next char ; syntax error in format

[neilwatson]

I'm getting this error 'syntax error at ./todo.pl line 238, next char ;' Here is the code snippet. My perl is a bit rusty but this error is unfamiliar.

...
   228      write $out;
   229  }
   230  close $out;
   231  
   232  ##########################
   233  # Formats
   234  format PROJECT_TOP =
   235  Project report for @* on (today)
   236  ---------------------------
   237  $PROJECT
   238  .
   239  
   240  format PROJECT =
   241  @* @* @* @* @*
   242  $DUE, $AT, $PRIORITY, $MSG, $CONTEXT
   243  .
   244  
...

[biohisham]

The error is that @* from the format for page header looks in the subsequent line for the scalar it can represent and finds nothing but a dashed line so a little permutation can solve that. Move $PROJECT over the dashed line.

format PROJECT_TOP =
Project report for @* on (today)
$PROJECT                           
---------------------------
.

Why bichonfrise74 solution would not work, consider having added that line and see the output:

format STDOUT_TOP =
Project report for Mr. @* on (today)

---------------------------
$PROJECT_HEAD
.
format STDOUT =
@* @* @* @* @*
$DUE, $AT, $PRIORITY, $MSG, $CONTEXT
.

my $PROJECT_HEAD="NeilWatson";
write;

#OUTPUT
Project report for Mr.  on (today)
---------------------------
$PROJECT_HEAD

As you could see @* read the empty line and hence showed empty value for the title and this served to silence perl from complaining. Now consider the output from the following code snippet:

format STDOUT_TOP =
Project report for Mr.@* on (today)
$PROJECT_HEAD
---------------------------------

.
format STDOUT =
@* @* @* @* @*
$DUE, $AT, $PRIORITY, $MSG, $CONTEXT
.

$PROJECT_HEAD="NeilWatson";
write;

#OUTPUT:
Project report for Mr.NeilWatson on (today)
---------------------------------

It'll be better if you removed the line numbers from the code segment in future posts, that makes it easier to get down to work with eliminating the need for having to manually remove the line numbers.

[bichonfrise74]

I'm not familiar with 'format', but it looks like if you add an empty line after line 235, then it would work. Try to check perlform. Please see below.

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;

my ($DUE, $AT, $PRIORITY, $MSG, $CONTEXT);

format PROJECT_TOP =
Project report for @* on (Today)

---------------------------
$PROJECT
.

format PROJECT =
@* @* @* @* @*
$DUE, $AT, $PRIORITY, $MSG, $CONTEXT
.

[Marshall]

I looked for some good examples with Perl format and this is what I came up with: http://www.webreference.com/programming/perl/format/

I personally abandoned this Perl feature years ago as it usually doesn't enable me to do that I want.