# Error: reference to invalid character number line 42

**URL:** <https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/error-reference-to-invalid-character-number-line-42/154836>\
**Category:** Audacity 4\
**Created:** [November 5, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/error-reference-to-invalid-character-number-line-42/154836 "2026-11-05T13:34:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DeathReaper](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@DeathReaper](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/DeathReaper)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2026, 1:34pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/error-reference-to-invalid-character-number-line-42/154836/1 "2026-11-05T13:34:38Z")

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why is Audacity throwing up this Error? (Error: reference to invalid character number line 42)

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**Author:** ![romontschun](https://forum.audacityteam.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/90ced4/32.png) [@romontschun](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/romontschun)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2026, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/error-reference-to-invalid-character-number-line-42/154836/2 "2026-11-05T17:31:53Z")

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Probably because you did something before what Audacity did not like? But what? And what equipment do you have, what computer, what operating system, what …M?

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**Author:** ![billw58](https://forum.audacityteam.org/user_avatar/forum.audacityteam.org/billw58/32/32255_2.png) [@billw58](https://forum.audacityteam.org/u/billw58)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/error-reference-to-invalid-character-number-line-42/154836/3 "2026-11-05T18:06:07Z")

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I haven’t seen that error message since the early days of Audacity 2.