Why can't I start a numbered list on an arbitrary number?
Example:
some explanation pertaining to point 1 above
Escaping the dot (2\.) works but as you can see
2. it moves the list too far to the left.
Can we get lists that start on any number?
Given that
start attribute on ol elements has been de-deprecated, so we don't have to mess around with CSS,you can now start with numbers other than 1. As I said in my other answer,
The number that starts a numbered list in the Markdown source will also be the starting number in the rendered version. The actual values of subsequent numbers will be irrelevant as always (the rendered version will just increment one-by-one); only the first number counts.
This change is live on all sites.
Traditionally, these requests have been closed as dupes of Numbering/bullet interpretation bug?, but I'll keep this open since I think it's worth reconsidering. Even John Gruber's original Markdown documentation says
If you do use lazy list numbering, however, you should still start the list with the number 1. At some point in the future, Markdown may support starting ordered lists at an arbitrary number.
In other words, it wouldn't be a total deviation from the standard, even if the above was never added to the originial implementation.
However, it's still a breaking change to the syntax, so I would like to use this question to have some discussion on this. The change would be as follows:
The number that starts a numbered list in the Markdown source will also be the starting number in the rendered version. The actual values of subsequent numbers will be irrelevant as always (the rendered version will just increment one-by-one); only the first number counts.
Example:
5. five
8. eight
2. two
becomes
5. five
6. eight
7. two
So please chime in if you see any issues with this change. It has my vote, but there a lots of people here who use Markdown, so I may be forgetting possible issues.
<!-- list-start: 5 -->
EDIT: When I wrote this post (June 2012), it was not possible to start a numbered list from something other-than 1. However, you can as of September 2014. See here.
This is a feature of Markdown as far as I know, it's lets you do:
via:
5. Let
4. Me
3. Do
2. That for you
(Real case situation: don't you hate it when you have 20 items, and then want to add another one between 2 and 3, and have the rename the whole lot?)
I guess SE could allow the start attribute in the <ol> element to let you do this, but all in all, is there a real life scenario you can provide where you need to do this?
In your provided scenario, what you should really be doing is;
1. Some Point
- sub point
- sub point
Some explaination pertaining to point 1 above
2. this should be a 2. not a 1. as I wrote 2. but it changes automatically to 1.
Note the space before "Some", which provides;
Some Point
some explaination pertaining to point 1 above
this should be a 2. not a 1. as I wrote 2. but it changes automatically to 1.
start is required because there's no other way to insert bullet points between numeral points.
To make lists "pretty", add double line breaks between items. This surrounds every list items with a <p>, making all vertical spacing consistent.
1. Some Point
- sub point
- sub point
some explaination pertaining to point 1 above
2. this should be a 2. not a 1. as I wrote 2. but it changes automatically to 1.
renders as:
Some Point
sub point
sub point
some explaination pertaining to point 1 above
this should be a 2. not a 1. as I wrote 2. but it changes automatically to 1.
FWIW, you can create an individually numbered list by beginning new lines with non-breaking spaces. So if you want to have this list:
3.
5.
7.
Just type in:
` 3.`
` 5.`
` 7.`
To align with other lists, just use three . Also, end each line with double-spaces.
