When writing Markdown, how do I use roman numerals in deeply nested lists?

[Jayman2000]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

I’m currently working on improving a project’s installation instructions. The instructions are rather complicated, so I want to organize them into nested lists. I want those nested lists to use different numbering schemes like this:

1. Step
    • Small note.
    • Very large note:
        a. Step
            i. Step
                1. Step

Unfortunately, I’m having trouble getting the roman numerals to work.

Attempt 1

First, I tried writing Markdown like this:

1. Step
    - Small note.
    - Very large note:
        1. Step
            1. Step
                1. Step

Here’s how GitHub renders that Markdown:

1. Step
   • Small note.
   • Very large note:
     1. Step
        1. Step
           1. Step

The problem here is that all of the sublists inside the very large note use letters. None of them use Roman or Arabic numerals.

Attempt 2

After that, I tried embedding raw HTML in the Markdown:

1. Step
    - Small note.
    - Very large note:

        <ol type="a">
            <li>
                <p>Step</p>
                <ol type="i">
                    <li>
                        <p>Step</p>
                        <ol type="1">
                            <li><p>Step</p></li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ol>

Here’s how GitHub renders that Markdown:

1. Step

   • Small note.

   • Very large note:

     1. Step

        1. Step

           1. Step

The problem here is that one of the lists uses letters even though I told it to use Roman numerals. When I inspect the generated HTML, I can see that the ol elements do indeed have type attributes. For whatever reason, setting type to i doesn’t work for deeply nested lists.

Attempt 3

After that, I tried using the style attribute:

1. Step
    - Small note.
    - Very large note:

        <ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha;">
            <li>
                <p>Step</p>
                <ol style="list-style-type: lower-roman;">
                    <li>
                        <p>Step</p>
                        <ol style="list-style-type: decimal;">
                            <li><p>Step</p></li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ol>

Here’s how GitHub renders that Markdown:

1. Step

   • Small note.

   • Very large note:

     1. Step

        1. Step

           1. Step

The problem here is that all of the sublists inside the very large note use letters again. When I inspect the generated HTML, I can see that the ol elements don’t have style attributes because GitHub explicitly removes them.

Conclusion

At this point, I’m out of ideas. How do I use Roman numerals in deeply embedded lists?

[davevad93]

Hi @Jayman2000 ,

I don't know if there's a practical way to do it, one solution I can think of would be to manually write the Roman numerals, I know it's a rather unorthodox way but it's the only solution I can think of to be honest:

1. Step
   • Small note.
   • Very large note:
     1. Step
        i. nested roman numeral
        ii. nested roman numeral
        iii. nested roman numeral
     2. Step
        i. nested roman numeral
        ii. nested roman numeral
        iii. nested roman numeral
        iv. nested roman numeral
2. Step
   • Small note.
   • Very large note:
     1. Step
        i. nested roman numeral
        ii. nested roman numeral
        iii. nested roman numeral
        iv. nested roman numeral
        v. nested roman numeral
     2. Step
        i. nested roman numeral
        ii. nested roman numeral
        iii. nested roman numeral

1. Step
   - Small note.
   - Very large note:
       1. Step
           i. nested roman numeral
           ii. nested roman numeral
           iii. nested roman numeral
       2. Step
           i. nested roman numeral
           ii. nested roman numeral
           iii. nested roman numeral
           iv. nested roman numeral
2. Step
   - Small note.
   - Very large note:
       1. Step
           i. nested roman numeral
           ii. nested roman numeral
           iii. nested roman numeral
           iv. nested roman numeral
           v. nested roman numeral
       2. Step
           i. nested roman numeral
           ii. nested roman numeral
           iii. nested roman numeral

In an HTML file this works but as you can see Markdown doesn't natively support list styles like HTML does:

1. Step
   • Small note.
   • Very large note:
     1. Step
        1. nested roman numeral
        2. nested roman numeral
        3. nested roman numeral
     2. Step
        1. nested roman numeral
        2. nested roman numeral
        3. nested roman numeral
        4. nested roman numeral
2. Step
   • Small note.
   • Very large note:
     1. Step
        1. nested roman numeral
        2. nested roman numeral
        3. nested roman numeral
        4. nested roman numeral
        5. nested roman numeral
     2. Step
        1. nested roman numeral
        2. nested roman numeral
        3. nested roman numeral

<ol>
    <li>Step
        <ul>
            <li>Small note.</li>
            <li>Very large note:
                <ol>
                    <li>Step
                        <ol type="i">
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                    <li>Step
                        <ol type="i">
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
    <li>Step
        <ul>
            <li>Small note.</li>
            <li>Very large note:
                <ol>
                    <li>Step
                        <ol type="i">
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                    <li>Step
                        <ol type="i">
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                            <li>nested roman numeral</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ul>
    </li>
</ol>

[Jayman2000]

I don't know if there's a practical way to do it, one solution I can think of would be to manually write the Roman numerals, I know it's a rather unorthodox way but it's the only solution I can think of to be honest:

That works surprisingly well. Thank you!

[davevad93]

Hey @Jayman2000 , you're welcome I'm glad you found it helpful.