cite package in a beamerposter

Question

Is there a problem with using the cite package within a beamerposter? I'm trying to use it so that my references are ordered when I call \cite{ref1,ref2,ref3}, but I get the error:

./main.tex:333: Undefined control sequence.
\@cite@n ...mpcnta \m@ne \mathchardef \@cite@incr 
                                                  \z@ \let \@h@ld \@empty \l...

This is a sample source file which will generate the error. To test this, you will need to input your own .bib file with the appropriate references.

\documentclass[final]{beamer}
\usepackage{cite}

\usepackage[scale=1.24]{beamerposter} % Use the beamerposter package for laying out the poster

\usetheme{confposter} % Use the confposter theme supplied with this template

\newlength{\sepwid}
\newlength{\onecolwid}
\newlength{\twocolwid}
\newlength{\threecolwid}
\setlength{\paperwidth}{48in} % A0 width: 46.8in
\setlength{\paperheight}{36in} % A0 height: 33.1in
\setlength{\sepwid}{0.024\paperwidth} % Separation width (white space) between columns
\setlength{\onecolwid}{0.22\paperwidth} % Width of one column
\setlength{\twocolwid}{0.464\paperwidth} % Width of two columns
\setlength{\threecolwid}{0.708\paperwidth} % Width of three columns
\setlength{\topmargin}{-0.5in} % Reduce the top margin size
%-----------------------------------------------------------

\usepackage{graphicx}  % Required for including images

\usepackage{booktabs} % Top and bottom rules for tables

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   TITLE SECTION 
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\title{TEST} % Poster title

\author{AUTHOR}
\institute{INSTITUTE}

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\begin{document}

\setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{2ex} % White space under figures
\setlength\belowdisplayshortskip{2ex} % White space under equations


\begin{frame}[t] 

  \begin{columns}[t]

    \begin{column}{\onecolwid} % The first column



      \begin{block}{Block}

        CITATIONS \cite{ref1,ref2}.  
      \end{block}


      \begin{block}{References}
        \bibliographystyle{abbrv}
        \bibliography{bibfile}

      \end{block}


    \end{column} 

  \end{columns} 

\end{frame}

\end{document}

Is it simply not possible to use the cite package with the beamerposter? Is there an alternative?

Answer 1

The error does not occur with an up-to-date TeX Live 2017, so some of your packages appear to be outdated. If updating is not an option, an alternative to \usepackage{cite} is

\usepackage[sort&compress,numbers]{natbib}