Is it safe to use \texorpdfstring from package hyperref, outside the sectioning commands?

Question

I have several commands with some math that I use inside and outside the sectioning commands (\section, etc.). Of course, package hyperref complains. I do not want to scan the sectioning commands to put \texorpdfstring inside them. I thought to change the definitions so my commands use \texorpdfstring. In this case \texorpdfstring will appear outside the sectioning commands. I wonder wheter this will work, or I need another solution.

Answer 1

\texorpdfstring works outside of \section, I've used it several times to avoid issues with \and in \author (it's not rendered when filling the PDF metadata), and I don't get errors or warnings when I use it that way.

I think it's really just a one-liner to have an if-then-else branching instruction. I may be wrong, of course.