UK TeX FAQ -- question label errmissitem

### Perhaps a missing `\``item`?

Sometimes, the error

>     Something's wrong--perhaps a missing \item

actually means what it says:

>     \begin{itemize}
>       boo!
>     \end{itemize}

produces the error, and is plainly in need of an `\``item` command.

You can also have the error appear when at first sight things are correct:

>     \begin{tabular}{l}
>       \begin{enumerate}
>       \item foo\\
>       \item bar
>       \end{enumerate}
>     \end{tabular}

produces the error at the `\\`. This usage is just wrong; if you want to number the cells in a table, you have to do it “by hand”:

>     \newcounter{tablecell}
>     \begin{tabular}{l}
>       \stepcounter{tablecell}
>       \thetablecell. foo\\
>       \stepcounter{tablecell}
>       \thetablecell. bar
>       \end{enumerate}
>     \end{tabular}

This is obviously untidy; a command `\``numbercell` defined as:

>     \newcounter{tablecell}
>     \newcommand*{\numbercell}{%
>       \stepcounter{tablecell}%
>       \thetablecell. % **
>     }

could make life easier:

>     \begin{tabular}{l}
>       \numbercell foo\\
>       \numbercell bar
>       \end{enumerate}
>     \end{tabular}

(Note the deliberate introduction of a space as part of the command, marked with asterisks.)

However, the error regularly appears when you would never have thought that a `\``item` command might be appropriate. For example, the seemingly innocent:

>     \fbox{%
>       \begin{alltt}
>         boo!
>       \end{alltt}%
>     }

produces the error (the same happens with `\``mbox` in place of `\``fbox`, or with either of their “big brothers”, `\``framebox` and `\``makebox`). This is because the `alltt` environment uses a “trivial” list, hidden inside their definition. (The `itemize` environment also has this construct inside itself, in fact, so `\``begin{itemize}` won’t work inside an `\``fbox`, either.) The list construct wants to happen between paragraphs, so it makes a new paragraph of its own. Inside the `\``fbox` command, that doesn’t work, and subsequent macros convince themselves that there’s a missing `\``item` command.

To solve this rather cryptic error, one must put the `alltt` inside a paragraph-style box. The following modification of the above does work:

>     \fbox{%
>       \begin{minipage}{0.75\textwidth}
>         \begin{alltt}
>           hi, there!
>         \end{alltt}
>       \end{minipage}
>     }

The code above produces a box that’s far too wide for the text. One may want to use something that allows variable size boxes in place of the `minipage` environment.

Oddly, although the `verbatim` environment wouldn’t work inside a `\``fbox` command argument (see verbatim in command arguments), you get an error that complains about `\``item`: the environment’s internal list bites you before `verbatim` has even had a chance to create its own sort of chaos.

Another (seemingly) obvious use of `\``fbox` also falls foul of this error:

>     \fbox{\section{Boxy section}}

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 “The style of section headings”.

This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=errmissitem