---
title: "Bullet lists / unordered lists"
manual: "How to Document"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/h2document:rest-unordered-lists"
source: "Reference/ReStructuredText/Lists/BulletLists.rst"
modified: "2026-09-14T09:38:54+00:00"
---

# Bullet lists / unordered lists

This section contains information on bullet lists and numbered lists.
A text block which begins with a "\*", "+", "-", "•", "‣", or "⁃",
followed by whitespace, is a bullet list item.

-   Each item of a list should start with a `*` or `-` and 3 spaces after it
-   Lists should have an empty line before and after
-   Sublists should also have an empty line before and after
-   Indent sublists with 4 spaces

Bullet lists:

-   Each item of a list should start with a `*` or `-` and 3 spaces after it

Numbered lists:

-   Start each item with a `#.` and 1 space after it for automatic numbering

**See also:**

-   [Docutils cheat-sheet for reStructuredText: Bullet list](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickref.html#bullet-lists)
-   [Docutils cheat-sheet for reStructuredText: Enumerated lists](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickref.html#enumerated-lists)
-   [Docutils reference: bullet-lists](http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html#bullet-lists)

## Example 1: list with sublist items

```rst
*   item 1
*   item 2 is a longer text with line breaks. We can format and
    indent like this
*   item 3

    *   subitem 3.1
    *   subitem 3.2

*   item 4
```

**How it looks:**

-   item 1
-   item 2 is a longer text with line breaks. We can format and
    indent like this
-   item 3

    -   subitem 3.1
    -   subitem 3.2
-   item 4

> [!NOTE]
> Empty lines before and after the sublist are mandatory.