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I recieved this error this morning and not sure what needs to be done to fix it. Please help.

Quote:
syntax error, unexpected token "public", expecting ";" or "{"


Here is the line of code in question.

public string $version; 


What I have tried:

I do not know what to try at all.
Posted

Look at the line before this one.

The compiler is telling you it found the token "public" when it was expecting a ";" or "{" character, so the line(s) before the one you posted is where the problem actually is.
 
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v2
To add to what Dave has said, you should expect to get syntax errors every day, probably many times a day while you are coding - we all do regardless of how much experience we have! Sometimes, we misspell a variable, or a keyword; sometimes we forget to close a string or a code block. Sometimes the cat walks over your keyboard and types something really weird. Sometimes we just forget how many parameters a method call needs.

We all make mistakes.

And because we all do it, we all have to fix syntax errors - and it's a lot quicker to learn how and fix them yourself than to wait for someone else to fix them for you! So invest a little time in learning how to read error messages, and how to interpret your code as written in the light of what the compiler is telling you is wrong - it really is trying to be helpful!

So read this: How to Write Code to Solve a Problem, A Beginner's Guide Part 2: Syntax Errors[^] - it should help you next time you get a compilation error!

And spending a little time learning to understand syntax error messages will save you a huge amount of time in future: you waited at least 1/4 hour for Chris to reply, then your email system probably added another 10 minutes or so, plus the time it took you to type up the question once you had found this site and created an account. Chances are that you could have saved a significant chunk of that time if you knew how to read them!

I'm not saying we don't want to help you fix them - sometimes I can't see my own errors because I read what I meant to write - but fixing syntax errors is part of the job, and if you can't do it for yourself people are going to look at you as a bit weird should you get a job in the industry!
 
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Your real issue here is the version of PHP you are using, PHP versions prior to PHP 7.4 do not support typed properties so by attempting to declare a typed property like 'public string $version;' would result in a syntax error as you received.

My first point of advice would be to upgrade your version, use newer code/versions as almost every server out there does not allow lower versions of PHP 8.<version> anymore or anyways.

If you however want to keep on using an older version of PHP that doesn't support typed properties, simply remove the type declaration -

PHP
public $version;


Your code should run fine then.
 
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Quote:
syntax error, unexpected token "public", expecting ";" or "{"

Specifically, this error message tells you that the code before "public" ends with an incomplete line of code, probably missing a ";" at the end.
 
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