SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing Solution in Python

Python has a simple but strict syntax. If you forget to close a block of code, a “SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing” error will occur. This happens often, for example when you forget to add at least one line to a for loop. In this article we will look into this error and see what else causes it. Let’s look at some examples to see how to deal with it. The error “SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing” occurs when the program reaches the end of the file, but not all code has been executed yet. It may be caused by an error in code structure or syntax. EOF means End of File. It represents the last character in a Python program. Python reaches the end of the file before all blocks are executed in such cases:

• If you forget to enclose the code in a special instruction, such as, for or while loops, or a function.
• Not closing all the brackets on a line.

Let’s break down these errors with examples, line by line.

Example #1: Incomplete blocks

The for and while loops, if statements, and functions require at least one line of code in the body. If they are not added, the result will be an EOF error. Consider this example of a for loop that outputs all the elements of a recipe:
ingredients = ["325g flour", "200g chilled butter", "125g sugar", "2 tsp vanilla", "2 egg yolks"]
for i in ingredients:
Define the ingredients variable that stores the list of ingredients for the vanilla shortbread cookies. Use a for loop to cycle through each of the elements in the list. Run the code and see what happens: File "main.py", line 4
^
SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing There is no code inside the for loop and this leads to an error. The same will happen if the while loop, if instruction, or function is not filled in. To solve the problem you need to add at least some code. This could be, for example, the print() instruction to print individual ingredients to the console:
for i in ingredients:
print(i)
Let’s run the code: 325g flour
200g chilled butter
125g sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 egg yolks
The code displays each ingredient on the list, indicating that it is successful. If you don’t have code for such a block, use the pass operator as a placeholder. It looks like this:
for i in ingredients:
pass
This code returns nothing. The pass instruction says that nothing needs to be done. This keyword is used during development when developers outline the future structure of the program. Later pass is replaced with actual code.

Example #2: Unclosed parentheses

The error “SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing” also occurs if the brackets at the end of the code line are not closed. Let’s write a program that prints the information about the recipe into the console. First, let’s define some variables:
name = "Captain's Daughter"
author = "Alexander Pushkin"
genre = "novel"
Format the string using the .format() method:
print('Book "{}" is {}, author {}'.format(name, genre, author)
The {} values are replaced by the real ones from .format(). This means that the string will look like this: The book "TITLE" is JANE, the author is AUTHOR
Let’s run the code: File "main.py", line 7
^
SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing On the code line with the print() function, we are closing only one set of parentheses, although there are two open ones. This is the reason for the error. We solve the problem by adding the second closing parenthesis (“)”) at the end of the print() line.
print('Book "{}" is {}, author {}'.format(name, genre, author))
There are now two brackets closed on this line. And all of them are now closed. Let’s try running the code again: The book "The Captain's Daughter" is a novel. Alexander Pushkin
Now it works. The same thing will happen if you forget to close the brackets of the dictionary {} or list [].

Conclusions

The “SyntaxError: unexpected EOF while parsing” error occurs if the Python interpreter gets to the end of the program before all lines are executed. To solve this problem you must first make sure that all instructions, including while, for, if and functions contain code. You should also check that all brackets are closed.