I am trying to build a php script but i receive a weird error

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE, expecting T_STRING or T_VARIABLE or T_NUM_STRING in httpdocs/new/cl.php on line 164

I cannot understand what is wrong..i see everything to be ok...

PHP Code:

<?
function login()
{
    print <<<EOF
    "html code"
    EOF;
    exit;
}

function check_login($vars)
{
    $dbuser = "user";
    $dbpass = "user";
    $dbhost = "localhost";
    $dbname = "db";
    $cid = $vars['id_number'];
    $cpass = $vars['id_password'];
    mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass);
    mysql_select_db($dbname);
    $query = "select cid,cpass from customers where cid like '$cid'";
    while($row = @mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($query)))
    {
        if($row['cpass'] == $cpass)
        {
            return true;
        } else return false;
    }
}

function customer($vars)
{
    $dbuser = "user";
    $dbpass = "pass";
    $dbhost = "localhost";
    $dbname = "db";
    $cid = $vars['id_number'];
    $step = $vars['step'];
    mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbuser,$dbpass);
    mysql_select_db($dbname);
    $query = "select cid,cname,cdomain,cmd,cnd from customers where cid like '$cid'";
    $query1 = "select status from status where cid like '$cid'";
    $row = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($query));
    $row1 = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query($query1));
    $full_name = $row['cname'];
    $domain = $row['cdomain'];
    $status = $row1['status'];
    $cmd = $row['cmd'];
    $cnd = $row['cnd'];
    print <<<EOF
        "html code"
    EOF;
exit;
}

global $REQUEST_METHOD;
global $HTTP_POST_VARS;
global $HTTP_GET_VARS;
$vars = ($REQUEST_METHOD == 'GET') ? $HTTP_GET_VARS : $HTTP_POST_VARS;
foreach ($vars as $k=>$v) $vars[$k] = trim($v);
if($vars['step'] == NULL) <- LINE 164
{
    login();
}
if($vars['step'] == "login")
{
    if(check_login($vars))
    {
        customer($vars);
    }
    else
    {
        echo "Wrong username/password.<br>Please retry!<br>";
        login();
    }
}
?>

I tried to comment all that if statement and it still gives me this error,i am really confused what is going on...

Should this line

PHP Code:

if($row['cpass'] == $cpass) 
        { 
            return true; 
        } else return false; 
    } 


be more like this

PHP Code:

if($row['cpass'] == $cpass) 
        { 
            return true; 
        } else {
            return false; 
       }
    } 


or does the else argument not need to be in brackets?

I figured it out .. those "print <<<EOF" statements where giving this error.. i replaced them with echo . Thanks

EOF; needs to be the very first thing on the line without any spaces before it.

Thanks for the tip .

Originally Posted by leavethisplace

or does the else argument not need to be in brackets?

Just to answer your question very quickly, coding blocks with only a single statement (such as an else with only a return statement in it) need not be encompassed in braces, but it is considered good programming style to do so.

PHP Code:

<?php

//This is valid code
if(  $btest == true )  x=7;
else                   j=9;

//But this is immediately more recognizable; better style
if( $btest == true )
{
    x = 7;
}
else
{
    j = 9;
}
?>