Is there a way to make the different numbers within the enumerate environment different colors.
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\end{enumerate}
I wish to make the 1. green, the 2. orange and the 3. red
i.e Not the text that follows but the preceding number a particular colour
Thanks
The following example defines colors enum1, enum2, ... using \colorlet of package xcolor. Then it hooks into \labelenumi to add the color command with the color that consists of the value of counter enumi. For deeper nesting levels of the enumerate environment, \labelenumii upto \labelenumiv can also be changed accordingly.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{enum1}{green}
\colorlet{enum2}{orange}
\colorlet{enum3}{red}
\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\IfColorUndefined}[1]{%
\begingroup
\escapechar=`\\ %
\expandafter\expandafter\expandafter
\endgroup
\expandafter\ifx\csname\string\color @#1\endcsname\relax
\expandafter\@firstoftwo
\else
\expandafter\@secondoftwo
\fi
}
\makeatother
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\preto\labelenumi{%
\IfColorUndefined{enum\the\value{enumi}}{}{%
\color{enum\the\value{enumi}}%
}%
}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}
Extension for nested lists:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{enum1}{green}
\colorlet{enum2}{orange}
\colorlet{enum3}{red}
\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\IfColorUndefined}[1]{%
\begingroup
\escapechar=`\\ %
\expandafter\expandafter\expandafter
\endgroup
\expandafter\ifx\csname\string\color @#1\endcsname\relax
\expandafter\@firstoftwo
\else
\expandafter\@secondoftwo
\fi
}
\makeatother
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand*{\DefColorListLabel}[1]{%
\expandafter\preto\csname label#1\endcsname{%
\IfColorUndefined{enum\the\value{#1}}{}{%
\color{enum\the\value{#1}}%
}%
}%
}
\DefColorListLabel{enumi}
\DefColorListLabel{enumii}
\DefColorListLabel{enumiii}
\DefColorListLabel{enumiv}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third\label{third}
\item Fourth
\begin{enumerate}
\item Nested first
\item Nested second
\item Nested third\label{nestedthird}
\item Nested fourth
\end{enumerate}
\end{enumerate}
References: \ref{third} and \ref{nestedthird}.
\end{document}
Another approach. Using \ColorList, you define a comma separated list of colors to be applied to the labels; the colors will cycle if required:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{xpatch}
\makeatletter
\def\ColorList#1{\def\xcolorlist{#1}}
\let\@xitem\@item
\def\xitem{%
\@inmatherr\item
\@ifnextchar [\@xitem{\@noitemargtrue \@xitem[\@itemlabel]}}
\def\item{\expandafter\xxcycle\xcolorlist,\xcolorlist\xitem}
\def\xxcycle#1,#2{%
\ifx\relax#1\relax\else
\color{#1}%
\ifx\xcolorlist#2\else
\xcycle#1,#2%
\fi
\fi}
\def\xcycle#1,#2\fi\fi#3\xcolorlist{\fi\fi\ColorList{#2#3#1}}
\xpatchcmd{\@xitem}{\hskip \labelsep}{\hskip \labelsep\normalcolor}{}{}
\makeatother
\ColorList{green,orange,red,magenta}
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
{\ColorList{cyan,gray,olive}
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\item[($\ast$)] Fourth
\item Fifth
\item Sixth
\end{enumerate}}
\item Fourth
\item Fifth
\item Sixth
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}
I used a variation of David Carlisle's answer to How to define a command to feed the contents of a list into an \ifcase construct?.
The following just updates \labelenumi - the macro responsible for printing the label:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}% http://ctan.org/pkg/xcolor
\renewcommand\labelenumi{%
{\ifcase\value{enumi}% 0
\or\color{green}% 1
\or\color{orange}% 2
\or\color{red}% 3
\else\fi%
\arabic{enumi}.}%
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\begin{enumerate}
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\item Last
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}
This will cycle through colors defined for each level. A new \listcolors command will redefine the colors from that point on.
With this implementation, color cycling will restart from where it ended; it's possible to modify the setup in various ways, for instance making any level one colorenumerate start again from red.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse}
\usepackage{enumitem,xcolor}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\listcolors}{ m m }
{
\listcolor_set:nn { #1 } { #2 }
}
\NewDocumentEnvironment{colorenumerate}{ O{} }
{\enumerate[format=\listcolor_format:,#1]}
{\endenumerate}
\tl_new:N \l_listcolor_currentcolor_tl
% syntactic sugar
\cs_new:Npn \listcolor_makename:n #1
{
g_listcol_level_ \int_to_roman:n { #1 } _seq
}
\cs_new_protected:Npn \listcolor_set:nn #1 #2
{
\seq_gclear_new:c { \listcolor_makename:n { #1 } }
\seq_gset_from_clist:cn { \listcolor_makename:n { #1 } } { #2 }
}
\cs_new_protected:Npn \listcolor_format:
{
\seq_if_empty:cF { \listcolor_makename:n { \int_use:c { enit@depth } } }
{
% Fetch the color name from the start of the sequence
\seq_gpop_left:cN { \listcolor_makename:n { \int_use:c { enit@depth } } }
\l_listcolor_currentcolor_tl
% Put it back at the end of the sequence
\seq_gput_right:cV { \listcolor_makename:n { \int_use:c { enit@depth } } }
\l_listcolor_currentcolor_tl
% Use the current color
\color{ \l_listcolor_currentcolor_tl }
}
}
\ExplSyntaxOff
\listcolors{1}{red,green,blue}
\listcolors{2}{cyan,magenta,yellow}
\begin{document}
\begin{colorenumerate}
\item Abc
\item Def
\begin{colorenumerate}
\item Inner
\item Again
\item[??] Well
\end{colorenumerate}
\item Ghi
\item Jkl
\end{colorenumerate}
\end{document}
