Graphics, Figures & Tables ⇒ List alphabetization in LaTeX

[christoi]

Is there any way to alphabetize a list in LaTeX without using \makeindex?

Personally i suddenly find there ought to be an alphabetical variant or option to i.e. the \description itemize environment.

[nlct]

You could use the datatool package to create a database of your items and then sort it. For example:

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{datatool}

\newcommand{\sortitem}[2]{%
  \DTLnewrow{list}%
  \DTLnewdbentry{list}{label}{#1}%
  \DTLnewdbentry{list}{description}{#2}%
}

\newenvironment{sortedlist}%
{%
  \DTLifdbexists{list}{\DTLcleardb{list}}{\DTLnewdb{list}}%
}%
{%
  \DTLsort{label}{list}%
  \begin{description}%
    \DTLforeach*{list}{\theLabel=label,\theDesc=description}{%
      \item[\theLabel] \theDesc
    }%
  \end{description}% 
}

\begin{document}

\begin{sortedlist}
  \sortitem{banana}{A yellow fruit}
  \sortitem{pear}{An oddly shaped fruit}
  \sortitem{apple}{A roundish fruit}
\end{sortedlist}

\end{document}

Regards
Nicola Talbot

[christoi]

Magnificent! Thanks a lot!

[christoi]

But, hey!

It seems i can only put one \sortedlist in my document. Using more than one i get an error message that says:

./test.tex:37: Undefined control sequence.
<argument> \DTLcleardb
{list}
l.37 \begin{sortedlist}

Do i need to clear the sorting prosess before starting a new \sortedlist or something?


Many thanks in advance.
christoi

[nlct]

./test.tex:37: Undefined control sequence.
<argument> \DTLcleardb
{list}
l.37 \begin{sortedlist}

You need to update your version of datatool. (\DTLcleardb was new to version 2.03)

Regards
Nicola Talbot