Horizontal alignment in an item in itemize

Question

I would like to make two columns within an item in itemize.  Here is an example that I made with -- gasp! -- a word processor:

I would like to be able to adjust the "column" widths/"tabs." How can I accomplish this?
Here is a MWE:
documentclass{article}

begin{document}

List:
begin{itemize}
  item{apple fruit}
  item{cucumber vegetable}
  item{steak meat}
end{itemize}

end{document}

egreg · Accepted Answer

You can use tabto:
documentclass{article}
usepackage{tabto}

begin{document}

List:
begin{itemize}
  item apple    tabto{10em} fruit
  item cucumber tabto{10em} vegetable
  item steak    tabto{10em} meat
end{itemize}

List:
begin{itemize}
  item appletabto{10em}fruit
  item cucumbertabto{10em}vegetable
  item steaktabto{10em}meat
end{itemize}

end{document}

The second list is just to show that spaces around tabto{10em} are ignored, so the input can be organized to see the alignment.

Sam · Answer

You can get your desired result by using a tabularx environment as part of your item.
documentclass{article}

usepackage{tabularx}

begin{document}

List:
begin{itemize}
    item 
        begin{tabularx}{linewidth}{XX}
            apple & fruit
        end{tabularx}  
    item 
        begin{tabularx}{linewidth}{XX}
            cucumber & vegetable
        end{tabularx}
    item 
        begin{tabularx}{linewidth}{XX}
            steak & meat
        end{tabularx}
end{itemize}

end{document}

If you don't want the two columns to be spaced out thus far, you could also use a tabular environment and use three columns, one of which is the spacing between the two strings. The problem with this method is, that you need to define a fixed width for at least the first and the second column.
documentclass{article}

begin{document}

List:
begin{itemize}
    item 
        begin{tabular}[t]{p{10em}p{1em}l}
            apple && fruit
        end{tabular}  
    item 
        begin{tabular}[t]{p{10em}p{1em}l}
            cucumber && vegetable
        end{tabular}
    item 
        begin{tabular}[t]{p{10em}p{1em}l}
            steak && meat
        end{tabular}
    item 
        begin{tabular}[t]{p{10em}p{1em}l}
            a very long entry to sow why the central column is important to have && meat
        end{tabular}
end{itemize}

end{document}

John Kormylo · Answer

This version uses textbullet automatically in each line.
documentclass{article}
begin{document}
List:
begin{trivlist}% for vertical spacing
itembegin{tabular}{@{hbox to leftmargini{hfilltextbullethspace{labelsep}}}ll}
apple&fruit
cucumber&vegetable
steak&meat
end{tabular}
end{trivlist}
begin{itemize}
item normal itemize
end{itemize}
end{document}

schtandard · Answer

Just use a table. You can match the spacing and style of lists using the appropriate parameters.
documentclass{article}

usepackage{array}

newenvironment*{tabularitemize}[1]{%
  parnoindent
  begin{tabular}{ @{hskipleftmarginllap{labelitemihskiplabelsep}} #1 }%
}{%
  end{tabular}par
}

begin{document}

begin{tabularitemize}{ l l }
  apple & fruit 
  cucumber & vegetable 
  steak & meat 
end{tabularitemize}

begin{itemize}
  item This is a real list.
end{itemize}

end{document}

Spacing between the rows and columns of the table can be adjusted as usual.

Bernard · Answer

You also can do that either with the listliketab package or with a standard itemize and the eqparbox package:
documentclass{article}
usepackage{listliketab}
usepackage{eqparbox}

begin{document}

List:

storestyleof{itemize}
begin{listliketab}
  begin{tabular}[t]{Ll@{qquad}l }
   textbullet & apple & fruit 
  textbullet & cucumber & vegetable 
   textbullet & steak & meat
  end{tabular}
end{listliketab}

begin{itemize}
  itemeqmakebox[L][l]{apple} fruit
  itemeqmakebox[L][l]{cucumberhspace{2em}null} vegetable
  itemeqmakebox[L][l]{steak} meat
end{itemize}

end{document}

Horizontal alignment in an item in itemize

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