How to remove Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '/'

  • Hey,

    My site footballrepublik.com has had the following message on its homepage for a while now

    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘/’ in /home/andymac/public_html/footballrepublik.com/wp-blog-header.php on line 12

    I reinstalled wordpress and my theme last weekend and it seemed to fix the problem, yet just a few hours later this parse error message came back and my homepage went.

    Why does this happen and why does it seem to happen in a few hour intervals?

    This all started after my site got hacked a while ago and some spammy folders and pages were added to my FTP. After removing them, seemingly hours later this message appears so it seems as though it has something to do with that.

    Any help or input is appreciated here as I’m tearing my hair out! (what I have left of it!)

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Hello there,

    I’ll copy-paste what Esmi, a forum mod, wrote in reply to a similar question five years ago, first result from a Google search ??
    ? Try re-uploading the wp-admin and wp-includes folders from a fresh download of WordPress ?

    The “fresh” word matters, downloading it from worpdress.org, reuploading it over the original files. Hopefully, that will make a difference ??

    Also, if you have been hacked, it’s possible back hacking code is added to your pages.

    In such cases, sadly, nothing works short of a COMPLETE reinstallation. First you change your email passwords. Then your database password (and update wp-config accordingly.) Then you reset your wordpress password with a new one by email. Then you delete everything save from the database, htaccess (whose contents you’ll need to scan) and wp-content/ image upload folders (make yourself a list of your plugins and themes, and backup child themes if there are some). Then you reinstall everything from scratch. Restore your database. Change passwords again. After this, you download all the wordpress folders to disk, and compare them with a binary comparison rule (with a program like Beyond Compare, their folders comparison tool is magical). One week later, if the problem comes back, a new folders comparison can show if new files were added or modified with stuff visibly alien to wordpress syntax (hackers back in the place).

    Sorry, if that’s because of your hack, you’ll have lots of hours to waste on it :/

    Thread Starter andymac12345

    (@andymac12345)

    Oh wow, this is going to be fun! Can you recommend a service that would be able to do this for me? For example, is Fixmywp.com a good option?

    Thank you for answering this for me.

    Well, maybe there are no traces of hacking, who can tell ??

    You can start by deleting the wp-admin and wp-includes folders from your hosting (that, this is without any risks) and immediately reupload in their place the wp-admin and wp-includse folders offered by www.remarpro.com’s download link.
    If cleanly reinstalling wordpress isn’t enough, then it’s bad luck it means there’s something changing your blog files while it should NOT be doing so. And then it’s the “ah, damnit, all that stuff” scenario.
    I can’t recommend any service for that stuff, I learned the hard way, getting hacked and hacked again, sorry, in the end I defuse myself in case of problems ^^

    Thread Starter andymac12345

    (@andymac12345)

    Okay no worries. I have tried your replacement of wp-admin and wp-includes suggestion and will cross my fingers, toes and everything else that it works!

    If not, it’s fun time for me!

    Thank you again so much for your help!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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