expecting `','' or `';''

aconway

I am trying to learn php, and I have this niffty book that seems to have a whole lot of code errors. This is the one error that i couldn't figure out

Parse error: parse error, expecting ','' or';'' in vieworders.php on line 40

here's the code:
<?php
//create a short variable name
$DOCUMENT_ROOT = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Bob's Auto Parts - Customer Orders</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Bob's Auto Parts</h1>
<h2>Customer Orders</h2>
<?php
//read in the entire file.
//each order becomes an element in the array
$orders = file ("DOCUMENT_ROOT/orders.txt");
//count the number of orders in the array
$number_of_orders = count ($orders);
if ($number_of_orders == 0)
{
echo '<p><strong>No orders pending. Please try again later.</strong></p>';
}
echo "<table border=1>\n";
echo '<tr><th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Order Date</th>
<th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Tires</th>
<th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Oil</th>
<th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Spark Plugs</th>
<th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Total</th>
<th bgcolor="#CCCCFF">Address</th>
</tr>';
for ($i=0; $i<$number_of_orders; $i++)
{
//split up each line
$line = explode( "\t", $orders[$i] );
//keep only the number of items ordered
$line[1] = intval( $line[1] );
$line[2] = intval( $line[2] );
$line[3] = intval( $line[3] );
//output each order
echo "<tr><td>$line[0]</td>
<td align="right">$line[1]</td> <<<---line 40
<td align="right">$line[2]</td>
<td align="right">$line[3]</td>
<td align="right">$line[4]</td>
<td>$line[5]</td>
</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
?>
</body>
</html>

can some one help me?

bodzan

A simple but very common mistake:

echo "<tr><td>$line[0]</td>
<td align="right">$line[1]</td> <<<---line 40
<td align="right">$line[2]</td>
<td align="right">$line[3]</td>
<td align="right">$line[4]</td>
<td>$line[5]</td>
</tr>";
You have to escape doublequotes inside echo statement (i.e.

echo "<tr><td>$line[0]</td>
<td align=\"right\">$line[1]</td>
<td align=\"right\">$line[2]</td>
<td align=\"right\">$line[3]</td>
<td align=\"right\">$line[4]</td>
<td>$line[5]</td>
</tr>";
)

... or use single quotes like

echo '<tr><td>$line[0]</td>
<td align="right">$line[1]</td> <<<---line 40
<td align="right">$line[2]</td>
<td align="right">$line[3]</td>
<td align="right">$line[4]</td>
<td>$line[5]</td>
</tr>';

...

ForgotMyPass

With single quotes its different though

Lets say like this:

$cat = "meow";
echo "Cat says $cat";

This returns "Cat says meow"

$cat = "meow";
echo 'Cat says $cat';

This returns "Cat says $cat"

HalfaBee

I only use single quotes on all my html.
Double quotes print the contents of variables, single quotes don't.

But you found that out didn't you. 🙂
You would think if they wrote a book that they would know what they were talking about.

Halfabee