bash / syntax-error-unexpected

bash syntax error: unexpected end of file — how to fix

Quick Answer

# Check line endings (CRLF is the usual culprit)
file script.sh
# If: "CRLF line terminators"
dos2unix script.sh
# or
sed -i 's/
//' script.sh

# Check for unclosed blocks — count openers vs closers
grep -c '\bif\b' script.sh   # should match fi count
grep -c '\bfi\b' script.sh

When this happens

script.sh: line 42: syntax error: unexpected end of file
# or
script.sh: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file

Bash reached the end of the script without finding a closing keyword for an open block (fi, done, esac, }, or ").

Other causes & fixes

Missing fi — if without fi

# WRONG
if [ "$var" = "yes" ]; then
  echo "yes"
# Missing: fi

# CORRECT
if [ "$var" = "yes" ]; then
  echo "yes"
fi

Missing done — for/while without done

# WRONG
for file in *.txt; do
  echo "$file"
# Missing: done

# CORRECT
for file in *.txt; do
  echo "$file"
done

Unclosed string or heredoc

# WRONG — unclosed double quote
echo "Hello world

# CORRECT
echo "Hello world"

# Check heredoc delimiter matches exactly
cat <<EOF
content here
EOF

Use bash -n to syntax-check without running

bash -n script.sh
# Prints errors without executing anything

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