PHP: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_ELSE

Thank you! The plugin was rewritten last week-end. Please use the new version ??

Isn’t the new version updated in SVN? I just downloaded the plugin and I’m getting the same error when trying to activate the plugin in WP.

The last version is 1.0.2. Can you give me the new line?

I don’t understand because many people are using this plugin (and updated it), and I’m using myself on 4 very different install on WordPress (+ 2 local ones, on Windows and OSX). I have never encountered that issue…

I just tried updating from 0.54 to 1.0.2 and encountered this.

Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘else’ (T_ELSE) in …\wp-content\plugins\media-file-renamer\media-file-renamer.php on line 303

WordPress 3.5.1, PHP 5.4.9, IIS 7.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (SP1)

It’s funny because it is not an unexpected else, and it works for most people. But I might have an idea of what the problem is…

Line 299:
<? if ($flagged > 0) { ?>

Can you please try to replace it with:
<?php if ($flagged > 0) { ?>

Please let me know if you can activate the plugin after this change.

Ah, line 299 looks like it start with <? instead of <?php.

<? if ($flagged > 0) { ?>

We posted at the same time. ?? Checking…

Oh, it’s because you’ve used short open tag in PHP one place. Some versions of PHP disables the use of short open tags. Just replace the

<? if ($flagged > 0) { ?>

with

<?php if ($flagged > 0) { ?>

on line 299 in media-file-renamer.php.

Yes! The plugin does activate with that correction.

It seems we all find the issue at the same time ?? (for some reason it reminds me Fringe, when Walter Bishop and William Bell are working on solving an equation and then end-up with the same result at the same time :p).

I will include this fix in the next release, of course ??

By the way, it you like the plugin, please rate it, I got a few bad ratings at the beginning and I would love to put them behind since the plugin changed completely since those.

Inspecting our php.ini file:

; short_open_tag
; Default Value: On
; Development Value: Off
; Production Value: Off

; This directive determines whether or not PHP will recognize code between
; <? and ?> tags as PHP source which should be processed as such. It’s been
; recommended for several years that you not use the short tag “short cut” and
; instead to use the full <?php and ?> tag combination. With the wide spread use
; of XML and use of these tags by other languages, the server can become easily
; confused and end up parsing the wrong code in the wrong context. But because
; this short cut has been a feature for such a long time, it’s currently still
; supported for backwards compatibility, but we recommend you don’t use them.
; Default Value: On
; Development Value: Off
; Production Value: Off
; https://php.net/short-open-tag
short_open_tag = Off

Super, thanks! I will use that directive from now. Too bad I had this on the whole time!