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0004 document preparation system, version of November 2018.
0005 
0006 This manual was originally translated from LATEX.HLP v1.0a in the
0007 VMS Help Library.  The pre-translation version was written by
0008 George D. Greenwade of Sam Houston State University.  The
0009 LaTeX 2.09 version was written by Stephen Gilmore.  The
0010 LaTeX2e version was adapted from this by Torsten Martinsen.  Karl
0011 Berry made further updates and additions, and gratefully acknowledges
0012 using Hypertext Help with LaTeX, by Sheldon Green, and
0013 LaTeX Command Summary (for LaTeX 2.09) by
0014 L. Botway and C. Biemesderfer (published by the TeX Users
0015 Group as TeXniques number 10), as reference material.  We also
0016 gratefully acknowledge additional material appearing in
0017 latex2e-reference by Martin Herbert Dietze.  (From these references no
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0019 
0020 Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
0021 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Karl Berry.
0022 
0023 Copyright 1988, 1994, 2007 Stephen Gilmore.
0024 
0025 Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 Torsten Martinsen.
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0114 <div class="header">
0115 <p>
0116 Next: <a href="displaymath.html#displaymath" accesskey="n" rel="next">displaymath</a>, Previous: <a href="center.html#center" accesskey="p" rel="prev">center</a>, Up: <a href="Environments.html#Environments" accesskey="u" rel="up">Environments</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="IndexDocument.html#Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
0117 </div>
0118 <hr>
0119 <a name="description-1"></a>
0120 <h3 class="section">8.4 <code>description</code></h3>
0121 
0122 <a name="index-environment_002c-description"></a>
0123 <a name="index-description-environment"></a>
0124         
0125 <a name="index-labelled-lists_002c-creating"></a>
0126 <a name="index-description-lists_002c-creating"></a>
0127 
0128 <p>Synopsis:
0129 </p>
0130 <div class="example">
0131 <pre class="example">\begin{description}
0132   \item[<var>label of first item</var>] <var>text of first item</var>
0133   \item[<var>label of second item</var>] <var>text of second item</var>
0134    ...
0135 \end{description}
0136 </pre></div>
0137 
0138 <p>Environment to make a list of labeled items.  Each item&rsquo;s <var>label</var> is
0139 typeset in bold and is flush left, so that long labels continue into the
0140 first line of the item text.  There must be at least one item; having
0141 none causes the LaTeX error &lsquo;<samp>Something's wrong--perhaps a
0142 missing \item</samp>&rsquo;.
0143 </p>
0144 <p>This example shows the environment used for a sequence of definitions.
0145 </p>
0146 <div class="example">
0147 <pre class="example">\begin{definition}
0148   \item[lama] A priest.
0149   \item[llama] A beast.
0150 \end{definition}
0151 </pre></div>
0152 
0153 <p>The labels &lsquo;<samp>lama</samp>&rsquo; and &lsquo;<samp>llama</samp>&rsquo; are output in boldface, with the
0154 left edge on the left margin.
0155 </p>
0156 <a name="index-_005citem"></a>
0157 <p>Start list items with the <code>\item</code> command (see <a href="_005citem.html#g_t_005citem">\item</a>).  Use the
0158 optional labels, as in <code>\item[Main point]</code>, because there is
0159 no sensible default.  Following the <code>\item</code> is optional text, which
0160 may contain multiple paragraphs.
0161 </p>
0162 <a name="index-bold-typewriter_002c-avoiding"></a>
0163 <a name="index-typewriter-labels-in-lists"></a>
0164 <p>Since the labels are in bold style, if the label text calls for a font
0165 change given in argument style (see <a href="Font-styles.html#Font-styles">Font styles</a>) then it will come
0166 out bold.  For instance, if the label text calls for typewriter with
0167 <code>\item[\texttt{label text}]</code> then it will appear in bold
0168 typewriter, if that is available. The simplest way around this, in this
0169 example to get non-bold typewriter, is to use declarative style:
0170 <code>\item[{\tt label text}]</code>.  Similarly, get the standard roman
0171 font with <code>\item[{\rm label text}]</code>.
0172 </p>
0173 <p>For other major LaTeX labelled list environments, see <a href="itemize.html#itemize">itemize</a>
0174 and <a href="enumerate.html#enumerate">enumerate</a>.  Unlike those environments, nesting
0175 <code>description</code> environments does not change the default label; it is
0176 boldface and flush left at all levels.
0177 </p>
0178 <p>For information about list layout parameters, including the default
0179 values, and for information about customizing list layout, see
0180 <a href="list.html#list">list</a>.  The package <samp>enumitem</samp> is useful for customizing
0181 lists.
0182 </p>
0183 <p>This example changes the description labels to small caps.
0184 </p>
0185 <div class="example">
0186 <pre class="example">\renewcommand{\descriptionlabel}[1]{%
0187   {\hspace{\labelsep}\textsc{#1}}}
0188 </pre></div>
0189 
0190 
0191 
0192 
0193 <hr/><div class='referenceinfo'> <a href='https://latexref.xyz/'> <i>Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual</i></a></div>
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