How to Fix Invalid Syntax Error in Python

In this tutorial, you will learn how to fix invalid syntax errors in Python. In any programming language, syntax specifies the arrangement of words that creates valid statements that can be understood by the interpreter to execute.

It is the same as grammar rules in English (any language) that help us to convey the meaning of sentences we framed to others.

Syntax Errors occur in any programming language whenever a programmer does not follow the syntax rules while coding. In Python, syntax exceptions are raised when the parser encounters syntax errors in the source code.

In general, syntax error exceptions occur when the interpreter doesn’t understand what the programmer has asked it to do. It is one of the most common errors that any programmer can experience.

Also Read: How to Fix Unexpected EOF While Parsing Error In Python

Let’s look into cases when the interpreter throws the Syntax error exception.

How to Fix Invalid Syntax Error in Python

The interpreter will raise syntax error exceptions when programmers use the print() function incorrectly. Generally, the programmers who switched from Python 2 to Python 3 will face this error.

In Python2, we do not need brackets after the print function. But in Python3, programmers should specify brackets using the print() function.

Let’s look into an example program that throws a syntax error due to the wrong usage of the print function.

Code

# printing the text using print function
print "CodeITBro"

Output

File "<ipython-input-5-955fb7a533bb>", line 2
print "CodeITBro"
^
SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print("CodeITBro")?

The SyntaxError exception occurred due to missing parentheses in the print function. You can resolve this error by specifying the parentheses in the call-to-print method.

Error Fix Code

print("CodeITBro")

Output

CodeITBro

Missing Closing Symbols

Sometimes we use some symbols like ‘ ’, “ ”, [ ], { } to declare a string, list, dictionary, etc. At the time of declaration, programmers sometimes forgot to close any symbols.

The Python interpreter will throw SyntaxError at that time due to missing closing symbols.

Let’s look into a few example programs that throw syntax errors due to missing closing symbols.

Code-1

word = "CodeITBro

Here, the SyntaxError is thrown because of missing closing quotes in the string declaration. So, this error is fixed by adding the closing quotes.

Output

File "<ipython-input-1-b885ef35ea88>", line 1
word = "CodeITBro
^
SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

Error Fix Code

word = "CodeITBro"
print(word)

Output

CodeITBro

Code-2

lang = ["C", "C++", "Java", "Python"

Output

File "<ipython-input-3-b750549d9c30>", line 1
lang = ["C", "C++", "Java", "Python"
^
SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing

The SyntaxError is thrown here because of missing closing brackets in the list declaration. So, this error is fixed by adding the closing brackets.

Also Read: Python Program To Check If A Number Is a Perfect Square

Error Fix Code

lang = ["C", "C++", "Java", "Python"]

Missing Punctuations

It is one of the most common mistakes made by programmers while coding. Let’s look into an example program that throws a SyntaxError due to missing punctuation.

Code

dictOfValues={1:"One",
2:"Two"
3:"Three"}
Output
File "<ipython-input-5-c7811add4002>", line 3
3:"Three"}
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Here, the error is in line 3, but the actual error is in line 2, i.e., missing punctuation.

Error Fix Code

dictOfValues={1:"One",
2:"Two",
3:"Three"}
print(dictOfValues)

Output

{1: 'One', 2: 'Two', 3: 'Three'}

Misspelling Keywords

It is also a common SyntaxError that occurs when a programmer wrongly spells keywords in the code.

Keywords are reserved words in Python used to define syntax and structure. A few are if, else, for, while, in, not, etc.

Look into an example program that throws a SyntaxError due to keyword misspelling.

Code

number=4
if(number%2==0):
print('Even')
esle:
print('Odd')

Output

File "<ipython-input-1-ee4275bc7fd3>", line 4
esle:
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

In the above code, the else keyword after the if statement is wrongly spelled as esle. So that was the reason for the Syntax error.

Error Fix Code

number=4
if(number%2==0):
print('Even')
else:
print('Odd')

Output

Even

Also Read: What Does The Python Percent Sign Mean?

Keyword Misusage

Misusing keywords in the source code also throws the SyntaxError. One such case is using a break keyword outside the loop.

Here is an example of when the SyntaxError exception is thrown when keyword misusage happens.

Code

number=9
flag=0

# is prime or not
for i in range(3,number):
if(number%i==0):
flag=1
break
if(flag==1):
print(number," is not a Prime number")
else:
print(number," is a Prime number")

Output

File "<ipython-input-3-46dcf438a738>", line 11
else:

^
SyntaxError: 'break' outside loop

Due to the wrong usage of the break keyword. The Brek keyword should be present inside of the loop.

Error fixed code

number=9
flag=0

# is prime or not
for i in range(3,number):
if(number%i==0):
flag=1
break
if(flag==1):
print(number," is not a Prime number")
else:
print(number," is a Prime number")

Output

9 is not a Prime number

SyntaxError due to specifying data types

Python is a dynamically typed language. So if the programmer specifies the data type to the variable like int n=100, then the interpreter will throw a SyntaxError.

Unlike programming languages like C, C++, and Java, there is no necessity to specify the data type in Python as it is dynamically typed.

An example program throws SyntaxError when the data type is specified or a variable.

Code

int n = 4
Output
File "<ipython-input-1-ad0c31185505>", line 1
int n = 4
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

As Python is a dynamically typed programming language, there is no need to specify the data type while defining/declaring. So, the SyntaxError can be cleared by the following code.

Error Fixed Code

n = 4

Also Read: How To Display A Calendar In Python

Indentation Errors

Generally, programming languages like C, C++, Java, etc. use flower braces to specify the scope of variables/lines of code.

But unlike other programming languages, Python uses indentation as a coping mechanism. Typically, programmers use a tab space or 2 (or) 4 spaces. So, it is crucial to maintain consistent indentation in the entire code.

Let’s look into an example program that throws a syntax error due to wrong indentations.

Code

number = 1

while(number < 10):
result=number
number=number+1
print(result)

Output

File "<tokenize>", line 5
number=number+1
^
IndentationError: unindent does not match any outer indentation level

The indentation error occurred due to uneven/inconsistent indentation in the source code. You can fix this error by maintaining a consistent indentation across the code.

Error Fix Code

number = 1

while(number < 10):
result=number
number=number+1

print(result)

Output

9

Summary

So, those mentioned above are the few cases when the Python Interpreter encounters the SyntaxError exception. In this tutorial, you learned how to fix invalid syntax errors in Python.

The standard errors, like missing closing symbols, misspelling keywords, etc., can be reduced using IDEs while coding.