Recovering from errors (LaTeX2e unofficial reference manual (November 2018))

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### 28.3 Recovering from errors

If LaTeX finds an error in your document then it gives you an error message and prompts you with a question mark, `?`. For instance, running LaTeX on this file

    \newcommand{\NP}{\ensuremath{\textbf{NP}}}
    The \PN{} problem is a million dollar one.

causes it show this, and wait for input.

    ! Undefined control sequence.
    l.5 The \PN
               {} problem is a million dollar one.
    ?

The simplest thing is to enter ‘`x`’ and `<return>` and fix the typo. You could instead enter ‘`?`’ and `<return>` to see other options.

There are two other error scenarios. The first is that you forgot to include the `\end{document}` or misspelled it. In this case LaTeX gives you a ‘`*`’ prompt. You can get back to the command line by typing `\stop` and `<return>`.

The last scenario is that you mistyped the file name. For instance, instead of `pdflatex test` you might type `pdflatex tste`.

    ! I can't find file `tste'.
    <*> tste

    (Press Enter to retry, or Control-D to exit)
    Please type another input file name:

The simplest thing is to enter `<Control>` and ‘`d`’ (holding them down at the same time), and then retype the correct command line.

Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual