If you are using a Bash script or git add command in Linux operating system you can face the error message ‘syntax error near unexpected token `newline’. It occurs when you are missing some angle brackets or missing proper spaces or characters while writing the script. It can be resolved if single or double quotes are used when writing the code.
What Is Bash Syntax Error #
It is an error when you don’t follow the syntax in the right direction in “.sh” files using git add. And if you are missing some quotation marks you will get the error syntax error near the unexpected token `newline’. These quotation marks let the syntax understand an entity with a proper character, writing the Bash syntax script you have to be careful about quotations and angle brackets. The other way result will show you the error.
The Reason It Happens #
This error message comes when some special characters, quotation marks, and writing a Bash script are missing. The Bash syntax error denotes that there is something wrong with the coding or that a bad script is written somewhere in the command. Commonly escaping missing space, characters, or comas.
During the execution process, it is not that easy to find out the syntax error that is syntax error near unexpected token `newline’. It may require you to change your coding many times for resetting the script. You need to take care of writing the code in Bash as it might be difficult to find out the errors easily.
The Solution Methods #
The Bash syntax error may occur in multiple scenarios and it becomes difficult to find out the exact error until you review all of the scripts again. Though it is time taking, there is nothing to be worried about that because in the solution section it will be identified and rectified. It will be observed that the error encounters during the execution process of a single Bash shell command. And why it gives an unsuccessful result as an unexpected token error. While fixing the single command error the way you can use it to add or remove an incorrect character that can cause the syntax error in the command. You can fix the error when you run a command having a syntax error. Take care of the mentioned error line by the Bash syntax. You can execute the error in the Bash shell to get fast access without rerunning and changing the script again and again. You need to update the command in the way correct to find that the script works properly. For instance, if you have a file on a Linux system where you want to rename it to report_jan.csv, you will write the code in this way;
mv report(july).csv report_jan.csv
if you run this script you will get the error message, but what is the reason that it gives you an error because the parenthesis () are used to create subshell in Bash, simply they are considered as special characters, and special characters need quotes.
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('
A special character can be escaped if treated as a normal character in command and to escape you need to use the backslash.
mv report(july).csv report_july.csv
No error will be shown now.
-rw-r--r-- 1 ec2-user ec2-user 28 Jun 28 22:29 report_july.csv
If you are writing Bash syntax script and you are missing between space that is considered as a character and ([), you will find the error message.
The correct way to write the script will be like this:
#!/bin/bash
DAY="Monday"
if [ $DAY == "Monday" ]; then
echo "Today is Monday"
else
echo "Today is not Monday"
fi
Writing a Bash script can cause an error at the beginning like this:
localhost)$ for i in {0..10} ; do echo $i ; then echo "Printing next number" ; done
This single line will give you the result as;
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `then'
If you are using For Loop then the written syntax in Bash should be as under:
for VARIABLE in {0..10}
do
echo command1
echo command2
echo commandN
done
you can see here that the semicolon is used to separate the commands in Bash. Many other reasons are related to the codes that may cause Bash syntax error near unexpected token ‘newline’. Whenever you get this error means you are making a syntax error, first of all, read the file that contains the cat command.
cat file. sh
Note the use of special characters. The < character is used for input redirection, and redirection.
For this, if you are using the angle brackets “<>” must be used in single or double quotes, otherwise you will get the problem. For example, the following code will create an error syntax error near the unexpected token ‘newline’.
#!/bin/bash
str=
Using the quotes will give you the correct results like whether single or double quotes,
#!/bin/bash
str=""
#!/bin/bash
str=''
Another important point is that you can’t use angle brackets in Bash command line parameters without quotation signs. Let’s see the example;
If you have a login and password program containing an angle bracket will deliver the error syntax error near the unexpected token ‘newline’.
./login --username admin --password 1234<</code>
The argument should enclose in single or double quotes;
./login --username admin --password "1234<"</code>
The Conclusion #
The Bash syntax error near unexpected token ‘newline is an error that is invoked when messing with the Bash script that doesn’t use the syntax properly to execute the git add. The most important problem related to the syntax includes “<>” (angle brackets) it shouldn’t be used in both cases without single or double quotes, so wrapping up the angles brackets in quotes can stop this error. Another problem is the missing characters and spaces that can be avoided before you execute your program.
If while opening your bash you get an error message like «syntax error near unexpected token `newline'», this is because now your gentoo bash reads the .bashrc file originally from ubuntu. Check the line that is complaining by editing or commenting it, or create a new gentoo-based .bashrc file and you won’t see the message anymore. Below I copy-pasted a working .bashrc file for gentoo.
# /etc/bash/bashrc
#
# This file is sourced by all *interactive* bash shells on startup,
# including some apparently interactive shells such as scp and rcp
# that can't tolerate any output. So make sure this doesn't display
# anything or bad things will happen !
# Test for an interactive shell. There is no need to set anything
# past this point for scp and rcp, and it's important to refrain from
# outputting anything in those cases.
if [[ $- != *i* ]] ; then
# Shell is non-interactive. Be done now!
return
fi
# Bash won't get SIGWINCH if another process is in the foreground.
# Enable checkwinsize so that bash will check the terminal size when
# it regains control. #65623
# http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/bash/FAQ (E11)
shopt -s checkwinsize
# Disable completion when the input buffer is empty. i.e. Hitting tab
# and waiting a long time for bash to expand all of $PATH.
shopt -s no_empty_cmd_completion
# Enable history appending instead of overwriting when exiting. #139609
shopt -s histappend
# Save each command to the history file as it's executed. #517342
# This does mean sessions get interleaved when reading later on, but this
# way the history is always up to date. History is not synced across live
# sessions though; that is what `history -n` does.
# Disabled by default due to concerns related to system recovery when $HOME
# is under duress, or lives somewhere flaky (like NFS). Constantly syncing
# the history will halt the shell prompt until it's finished.
#PROMPT_COMMAND='history -a'
# Change the window title of X terminals
case ${TERM} in
[aEkx]term*|rxvt*|gnome*|konsole*|interix)
PS1='[33]0;u@h:w07]'
;;
screen*)
PS1='[33ku@h:w33\]'
;;
*)
unset PS1
;;
esac
# Set colorful PS1 only on colorful terminals.
# dircolors --print-database uses its own built-in database
# instead of using /etc/DIR_COLORS. Try to use the external file
# first to take advantage of user additions.
use_color=false
if type -P dircolors >/dev/null ; then
# Enable colors for ls, etc. Prefer ~/.dir_colors #64489
LS_COLORS=
if [[ -f ~/.dir_colors ]] ; then
# If you have a custom file, chances are high that it's not the default.
used_default_dircolors="no"
eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dir_colors)"
elif [[ -f /etc/DIR_COLORS ]] ; then
# People might have customized the system database.
used_default_dircolors="maybe"
eval "$(dircolors -b /etc/DIR_COLORS)"
else
used_default_dircolors="yes"
eval "$(dircolors -b)"
fi
if [[ -n ${LS_COLORS:+set} ]] ; then
use_color=true
fi
unset used_default_dircolors
else
# Some systems (e.g. BSD & embedded) don't typically come with
# dircolors so we need to hardcode some terminals in here.
case ${TERM} in
[aEkx]term*|rxvt*|gnome*|konsole*|screen|cons25|*color) use_color=true;;
esac
fi
if ${use_color} ; then
if [[ ${EUID} == 0 ]] ; then
PS1+='[33[01;31m]h[33[01;34m] W $[33[00m] '
else
PS1+='[33[01;32m]u@h[33[01;34m] w $[33[00m] '
fi
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --colour=auto'
alias egrep='egrep --colour=auto'
alias fgrep='fgrep --colour=auto'
else
if [[ ${EUID} == 0 ]] ; then
# show root@ when we don't have colors
PS1+='u@h W $ '
else
PS1+='u@h w $ '
fi
fi
for sh in /etc/bash/bashrc.d/* ; do
[[ -r ${sh} ]] && source "${sh}"
done
# Try to keep environment pollution down, EPA loves us.
unset use_color sh
I’m a complete BASH beginner who needs to make sure this script works. It’s supposed to restore an evenstore backup from an azure blob storage. Unfortunately it doesn’t work.
When I run it in ShellCheck:
Line 14:
export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY=<Insert key>
^-- SC1009 (info): The mentioned syntax error was in this simple command.
^-- SC1073 (error): Couldn't parse this variable assignment. Fix to allow more checks.
^-- SC1072 (error): Fix any mentioned problems and try again.
When I actually run it :
restore_eventstore.sh: line 14: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'
restore_eventstore.sh: line 14: `export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY=<Insert key>'
I have googled these errors but I was unable to find an answer for my case. Any help appreciated. Here is the script in its entirety:
#!/bin/bash
# Needs azure cli to work.
# Install command: curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash
backup_name=$1
if [ -z "$backup_name" ]
then
echo "Must supply an file to use in the restore"
exit
fi
export AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT=stoclbackups
export AZURE_STORAGE_KEY=<Insert key>
echo "Downloading backup $backup_name from blob storage"
az storage blob download --container-name node1backups --name $backup_name --file $backup_name
if [ ! -s "$backup_name" ]
then
echo "Failed to download the backup file $backup_name"
exit
fi
echo "Stopping the eventstore service"
systemctl stop eventstore
if [ -d eventstore_backup ]
then
echo "Removing old local eventstore backup"
rm -rf eventstore_backup
fi
echo "Doing an backup of the current db to eventstore_backup"
mkdir eventstore_backup
cp -r db/* eventstore_backup
echo "Removing the old data from eventstore db directory"
rm -rf db/*
echo "Unpacking the backup $backup_name into the eventstore db directory"
tar -zvxf $backup_name -C db/
echo "Truncate the eventstore data to the latest chaser checkpoint"
cp db/chaser.chk db/truncate.chk
echo "Restore is complete. Start the eventstore service with: sudo systemctl start eventstore"