Cfrgtkky

How can I align program and ''(commas) in same vertical line
my code was

            item [1.]quad Identifierquad   program

            item [2.]quad White_Spacequad' '

As Bubaya notes, one possibility is to put the "label" in a box of a fixed width, though I wouldn't "fiddle" with phantoms and the like. I've defined a command to do it. Further refinement (e.g. to automatically set the width to your longest label) would be desirable no doubt.

Note also:

• If you want an enumerated list, I'd ask for an enumerated list, not set the label by hand.


• I can't approve of adding quads to put extra space after the item label. If the list is not as it should be, change labelsep and (if need be) labelwidth. Any time you are adding ad hoc spacing commands you are (probably) doing something wrong.

And note finally: if this is being used for more than a single instance, I wouldn't do it. Do it properly. Set up a list-type: the thinking you have to do in setting it up repays itself again and again in ease of use and absence of error.

Both alternatives demonstrated below. I'd obviously put the list definition in the preamble in production.

documentclass{article}

usepackage{enumitem}



newcommand{parsedescription}[2]{%

  makebox[2.5cm][l]{#1}{#2}}



begin{document}



section{Hand rolled}



This is a hand-rolled version

begin{itemize}

item Output of scanner:

  begin{enumerate}

itemparsedescription{Identifier}{program}

itemparsedescription{White_Space}{' '}

end{enumerate}

end{itemize}



section{Properly done}



And this is, much more semantically correct:



newcounter{parsecounter}



newlist{parse}{description}{1}

setlist[parse]{style=sameline,

  labelwidth=3cm,

  leftmargin=!,

  labelindent=1em,

  font=normalfont,

  before={%

    setcounter{parsecounter}{0}%

    renewcommandmakelabel[1]{%

      stepcounter{parsecounter}%

      arabic{parsecounter}.enspace##1}}}





begin{itemize}

item Output of scanner:

  begin{parse}

item[Identifier]program

item[White_Space]' '

end{parse}

end{itemize}

end{document}

If using a table is not an option for you, you can always fiddle around manually with phantom or hphantom, makebox and widthof, of which the latter is provided by the calc package. So, to have your " underneath the word 'program', you can do:

documentclass{article}

usepackage{calc}

begin{document}

    begin{enumerate}

        item makebox[widthof{White_Space}][l]{Identifier}quad program

        item White_Space quad makebox[widthof{program}]{''}

    end{enumerate}

end{document}

However, if this is to be a lengthy list, consider using the tabular environment.