# Hyperref - Token not allowed [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate:
Hyperref warning - Token not allowed in a PDF string

The following code:

\subsection{The classes $\mathcal{L}(\gamma)$}


generates the errors:

Package hyperref Warning: Token not allowed in a PDF string (PDFDocEncoding):
(hyperref)                removing math shift' on input line 1938.

Package hyperref Warning: Token not allowed in a PDF string (PDFDocEncoding):
(hyperref)                removing \gamma' on input line 1938.

Package hyperref Warning: Token not allowed in a PDF string (PDFDocEncoding):
(hyperref)                removing math shift' on input line 1938.


What do I have to do to keep \gamma in the subsection, so that it is also listed in the table of contents?

The PDF bookmarks are a different thing than the table of contents. The bookmarks are not typeset by TeX: they simply are strings of characters, so no math or general formatting instructions are allowed.

The easiest method to avoid the warnings is to use \texorpdfstring:

\subsection{The classes \texorpdfstring{$\mathcal{L}(\gamma)$}{Lg}}


where in the second argument you put the best approximation possible; after all the bookmarks are only a guide for consulting the document.

• Ahh, I see, those are PDF bookmarks, thanks! – Chris Apr 26 '12 at 23:14
• Thanks for answering this, even though the question was a duplicate: I couldn't tell if maths mode in section titles would work the same as in the other answers to this problem. – theHigherGeometer May 7 '14 at 0:39
• @barbarabeeton The best approximation possible is left to the reader to decide. – egreg Sep 23 '16 at 20:09
• Note that unicode, with the unicode option set for hyperref, allows a closer representation like ℒ(γ) for the pdf table of content. \subsection{The classes \texorpdfstring{$\mathcal{L}(\gamma)$}{ℒ(γ)}} works as expected, at least on my setup. This works even if unicode characters are not accepted in math mode. – Frédéric Grosshans Mar 20 '19 at 17:59
• @Qbyte Maybe \texorpdfstring{$t_2$}{t\_2}`? – egreg Sep 19 '20 at 16:15