UK TeX FAQ -- question label texorpdf

### Token not allowed in PDFDocEncoded string

The package hyperref produces this error when it doesn’t know how to make something into a “character” that will go into one of its PDF entries. For example, the (unlikely) sequence

>     \newcommand{\filled}[2]{%
>       #1%
>       \hfil
>       #2%
>     }
>     \section{\filled{foo}{bar}}

provokes the error. Hyperref goes on to tell you:

>     removing `\hfil' on input line ...

It’s not surprising: how would you put the typesetting instruction `\``hfil` into a PDF bookmark?

Hyperref allows you to define an alternative for such things: the command `\``texorpdfstring`, which takes two arguments — the first is what is typeset, the second is what is put into the bookmark. For example, what you would probably like in this case is just a single space in the bookmark; if so, the erroneous example above would become:

>     \newcommand{\filled}[2]{%
>       #1%
>       \texorpdfstring{\hfil}{\space}%
>       #2%
>     }
>     \section{\filled{foo}{bar}}

and with that definition, the example will compile succesfully (hyperref knows about the macro `\``space`).

This answer was added: 2009-05-29

This question on the Web: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=texorpdf