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I want to use the \ast asterisk in my document. However in the PDF there is no more space after the occurrence of the star, and LaTeX wants to cram all the following text in one line which obviously isn't working. It is not only the subsequent space, it is all the spaces in the rest of the document which get ignored. So this leads to the error -Overfull \hbox The issue seems to have something to do with "Math Mode" because all LaTeX commands after the \ast will get the Warning: Command xy invalid in math mode

Is \asteating spaces?

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt,ngerman]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage{textcomp}

\begin{document}

text text text John Doe (\ast 1958) text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text 
text text text text text text text text text

\end{document}
Max N
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  • We need to know what you have tried so far. Please include the minimal code which demonstrates your problem. And welcome to TeX.SE. – Masroor Feb 14 '15 at 01:35
  • Try \ast~ to keep it together with the next char. – Sigur Feb 14 '15 at 01:39
  • It is not a duplicate to the referenced one, because is isn't just the next space that is missing, it affects ALL subsequent spaces in the document. So after \ast the whole rest of the document is one overfull line. – Max N Feb 14 '15 at 05:41
  • @MaxN: Can you provide us with a minimal example that replicates your problem? That's the only way we can verify this is not a duplicate. Essentially we need more information to solve your problem. – Werner Feb 14 '15 at 05:57
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    @MaxN: You need to use $\ast$, not just \ast... – Werner Feb 14 '15 at 06:27
  • @Werner that's it! Thanks. (I don't see anywhere I could "upvote" or mark your answer as the right one, neither can I change the question to solved?) – Max N Feb 14 '15 at 06:35
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    @MaxN You should really define a macro for this: \newcommand{\written}[1]{\textasteriskcentered~#1} and then use Jones (\written{1958). – egreg Feb 14 '15 at 10:57
  • @egreg that's interesting. I did it like this: \newcommand{\born}{$\textasteriskcentered$} and use it (\born1959) I think there is a curly bracket too much in your example. – Max N Feb 15 '15 at 06:12
  • @MaxN Sorry for the typo; if you don't want a space between the asterisk and the date, do \newcommand{\born}{\textasteriskcentered} and \born 1958. – egreg Feb 15 '15 at 10:43

0 Answers0