LaTeX missing reference [duplicate]

Question

A weird, possibly trivial, problem is happening.

After running pdflatex test with the following in the file test.tex

% -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
We greet in Figure~\ref{myfig}.

\begin{figure}[h]
  \centering\large hello
  \label{myfig}
  \caption{greet}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

one time, I find in the file test.aux, as expected:

\relax 
\newlabel{myfig}{{}{1}}

and I duly get warned that:

LaTeX Warning: There were undefined references.

LaTeX Warning: Label(s) may have changed. Rerun to get cross-references right.

But after a second run of pdflatex test, the number 1 does not appear where it should

and the warning no longer appears, suggesting all is well.

Where should I be looking?

(I've tried:

• Deleting the aux file and recompiling.
• Using xelatex and lualatex.

)

I'm using TeX Live 2015 on El Capitan.

Answer 1

Well, your problem is independend from your used operating system and tex distribution.

It is important to write first \caption, then \label. Please have for example an look to this question or take a look to the LaTeX companion or other LaTeX documentations.

So with the follwing MWE

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
We greet in Figure~\ref{myfig}.

\begin{figure}
  \centering\large hello
  \caption{greet}
  \label{myfig}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

you will get no errors or warnings after two compile runs or more. Please see that I deleted the option [h] for your figure environment. Please use this option only if it is really needed and btw only using [h] will cause an warning, you should then, only if needed, [ht] or simular.