LaTeX: error - missing $ inserted

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^rooker
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LaTeX: error - missing $ inserted

Post by ^rooker »

[PROBLEM]
I added a new BibTeX reference for a text I'm writing on and for no reason at all, I couldn't compile my document anymore, and always got the LaTeX error:
missing $ inserted
[SOLUTION]
Although most cases I found on the internet could be fixed by escaping _ or ^ characters. There weren't any of those characters in my case.

I've tried many things - including reverting all files back to the head revision in the SVN and cherry-pick the changes back in and see when it breaks.

After doing so, it compiled perfectly - until I re-inserted my latest reference entry. So I retyped the reference and compiled after each line, and: voila! I found the offending line:

Code: Select all

title  = {First Hands-on: Novation’s New $199 Launchpad Grid Controller for Ableton Live},
There was a $ sign!
I escaped it to \$ and recompiled: Didn't work.

Then I deleted all *.aux files, as well as the .bbl and .blg files.
Now it compiled again! Seems like something got stuck in an aux, bbl or blg file.
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