PHP "Expecting `T_STRING'...", and it's driving me nuts

rose_bud4201 · 11-03-2005, 09:27 AM

Can someone please help me find out what's wrong with this code? It's in the middle of a web page, so I'll pull out everything around it.

Code:

  echo <<< END
    <BR>
    <BR><CENTER><DIV STYLE="font-family: tahoma; font-size: 10px">
       <<<-- <a href="http://www.website.com/index_test.php?skip=$goBack">Go Earlier?</a> | <a href="http://www.website.com/index_test.php?skip=$goForward">Go Later?</a> -->>><BR><BR><a href="mailto:admin@website.com">Contact?</a>
    </DIV></CENTER><BR>
END;
} // Ends if-else

mysql_close($connection);
?>
	<!--	</div></DIV> -->
	   </TD>
	   </TR>
   	</TABLE>
    </TD>
    <TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="20%">
	<TABLE>
	    <TR>
	       <TD>
			<!-- Top right-hand box -->
                         <DIV align="center"><div style="text-align:left; padding:5px; background-color:#ae4a48; border:1px solid black; font-size:12px; color:#000000; width:150px; font-family:verdana; font-size:10">
<?
	  if($_SESSION['CurrentUserID'] == 'true') { 
	  print ("<CENTER>You are logged in as<BR><a href=\"" . $_SESSION['CurrentUserID'] . "\">" . $_SESSION['ShortUserID'] . "</a> (<a href=\"http://www.cybermenology.com/logout.php\">log out?</a>)</CENTER>");
	} else {
	  print ("<CENTER>You are not <a href=\"http://www.cybermenology.com/login.php\">logged in</a></CENTER>");
	}
?>
                  </DIV><BR>
                  <DIV align="center"><div style="text-align:left; padding:5px; background-color:#ae4a48; border:1px solid black; font-size:12px; color:#000000; width:150px; font-family:verdana; font-size:10">

I keep getting the message "Parse error: parse error, expecting `T_STRING' or `T_VARIABLE' or `T_NUM_STRING' in /var/www/html/index.php on line 306", and I can't for the life of me see what's wrong with that line! I've moved it down a few lines in the file, just to verify that it's the correct line#, and it is... Please, what am I missing?
(I have the call to session_start() up at the top of the file, and there's around 300 other lines of php code which use session variables just fine before hitting this one.)

This is driving my absolutely nuts...

paulsm4 · 11-03-2005, 09:32 AM

Hi -

Try modifying your php.ini file, and make sure "register globals" is enabled:

http://us2.php.net/register_globals

rose_bud4201 · 11-03-2005, 10:19 AM

Unfortunately, it is:

; You should do your best to write your scripts so that they do not require
; register_globals to be on; Using form variables as globals can easily lead
; to possible security problems, if the code is not very well thought of.
register_globals = On

What makes this weird is there's nothing wrong with that line, and I've used that same variable previously in the file...if the syntax parser was going to have a problem with it, why pick a later occurrance of it?

paulsm4 · 11-03-2005, 11:08 AM

Make sure the quotes match and every line has a semicolon.

One thing that helps debugging is to save a complicated expression to a variable, then "print" (or "echo") the variable.

Code:

EXAMPLE:
  // Original
  print ("something " . $adverb asdflkjadfkljakl "\" ...;

  // Debugging tip: save to variable, check variable
  $s = "something " . $adverb asdflkjadfkljakl "\" ...;
  print ("<<" . $s . ">>\n");

rose_bud4201 · 11-03-2005, 01:36 PM

Well....I fooled around with it a bit, moved some of the more complex and hard-to-read expressions into variables, deleted some stuff and put it back in...in short, I have no idea what I did, but somehow it works again.

Many thanks!!