Unbelievable error

Question

I have a very long document. If I add this code

Si chiama spazio misurabile ogni coppia $(\Omega ,\mathcal{A})$, dove $\Omega\neq\emptyset$ e $\mathcal{A}$ è una $\sigma$-algebra in $\Omega$.
Gli insiemi $\mathcal{M}\in\mathcal{A}$ vengono detti insiemi misurabili.

It give the following error:

Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX

The funny thing is that if I put the code above into a MWE (for definition) it work. I cannot understand what's up.

\documentclass{article} %WORKING!!!!

\begin{document}%then same text than above
Si chiama spazio misurabile ogni coppia $(\Omega ,\mathcal{A})$, dove $\Omega\neq\emptyset$ e $\mathcal{A}$ è una $\sigma$-algebra in $\Omega$.
\end{document}

We cannot understand it either, if you only show us working code, and no errors. Make an MWE by starting with your non-working document, then remove piece by piece until you're left with the smallest example possible that reproduces the problem. — Torbjørn T., May 09 '16 at 20:57
The log entry showing what the error is might also help. Doing what @TorbjørnT. suggests often results in finding the error yourself. — A Feldman, May 09 '16 at 21:02
...and in my experience, doing what @TorbjørnT. suggested you'll find the problem...;-) — Rmano, May 09 '16 at 21:02
"does not compile" gives no information at all, do you get an error or does the program loop forever or ... — David Carlisle, May 09 '16 at 21:38
@Torbjørn I already did it. This is the piece that removed gives no error. Is the smallest example! — Francesco, May 10 '16 at 13:06
Is not what you asked for? However, meanwhile I solved (with package uft8x, but still I cannot understand, there are no particular char.) — Francesco, May 10 '16 at 13:15
Are you saying that the MWE you showed us throws an error in your system? (It works fine here.) If the MWE doesn't throw an error, then expand the MWE so that it becomes the smallest code that does produce the error. Edit: obviously you should have inputenc for example, as the error comes from that. — Torbjørn T., May 10 '16 at 13:16
I mean, that's not weird?? The MWE above work correctly even without any package! — Francesco, May 10 '16 at 13:17
I find it hard to believe that you get an error saying Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX in a document that doesn't load the inputenc package, but then, I could be ignorant. — Torbjørn T., May 10 '16 at 13:22
I loaded the package into the long document, I didn't into the MWE above — Francesco, May 10 '16 at 13:23
Possible duplicate of inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX — Chris H, May 10 '16 at 14:23
At the question I've just linked, I tried to put together a universal answer. — Chris H, May 10 '16 at 14:24
(Last iteration, I won't bother you again, especially since you've gotten an answer.) What I've been trying to say is that when you're wondering what causes an error, you should post a complete example that actually reproduces that error. Your MWE doesn't. — Torbjørn T., May 10 '16 at 14:56
@Torbjorn aah ok, I misheard (I'm italian, still using google translate =) ) — Francesco, May 10 '16 at 15:16

Mico · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-10T13:58:25.780

4

Both versions of your input appear to contain a non-printing character, "". (No, it's not visible in this posting! However, it's visible in my editor, and it looks like a very short - (dash) character.) The mystery character is located between $\sigma$-algebra in $\Omega$ and the sentence-ending . ("period", "full stop").

I suggest you remove this character, especially as it doesn't appear to be doing anything useful.

Just for completeness, here's an MWE that does compile without a problem. Loading the inputenc package with the option utf8 is the key to this "success". Unfortunately, the mystery character still isn't visible, and hence I'm not bothering to post a screenshot.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[italian]{babel}

\begin{document}
Si chiama spazio misurabile ogni coppia $(\Omega ,\mathcal{A})$, dove 
$\Omega\neq\emptyset$ e $\mathcal{A}$ è una $\sigma$-algebra in $\Omega$.
\end{document}

edited May 10 '16 at 13:58

answered May 10 '16 at 13:21

Mico

506,678

In fact, almost surely that's the problem. But then, can you explain why my MWE above gives no error? Maybe proper because I haven't loaded any package at all? – Francesco May 10 '16 at 13:26
2

@Francesco — correct; you need to load inputenc with the utf8 option for it to recognise that character as a utf8 char it doesn't know what to do with. – Will Robertson May 10 '16 at 13:34
According to https://w3c.github.io/xml-entities/unicode-names.html it is a U+00ad SOFT HYPHEN  \- – Rmano May 10 '16 at 17:30
@Rmano - Thanks for this additional piece of information. You're quite the sleuth! The fact that my editor displays the character as a "very short dash" turns out to quite appropriate, then. :-) – Mico May 10 '16 at 19:23
2

..and it's not showing up because it's ... (/me ducks). – Rmano May 10 '16 at 19:52

Unbelievable error

1 Answers1