Find missing braces in large PHP file?

Question

I'm debugging a client's 3500-line PHP file. Including this file causes a PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in ... error, so I'm assuming there's a missing brace somewhere. Is there a simple tool or method for missing brace discovery, either online or in the Komodo IDE I'm using?

3000-line file? Yuk. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/378959/is-there-a-static-code-analyzer-like-lint-for-php-files — Frankie, Feb 13 '12 at 18:43
In most IDEs, you can find the missing braces by looking for the place where every single line becomes an error. — kitti, Feb 13 '12 at 18:44
Using vi you could simply use % to bounce on brackets and see where things don't line up anymore. — Marc B, Feb 13 '12 at 18:51
Make a copy of the file and comment out / remove parts of the code until you don't get any complaints. This makes it easier to debug Just make sure that if you actually do something (like modifying a database/file) you remove that code as well so you don't mess anything out. — Optimist, Feb 13 '12 at 18:58
@Yarin, I usually have PHP files with a few thousand lines. Everyone else, please stop complaining. If OP likes not having lots of (redundantly partitioned) different files, or can and prefers to manage a single file with that much (probably neater and more-commented) code then that's his call. Optimization? Negligible, and only if you `include` within given conditions. I am totally open to splitting my files up, however nothing has convinced me to do so thus far. /rant_over — Eugene, Mar 16 '17 at 05:46
Oh, and I second @Optimist's response, I usually cull functions until it works again (i.e. different error due to culled functions missing!), typically divide and conquer. — Eugene, Mar 16 '17 at 05:48

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

another option (similar to notepad++) is to use Dreamweaver to find the associated closing tag.
See this link: How do I make Dreamweaver to show me closing tags?

in dreamweaver:
To select matching opening and closing curly braces, brackets, or parentheses, click inside the opening or closing symbol, and click the Balance Braces button on the Coding toolbar (it's immediately below Select Parent Tag). Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+'/Cmd+'.

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 18:45

2

Use consistent and clean tabbing. I've found that makes it very hard to miss a closing brace.

Other than that, you've kinda dug your own grave here. What are you coding that results in a 3500-line PHP file?

EDIT: Try dumping your code into Notepad++. I'm fairly sure that will highlight the associated closing brace if you click on the opening one, but with larger files, I've gotten somewhat unreliable performance with this.

answered Feb 13 '12 at 18:45

tnw

13,521
15
70
111

Tory- Nice advice if you birth your own code, but this is client code, not mine- I'm just parachuting in as a consultant. – Yarin Feb 13 '12 at 19:09
1

This does not take into account the alternate format `if(true): else: endif;` – Ray Jun 28 '12 at 15:38

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 30 '12 at 16:14

1

Komodo Edit has a nice feature that highlights what's inside braces

Ctrl+Alt+]

answered Apr 30 '12 at 16:14

vlad

11
1

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 30 '14 at 10:32

I'm just working on a related problem (find missing array square bracket in JSON-object). So I hope to be able to help.

     $pos=0;
     $braceCount=0;
while( preg_match('~\{|\}~S', $source, $out, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, $pos) ){
     if($out[0][0] === '{'){
       $braceCount++;
       if( $braceCount === 1 )$startPos=$out[0][1];
     }
     elseif( $out[0][0] === '}' ){
       $braceCount--;
       if( $braceCount === 0 ){
         //echo 'Up to that position:'.$out[0][1].' every thing seems to be ok?<br>';
         echo substr($source,$startPos,($out[0][1]+1-$startPos)).'<br>';
       } 
       elseif( $braceCount < 0 ){
         echo 'To many closing brace right before '.($out[0][1]+1).'<br>';
         exit;
       }
     }
     $pos = $out[0][1]+1;
}
if( $braceCount > 0 ) echo 'Closing brace is missing somewhere.';

This echo the source until there is a miss match and an error for curly braces.

would you care to explain what this is, and how to use it? – ashleedawg Feb 18 '19 at 13:53 — ashleedawg, Feb 18 '19 at 13:53

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 19:11

1

Use NetBeans IDE for PHP.
http://netbeans.org/features/php/

Will check your syntax and highlight issues amongst the many other nice features it has. And it's free.

answered Feb 13 '12 at 19:11

Jeff

370
1
2
11

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 08 '15 at 22:17

We really appreciate how smart everybody is! Sometimes its better to stick to the tool the person is using and exactly what they are asking about. I don't know if you have found your answer but here is what I use.

Put your cursor on the opening Brace then -
On Mac: [Command]'

or Edit Menu > Balance Braces 3. Result: This will highlight the code on Dreamweaver between the braces and help resolve the coding issue.

Hope this helps. P.S. Sometimes you need 3000 lines of code :)

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Feb 13 '12 at 18:48

0

What text editor are you using? I will recommend you to use Eclipse and it will be much easier to detect it :) or also you can public your code and may we can help in that way :)

edited Feb 13 '12 at 18:48

locrizak

12,192
12
60
80

answered Feb 13 '12 at 18:46

Sabri Aziri

4,084
5
30
45

I'm using Komodo IDE and I can't make the code public as it's proprietary client code. – Yarin Feb 13 '12 at 19:06
I'm not sure how does Komodo IDE work but I highly will recommend you for php,javascript,html... to start working with Eclipse [HERE](http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/) or you can send to me your code by email =] sa18890@seeu.edu.mk This is all i can do :) – Sabri Aziri Feb 14 '12 at 14:27

Find missing braces in large PHP file?

7 Answers7