Parse Error

[marain]

Esteemed PHP'ers:

My PHP parser was quite happy with this statement:

echo "<br /><br />Your final quota of hands for this session was " . $numbers [$_SESSION["limit"]] . ".  This would have been hand number " . $numbers [min (($_SESSION["bigCounter"] + 1), count ($numbers) - 1)] . ". BUT do not dispair:  You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our webmistress returns from " . $excuses [(rand(0, count($excuses) - 1))] . ".  She should be coming back in a while.  When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here.  We hope you will not disappoint her.  She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br /><br />So hang out or, if necessary, come back later.  Or feel free to refresh your <i>quotation</i>, above.  You can do that while waiting!"; 

In an effort to make this statement more elegant, I attempted interpolation:

echo "<br /><br />Your final quota of hands for this session was $numbers [$_SESSION['limit']].  This would have been hand number $numbers [min (($_SESSION['bigCounter'] + 1), count ($numbers) - 1)]. For that reason, we must deny at the moment your efforts for a new hand.  We deny this new hand with respect and with love.  BUT do not dispair:  You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our webmistress returns from $excuses [(rand(0, count($excuses) - 1))].  She should be coming back in a while.  When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here.  We hope you will not disappoint her.  She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br /><br />So hang out or, if necessary, come back later.  Or feel free to refresh your <i>quotation</i>, above.  You can do that while waiting!"; 

My efforts resulted in this message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '' (T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE), expecting '-' or identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or number (T_NUM_STRING) in /home/marainla/public_html/pageContent/q-genp.txt on line 438

On a hunch, I tried escaping some of the periods:

echo "<br /><br />Your final quota of hands for this session was $numbers [$_SESSION['limit']]\.  This would have been hand number $numbers [min (($_SESSION['bigCounter'] + 1), count ($numbers) - 1)]\. For that reason, we must deny at the moment your efforts for a new hand.  We deny this new hand with respect and with love.  BUT do not dispair:  You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our webmistress returns from $excuses [(rand(0, count($excuses) - 1))]\.  She should be coming back in a while.  When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here.  We hope you will not disappoint her.  She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br /><br />So hang out or, if necessary, come back later.  Or feel free to refresh your <i>quotation</i>, above.  You can do that while waiting!"; 

That change generated the same error message.

Next I tried eliminating some white space:

echo "<br /><br />Your final quota of hands for this session was $numbers[$_SESSION['limit']].  This would have been hand number $numbers[min(($_SESSION['bigCounter']+1),count($numbers)-1)]. For that reason, we must deny at the moment your efforts for a new hand.  We deny this new hand with respect and with love.  BUT do not dispair:  You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our webmistress returns from $excuses[(rand(0, count($excuses)-1))].  She should be coming back in a while.  When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here.  We hope you will not disappoint her.  She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br /><br />So hang out or, if necessary, come back later.  Or feel free to refresh your <i>quotation</i>, above.  You can do that while waiting!"; 

and got...

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '[', expecting ']' in /home/marainla/public_html/pageContent/q-genp.txt on line 438

Might someone please assist me in my quest for elegance?

A.

[coothead]

Hi there marain,

I am not a PHP expert, but I believe that this amended code...

echo "<br><br>
Your final quota of hands for this session was "
 . $numbers [$_SESSION['limit']] . 
". This would have been hand number "
 . $numbers [min (($_SESSION['bigCounter'] + 1), count ($numbers) - 1)] . "
 . For that reason, we must deny at the moment your efforts
for a new hand. We deny this new hand with respect and with love. BUT do not 
despair: You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our web-mistress returns from" 
 . $excuses [(rand(0, count($excuses) - 1))] . ". She should be coming back in 
 a while. When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here. We hope you 
 will not disappoint her. She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker 
 hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br><br>
So hang out or, if necessary, come back later. Or feel free to refresh your 
<i>quotation</i>, above. You can do that while waiting!"; 

...will get you going again.

coothead

[marain]

Coothead,

My initial inquiry was somewhat misleading. The page presently runs, using the original ineligant code. I'm just trying to use interpolation to make the code easier to read.

[coothead]

Hi there marain,

is the code that I posted not easier to read?

Perhaps we're not singing from the same hymn sheet.

coothead

[marain]

Coothead,

It is indeed easier to read, and I thank you--I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth ;-) . My quest, however, is for interpolation that I believe will enable elimination of all internal quotation marks, leaving just the beginning and ending quotation marks. That, I believe, would be code easier still to read. My subsequent examples satisfy that quest. That's the good news. The bad news is that that new elegant code does not work.

[coothead]

My quest, however, is for interpolation that I believe will enable
elimination of all internal quotation marks, leaving just the
beginning and ending quotation marks.

I'm afraid, that's not possible.

But, as I have pointed out, I am not a PHP expert.

coothead

[marain]

Coothead,

You get an "A" for effort!

Perhaps someone here who is an expert can educate both of us ;-)

A.

[coothead]

Hi there marain,

If a PHP guru is not forthcoming here then,
take your query to this forum...

https://forums.cutcodedown.com

coothead

[marain]

Many thanks, Coothead.

I'll linger here for a while..we've given it now well less than half a day!

[marain]

Modified the statement. Still it fails the syntax check, but I believe I'm making progress.

The modification was to put the interpolated variables into braces ( { and } ). The statement now looks like this:

echo "<br /><br />Your final quota of hands for this session was {$numbers[$_SESSION['limit']]}.  This would have been hand number {$numbers[min(($_SESSION['bigCounter']+1),count($numbers)-1)]}. For that reason, we must deny at the moment your efforts for a new hand.  We deny this new hand with respect and with love.  BUT do not dispair:  You can begin a <i>new</i> session when our webmistress returns from $excuses[(rand(0, count($excuses)-1))].  She should be coming back in a while.  When she does, it will make her so happy if you are here.  We hope you will not disappoint her.  She will cheerfully review your starting quota of poker hands and, if necessary, adjust it.<br /><br />So hang out or, if necessary, come back later.  Or feel free to refresh your <i>quotation</i>, above.  You can do that while waiting!"; 

And this is the new error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '(', expecting '-' or identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or number (T_NUM_STRING) in /home/marainla/public_html/pageContent/q-genp.txt on line 438

Coothead?

Anyone?

A.