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<head>
<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label errmissitem</title>
</head><body>
<h3>Perhaps a missing <code>\</code><code>item</code>?</h3>
<p>Sometimes, the error
<blockquote>
<pre>
Something's wrong--perhaps a missing \item
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
actually means what it says:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\begin{itemize}
boo!
\end{itemize}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
produces the error, and is plainly in need of an <code>\</code><code>item</code> command.
<p>However, the error regularly appears when you would never have thought
that a <code>\</code><code>item</code> command might be appropriate. For example, the
seemingly innocent:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\fbox{%
\begin{alltt}
boo!
\end{alltt}%
}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
produces the error (the same happens with <code>\</code><code>mbox</code> in place of
<code>\</code><code>fbox</code>, or with either of their “big brothers”, <code>\</code><code>framebox</code> and
<code>\</code><code>makebox</code>). This is because the <code>alltt</code> environment
uses a “trivial” list, hidden inside their definition. (The
<code>itemize</code> environment also has this construct inside
itself, in fact, so <code>\</code><code>begin{itemize}</code> won’t work inside an
<code>\</code><code>fbox</code>, either.) The list construct wants to happen between
paragraphs, so it makes a new paragraph of its own. Inside the
<code>\</code><code>fbox</code> command, that doesn’t work, and subsequent macros convince
themselves that there’s a missing <code>\</code><code>item</code> command.
<p>To solve this rather cryptic error, one must put the
<code>alltt</code> inside a paragraph-style box. The following
modification of the above <em>does</em> work:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{0.75\textwidth}
\begin{alltt}
hi, there!
\end{alltt}
\end{minipage}
}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
The code above produces a box that’s far too wide for the text. One
may want to use something that allows
<a href="FAQ-varwidth.html">variable size boxes</a> in place of the
<code>minipage</code> environment.
<p>Oddly, although the <code>verbatim</code> environment wouldn’t work
inside a <code>\</code><code>fbox</code> command argument (see
<a href="FAQ-verbwithin.html">verbatim in command arguments</a>), you
get an error that complains about <code>\</code><code>item</code>: the environment’s
internal list bites you before <code>verbatim</code> has even had a
chance to create its own sort of chaos.
<p>Another (seemingly) obvious use of <code>\</code><code>fbox</code> also falls foul of this
error:
<blockquote>
<pre>
\fbox{\section{Boxy section}}
</pre>
</blockquote><p>
This is a case where you’ve simply got to be more subtle; you should
either write your own macros to replace the insides of LaTeX’s
sectioning macros, or look for some alternative in the packages
discussed in
“<a href="FAQ-secthead.html">The style of section headings</a>”.
<p><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=errmissitem">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=errmissitem</a>
</body>
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