PHP Parse error - unexpected T_STRING

Question

In Windows (WAMP) I have an index.php like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<?php
    // ...
?>

and it works as expected.
Now I've just configured a LAMP on Ubuntu and the same file (when invoked from a browser) gives me an error. Looking in error.log I've found

PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /var/www/test/index.php on line 1

If I remove first line everything works fine.
What's wrong? Why this works on Windows and not on Linux?
Could this be caused from a particular extension?

I think the short tags answers will work; in my experience, I've always echoed the `` string from PHP code so I didn't have to worry about how short tags were set. — WWW, May 08 '12 at 20:45
This also happens if you try and run `phpunit` and don't complete a parameter. For example `phpunit --filter -c phpunit.xml` would trigger this same error. — styks, Jun 14 '17 at 13:48
just echo question mark as string. <{{"?"}}xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"{{"?"}}> — reza jafari, Oct 10 '19 at 11:15

score 43 · Accepted Answer · answered May 08 '12 at 20:36

43

It sounds like you have short tags enabled, which will cause PHP to try and parse what comes after <?.

Set the config option short_open_tag in php.ini to 0 or Off and restart Apache.

answered May 08 '12 at 20:36

nickb

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A silly mistake that took me a lot of time: thanks a lot!!! – Marco May 08 '12 at 20:50

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 08 '12 at 20:55

3

It's not a good idea to work with XML as a string.

You should use php XML libraries like http://de.php.net/manual/en/book.dom.php

answered May 08 '12 at 20:55

Dmitry

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12

echo ''; – xpredo Feb 19 '16 at 14:12

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 08 '12 at 20:35

1

Did you check if short tags are enabled/disabled on php.ini?

answered May 08 '12 at 20:35

gunnx

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PHP Parse error - unexpected T_STRING

3 Answers3

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