Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '='

[webco]

I've written a php program to send a form by email. The very simple version worked. As soon as I tried to send a more complex form i got this error message:-

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '=' in E:\domains\s\sheffieldu3a.org.uk\user\htdocs\experiments\sendnmv.php on line 20

Can anyone help? Line 20 is exactly the same format as lines 19, 18 and 17. There is one = on each line. Is this a message which has nothing to do with what it says??!!

[NogDog]

Look for things like missing closing quotes on that line and the preceding lines, or an omitted terminal ";" on the preceding command. (The message means exactly what it says: it found an "=" where it was not expecting one. The "why" it was unexpected is the part you need to figure out. 😉 )

If you cannot find the problem, post the relevant code up through line 20 here between [noparse]

 . . . 

[/noparse] tags so we can help.

[webco]

I've checked all you suggested but still can't find anything.
I'm VERY new to this so I could have made more than one mistake!

Thanks so much for your help
Here's the full php code:

<?php
$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "New Members questionnaire";
$name = $REQUEST['name'] ;
$email = $REQUEST['email'] ;
$dropin_refreshments = $REQUEST['dropin_refreshments'] ;
$befriend = $REQUEST['befriend'] ;
$stuffing = $REQUEST['stuffing'] ;
$seminar = $REQUEST['seminar'] ;
$registration = $REQUEST['registration'] ;
$steward = $REQUEST['steward'] ;
$outreach = $REQUEST['outreach'] ;
$ethnic = $REQUEST['ethnic'] ;
$pre-retirement = $REQUEST['pre-retirement'] ;
$mobility = $REQUEST['mobility'] ;
$writing = $REQUEST['writing'] ;
$deputy = $REQUEST['deputy'] ;
$new_group = $REQUEST['new_group'] ;
$research = $REQUEST['research'] ;
$equipment = $_REQUEST['equipment'] ;
$headers = "From: $email";
$sent = mail($to, $subject, $name, $dropin_refreshments, $befriend, $stuffing, $seminar, $registration, $steward, $outreach, $ethnic, $pre-retirement, $mobility, $writing, $deputy, $new_group, $research, $equipment, $headers) ;
if($sent)
{print "Your form was sent successfully"; }
else
{print "We encountered an error sending your form"; }
?>

[Imperialoutpost]

I would assume it was this variable - $pre-retirement.

A valid variable name starts with a letter or underscore, followed by any number of letters, numbers, or underscores.

So the hyphen in the name would cause a problem.

[halojoy]

$sent = mail($to, $subject, $name, $dropin_refreshments, $befriend, $stuffing, $seminar, $registration, $steward, $outreach, $ethnic, $pre-retirement, $mobility, $writing, $deputy, $new_group, $research, $equipment, $headers) ;

This can not work.

[man]mail[/man]
takes usually only 4 arguments:

$sent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

So, you should make one message out of all those variables.

<?php

$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "New Members questionnaire";

$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;

// all these should put into one $message
$name = $_REQUEST['name'] ;
$dropin_refreshments = $_REQUEST['dropin_refreshments'] ;
$befriend = $_REQUEST['befriend'] ;
$stuffing = $_REQUEST['stuffing'] ;
$seminar = $_REQUEST['seminar'] ;
$registration = $_REQUEST['registration'] ;
$steward = $_REQUEST['steward'] ;
$outreach = $_REQUEST['outreach'] ;
$ethnic = $_REQUEST['ethnic'] ;
$pre-retirement = $_REQUEST['pre-retirement'] ;
$mobility = $_REQUEST['mobility'] ;
$writing = $_REQUEST['writing'] ;
$deputy = $_REQUEST['deputy'] ;
$new_group = $_REQUEST['new_group'] ;
$research = $_REQUEST['research'] ;
$equipment = $_REQUEST['equipment'] ;

$headers = "From: $email";

$sent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers) ;

if($sent)
{print "Your form was sent successfully"; }
else
{print "We encountered an error sending your form"; }

?>

[webco]

Thank you. I'll try and sort that out and come back if I can't get it to work.

[webco]

I've tried a variety of formats but I simply can't work out how to get everything into one $message. The code below was my last useless attempt! What I need it a PHP manual for idiots. Is there such a thing? So far I've relied on what I can find on the 'net - with limited success.

<?php
$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "New Members questionnaire";
$message = $_REQUEST['name'] ['email'] ['dropin_refreshments'] ['befriend'] ['stuffing'] ['seminar'] ['registration'] ['steward'] ['outreach' ['ethnic'] ['pre-retirement'] ['mobility'] ['writing'] ['deputy'] ['new_group'] ['research'] ['equipment' ] ;
$headers = "From: $email";
$sent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers) ;
if($sent)
{print "Your form was sent successfully"; }
else
{print "We encountered an error sending your form"; }
?>

[Imperialoutpost]

It's just your $message line that seems to be at fault. The following should work...

<?php 

$to = "[e-mail]"; 

$subject = "New Members questionnaire"; 

$message = $_REQUEST['name'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['email'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['dropin_refreshments'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['befriend'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['stuffing'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['seminar'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['registration'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['steward'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['outreach'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['ethnic'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['pre-retirement'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['mobility'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['writing'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['deputy'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['new_group'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['research'] . "\n\r" . 
	$_REQUEST['equipment'];

$headers = "From: $email"; 

$sent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers) ; 

if($sent) {
print "Your form was sent successfully";
} else {
print "We encountered an error sending your form";
}
?>

[halojoy]

First let us agree to change $pre-retirement = $REQUEST['pre-retirement'] ;
as pointed out in a previous post.
Both in this page AND in your form we change it to:
$pre_retirement = $REQUEST['pre_retirement'] ;

I have put "\n"(newline) at end of each line in message.
So each REQUEST data comes at a new line of email.

Hope this will work.
But we never know before we try 🙂

<?php

$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "New Members questionnaire";

$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;

$message =
'name = '        .$_REQUEST['name']."\n".
'dropin_refreshments = '.$_REQUEST['dropin_refreshments']."\n".
'befriend = '    .$_REQUEST['befriend']."\n".
'stuffing = '    .$_REQUEST['stuffing']."\n".
'seminar = '     .$_REQUEST['seminar']."\n".
'registration = '.$_REQUEST['registration']."\n".
'steward = '     .$_REQUEST['steward']."\n".
'outreach = '    .$_REQUEST['outreach']."\n".
'ethnic = '      .$_REQUEST['ethnic']."\n".
'pre_retirement = '.$_REQUEST['pre_retirement']."\n".
'mobility = '    .$_REQUEST['mobility']."\n".
'writing = '     .$_REQUEST['writing']."\n".
'deputy = '      .$_REQUEST['deputy']."\n".
'new_group = '   .$_REQUEST['new_group']."\n".
'research = '    .$_REQUEST['research']."\n".
'equipment = '   .$_REQUEST['equipment']."\n";

$headers = "From: $email";

$sent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers) ;

if($sent)
{print "Your form was sent successfully"; }
else
{print "We encountered an error sending your form"; }

?> 

[webco]

This seems to have sorted out the original problem. Thank you. BUT I now have the following error messages. Any Suggestions?

Notice: Undefined index: email in E:\domains\s\sheffieldu3a.org.uk\user\htdocs\experiments\sendnmv.php on line 12

Notice: Undefined index: name in E:\domains\s\sheffieldu3a.org.uk\user\htdocs\experiments\sendnmv.php on line 15

Notice: Undefined index: pre_retirement in E:\domains\s\sheffieldu3a.org.uk\user\htdocs\experiments\sendnmv.php on line 24

Warning: mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 554 <[e-mail]>: Recipient address rejected: Relay access denied in E:\domains\s\sheffieldu3a.org.uk\user\htdocs\experiments\sendnmv.php on line 34
We encountered an error sending your form

[webco]

Thank you everyone who helped.
I seem to have got it working!! What arelief!