I keep getting an error on MikTeX

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion addresses a common error encountered in MiKTeX, specifically the "Missing \begin{document}" error during LaTeX compilation. This error arises when extraneous text is placed in the preamble, such as "Hello" before the \begin{document} command. Users are advised to ensure that all commands are correctly formatted and to utilize code tags for clarity when posting LaTeX code. The discussion highlights the importance of proper syntax in LaTeX documents to avoid compilation issues.

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flyingpig
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Homework Statement




I don't know what's going on, but i can't compile anything

I keep getting the following error

error said:
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.10 (MiKTeX 2.8)
entering extended mode
(C:\Users\l\Desktop\untitled-10.tex
LaTeX2e <2009/09/24>
Babel <v3.8l> and hyphenation patterns for english, dumylang, nohyphenation, ge
rman, ngerman, german-x-2009-06-19, ngerman-x-2009-06-19, french, loaded.

! LaTeX Error: Missing \begin{document}.

This was my input

input said:
documentclass{report}

\begin{document}

hi

\end{document}
 
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Hmm, unfortunately, the forum tries to render the \LaTeX code.
The "Missing \begin{document}" error - apart from the obvious cause - also occurs when you put some stuff in the pre-amble which is not expected there. For example.
Code: 
\documentclass{article}
Hello
\begin{document}
world!
\end{document}

would also produce the error, because when LaTeX encounters the text "Hello" it expects that you should have written \begin{document} already.

Did you put a backslash before \documentclass, or is that just the quote being mangled? Otherwise, maybe you can post the document again using
Code: 
 tags.
 
The stupid backslash!

Thank you very much! you just saved my life.
 

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