[Tex/LaTex] TikZ – Circled text number in superscript – Missing $

Question

I'm using TikZ to create some circles with numbers as some sort of marker. But I want to use them as superscript.

So to generate a circle I'm using this command (suggested here: Good way to make \textcircled numbers?):

\newcommand*\circled[1]{\tikz[baseline=(char.base)]{
            \node[shape=circle,fill=blue!20,draw,inner sep=0.5pt] (char) {#1};}}

To use it within the text (as superscript) I'm using:

text^{\circled{1}}

However I get the following error:

> Description   Resource    Path    Location    Type Missing $ inserted. ... & 24 &
> 8 & 32^{\circleds{3}} & (followed by: 0      & 24    & 8
> \\)   doc.tex /doc line 287   Texlipse Build Error

Any suggestions of why is that?

Here is an small code example.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\newcommand*\circled[1]{\tikz[baseline=(char.base)]{
            \node[shape=circle,fill=blue!20,draw,inner sep=0.5pt] (char) {#1};}}

\begin{document} 
This works: \circled{3}. But this^{\circled{1}} is no good.
\end{document}

Answer 1

As discussed in numerous comments, the underlying problem was that ^ was invoked in text, not math mode. Here are two possibilities, depending on how you want it to behave.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\newcommand*\circled[1]{\tikz[baseline=(char.base)]{
            \node[shape=circle,fill=blue!20,draw,inner sep=0.5pt] (char) {#1};}}

\begin{document} 
This works: \circled{3}. But this\textsuperscript{\circled{1}} is no good.

This works: \circled{3}. But this$^{\circled{1}}$ is no good.
\end{document}