Use arbitrary LaTeX itemize in Org Mode

5
votes

If I want to export a itemized list from Org to LaTeX, is there a way to set arbitrary itemization? The usual Org plain list, i.e. - item will result in an \begin{itemize} environment, but I would like to set arbitrary itemization. For example, is there any kind of Org list markup that will output this kind of LaTeX list environment?

\begin{itemize}

\item[2013]
    This item happened in 2013

\item[2012]
    This item happened in 2012

\end{itemize}

Edit:

The problem is that Org is recognising the years as inactive timestamps or footnote references and this is screwing up the LaTeX export. Solution below.

4
emacslatexorg-mode

4 Answers

6
votes

I can't tell whether it's what you're looking for, but

 - 2013 :: This happened in 2013
 - 2012 :: This happened in 2012

will produce

\begin{description}
\item[2013] This happened in 2013
\item[2012] This happened in 2012
\end{description}

I haven't tried, but according to this WikiBook it seems as though there will be no dot trailing the year.

4
votes

Following fniessen's suggestion below I found the solution to produce an itemize environment without having the years turn into inactive timestamps or footnote references. The key is to insert or surround the year with spaces, which will be ignored by the TeX conversion.

- [ 2013 ] This item happened in 2013
- [ 2012 ] This item happened in 2012

If there is a more official way to do this I'd like to here it.

The other answers provide great solutions for creating both enumerate and description environments, but it was specifically itemize I was after.

3
votes

Use something such as:

1. [@2013] This item happened in 2013
2. [@2012] This item happened in 2012
0
votes

The solution appointed by the org-mode manual is ::, so:

Important actors in this film are:
   - Elijah Wood :: He plays Frodo
   - Sean Astin :: He plays Sam, Frodo's friend.

by the way, [ text ] didn't work for me.