctr}\fi
    \quad \@itemlabel\hspace{1\labelsep\@plus .5\labelsep  \@minus .2\labelsep }%
\fi}

Answer 3

As solution using the shortlst package, which is a development of an answer for a similar problem I gave in Inline arrangement using "enumitem". An optional argument is the number of columns in which the list will be organized (3 by default). Moreover, if an item is too long to fit in a column, it automatically takes two (or more) columns:

\documentclass[a11pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern} 
\usepackage[textwidth=15cm, noheadfoot, nomarginpar]{geometry}
\geometry{showframe}

 \usepackage{shortlst}
 \newenvironment{tabenumerate}[1][3]{%
 \settowidth{\labelwidth}{\labelenumi}%
 \setlength{\leftmargini}{\dimexpr\parindent + \labelwidth + \labelsep\relax}%
 \setlength{\shortitemwidth}{\dimexpr\linewidth/#1-\labelwidth-2\labelsep\relax}%
 \begin{shortenumerate}}%
 {\end{shortenumerate}}%

 \newenvironment{tabitemize}[1][3]{%
 \settowidth{\labelwidth}{\labelitemi}%
 \setlength{\leftmargini}{\dimexpr\parindent + \labelwidth + \labelsep\relax}%
 \setlength{\shortitemwidth}{\dimexpr\linewidth/#1-\labelwidth-2\labelsep\relax}%
 \begin{shortitemize}}%
 {\end{shortitemize}}%

 \renewcommand{\labelenumi}{(\arabic{enumi})}
 \parindent = 0pt

 \begin{document}

 This is an inline itemized list.

 \begin{tabitemize}[2]
    \item Less than 5 years \item Between 5 and 10 years
    \item More than 10 years \item Do not know
 \end{tabitemize}
 Or 
 \begin{tabitemize}
    \item Less than 5 years \item Between 5 and 10 years \item[]
    \item More than 10 years \item Do not know
 \end{tabitemize}


 Another list.
 \begin{tabitemize}[6]
    \item £850
    \item £1,000
    \item £1,150
    \item £1,500
    \item Do not know
 \end{tabitemize}

 \bigskip

 And the final one: 
 \begin{tabenumerate}
     \item Agree strongly \item Tend to agree \item Neither agree nor disagree
     \item Tend to disagree \item Disagree strongly \item Don't know
 \end{tabenumerate}

 \end{document}

Answer 4

I try to do this with a newenvironment hlist with an optional number of columns. Default is 2. Unfortunately braces around each item are required. \hitem{xyz.} replaces \item xyz. It uses parbox inside minipages. Far from perfect.

\documentclass{article}

\newcounter{hitem}
\newenvironment{hlist}[2][2]{\def\hcol{#1}%
\begin{trivlist}\setcounter{hitem}{0}\item #2
}{\end{trivlist}}

\newcommand{\hitem}[1]{%
\raggedright\begin{minipage}[t]{\dimexpr\linewidth/\hcol-1em}
\refstepcounter{hitem}\renewcommand{\thehitem}{\alph{hitem}}%
\leavevmode\kern2.5em\llap{({\thehitem})\ }~\parbox[t]{\dimexpr\linewidth-3em}%
{\raggedright#1\vskip0.5\baselineskip\relax}%
\end{minipage}\hskip1em}

\begin{document}

%\hrulefill

\begin{hlist}
 \hitem{Frere,}
 \hitem {Jacques}
 \hitem{Dormez}
 \hitem {vous}
 \hitem{Sonnez}
 \hitem{les}
 \hitem{matines!}
 \hitem {Din,}
 \hitem {dan, dong.}
\end{hlist}

\begin{hlist}[4]
 \hitem{Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques}
 \hitem {Dormez vous? dormez vous?}
 \hitem{Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!}
 \hitem {Din, dan, dong. Din, dan, dong.}
 \hitem{Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques}
 \hitem {Dormez vous? dormez vous?}
 \hitem{Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!}
 \hitem {Din, dan, dong. Din, dan, dong.}
 \hitem{Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques}
 \hitem {Dormez vous? dormez vous?}
\end{hlist}


\end{document}