Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '"'

Question

I can's seem to figure out why I'm getting this error.

I need to turn user_link part into hyperlink(right now it outputs a text on the frontend). Error happens on this line in my shortcode.php file. I guess there is an error with a href part:

$output .= '<td>' . $order->billing_first_name . ' ' . $order->billing_last_name . ' <a href='" . $order->user_link . "'>" . $order['user_link'] . "</a> </td>';

Easy, see the colors where it go's wrong. You should use an IDE. — Xorifelse, Mar 16 '17 at 14:11
try this: `$output .= '' . $order->billing_first_name . ' ' . $order->billing_last_name . ' ' . $order['user_link'] . ' ';` and after try to change your editor... — Vitaliy Ryaboy, Mar 16 '17 at 14:12
A syntax error should be easy to track, look at the error message and it should tell you at what column the problem starts. As Xorifelse mentioned, the color highlighting done by StackOverflow itself tells you that the problem is somewhere in here `' " . $order['user_link']` Look for mismatched quotes and where the string should end but it doesn't. — Ruan Mendes, Mar 16 '17 at 14:15

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 16 '17 at 14:12

Your issue is right here:

. ' <a href='" .

Notice how you're starting with a single quote and ending with a double.

Definitely consider using an IDE. It will make these easy bugs blatantly obvious. I highly recommend PHPStorm, or if you don't want to spend anything, sublime text (Not an IDE but will provide linting and highlighting).

On top of that I'd recommend using some type of templating engine eventually. You should always try to avoid writing HTML as strings.

Even notepad++ will highlight syntax problems – Ruan Mendes Mar 16 '17 at 14:17 — Ruan Mendes, Mar 16 '17 at 14:17

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 16 '17 at 14:12

$output .= '<td>' . $order->billing_first_name . ' ' . $order->billing_last_name . ' <a href="' . $order->user_link . '">' . $order['user_link'] . '</a> </td>';

You switched the ' and " in the a href. I also changed the two " to ' in the a description.

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '"'

2 Answers2