heredoc gives 'unexpected end of file' error

Question

I'm creating a Bash script file on iOS X that asks the user if they would like to upload a file to a server. The sftp command (with a delimiter) works fine outside the if statement but when I put the sftp command (with the delimiter) inside the if statement, I get this error message: "upload.sh: line nnn: syntax error: unexpected end of file"

printf "Upload file? [y]es?"
read -r input1
if [ $input1 == "y" ] || [ $input1 == "yes" ]; then
  sftp -i key.txt user@server << DELIMITER
    put local/path/to/file /server/upload/dir
    quit
  DELIMITER
fi

What am I missing here?

Don't indent the end of heredoc marker (`DELIMITER`). Get your script checked through shellcheck.net. — codeforester, May 22 '17 at 18:38

codeforester · Answer 1 · 2017-05-22T20:18:19.247

3

The heredoc marker shouldn't be indented (I assume you are using spaces for indentation). Rewrite your code this way:

printf "Upload file? [y]es?"
read -r input1
if [ "$input1" == "y" ] || [ "$input1" == "yes" ]; then
  sftp -i key.txt user@server << DELIMITER
    put local/path/to/file /server/upload/dir
    quit
DELIMITER
fi

It's important to enclose your variable in double quotes to prevent issues arising from word splitting, globbing, and an empty string breaking your test ([ ... ]) command.

See also:

here-document gives 'unexpected end of file' error

edited May 22 '17 at 20:18

answered May 22 '17 at 18:39

codeforester

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Thanks @codeforester! I was unaware of the indentation issue with heredoc markers. – Jawa May 22 '17 at 20:17

l'L'l · Answer 2 · 2017-05-22T19:19:25.670

If you want to use TAB indents with heredoc then the redirection operator << should be followed by a - (dash), resulting in <<-. Any leading TAB in the heredoc will then be ignored.

printf "Upload file? [y]es?"
read -r input1
if [ "$input1" = "y" ] || [ "$input1" = "yes" ]; then
    sftp -i key.txt user@server <<- DELIMITER
        put local/path/to/file /server/upload/dir
        quit
    DELIMITER
fi

An alternative would be simple input redirection which could be used instead of heredoc:

printf "Upload file? [y]es?"
read -r input1
if [ "$input1" = "y" ] || [ "$input1" = "yes" ]; then
  sftp -i key.txt user@server < \
  <(echo "put local/path/to/file /server/upload/dir ; quit")
fi

Also there's no reason to use ==; use = instead when comparing strings within single brackets. If using double brackets the meaning changes, so it's usually better habit to use it consistently.

heredoc gives 'unexpected end of file' error

2 Answers2