I have two computers:

1)  Apple Powerbook, running Mac OS X Panther Client
Default apache Install.
PHP 4.3.10 installed from Marc Liyanges (www.entropy.ch) package

2) Apple XServe running Mac OS X Panther server
Default apache Install.
PHP 4.3.10 installed from Marc Liyanges (www.entropy.ch) package

On the laptop, I can use PHP Markdown
(http://www.michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/) without problem.

I can also use the PHP 'heredoc' syntax without problem.

Both PHP markdown and using the standard php heredoc syntaxt fail on
the Xserve, even throgh it has PHP installed from the exact same
binary as the laptop.

Markdown fails with around 20 :

'Warning: Compilation Failed' errors


While even the most basic use of the PHP heredoc syntax:

<?php

echo <<<TEST
This is my test to see if heredoc style syntax works
This is another line
TEST;

?>
(there are no whitespace or syntax errors in this)

gives the error:

Parse Error: unexpeted $ in [path/to/file.php] on line 4

I need to know what is going on but have exhausted all options.

I am happy to make my httpd.conf and php.ini files available from both
machines if necessary to resolve this issue

---

Clarification of Question by benjamieson-ga on 03 Feb 2005 18:35 PST

[updated information]

Since posting the question, I have 

1) completely un-installed PHP and reinstalled. Same problem
2) Installed PHP 5.0.3, Same Problem
3) reverted to 4.3.10
4) manually compared php.ini files on my laptop (working) and the
XServe (not working) and made sure all settings are the same. Still
not working
5) Made sure my httpd.conf files matched. Still not working
6) tried Mac linefeeds, UNIX linefeeds, and, just for fun, Windows
linefeeds. Same problem

Am lost. Completely lost!

Check your end-of-line characters. I think the heredoc syntax requires
that they are a single linefeed (hex character 0x0A, in many contexts
referred to as a "\n"). A single linefeed as end-of-line is a
convention in Unix, MS Windows uses carriage return, linefeed (0x0D,
0x0A or "\r\n"). I'm not sure what the MacOS X convention is, but it
could be a single carriage return (0x0D), as that is what was used in
MacOS classic, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, check for that.

Vladimir

This was one of my first checks. 

I have a simple test at:

http://www.benjamieson.com/stage/test1.php

also symlinked to the source at:

http://www.benjamieson.com/stage/test1.phps

All linefeeds are Unix, no extraneous whitespace.

The first link will show you the very very bizarre error I am
receiving - it makes no sense at all!

Had the exact same problem myself. As Vladimir points out, the type of
end-of-line character is crucial and it is not easy to find out which
one has been used. Since Dreamweaver is the tool used for my webpages,
it was quite simple to change the linefeed to Unix style instead of
Macintosh style (done in the preferences dialog). This completely
solved the problem. If you do this, remember to apply the change to
your php script, as the change in the preferences only affects new
documents and changes made to existing documents.

Hope this helps,
Ngawang

Nope,

I tried to make this clear in my original post.

It is *NOT* a linefeed/character encoding issue.

1) I use BBEdit exclusively for coding, and with this have tried Unix
linefeeds, Dos Linefeeds and Mac Lineffeds.

2) On standard installs of thirdparty packages, i.e. Markdown and
WordPress, the *EXACT* same install, from the same untouched files,
works on my laptop and fails on my Server.

I repeat, it is *NOT* a file problem.

Thanks

Ben