Hello I get an error after this code on line 10:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_SL in C:\apachefriends\xampp\htdocs\TESTPHP\table1.php on line 10: (line 10 is where $movie_header =<<<EOD begins). I also don't really understand this code: $variable =<<<EOD



the code:
<?php

$link = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "") or die (mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("moviesite") or die (mysql_error());

$query = "SELECT movie_name, movie_director, movie_leadactor FROM movie";
$result = mysql_query($query, $link) or die (mysql_error());
$num_movies = mysql_num_rows($result);

$movie_header =<<<EOD
<h2><center>Movie Review Database</center></h2>
<table width="70%" border="1" cellpadding="2"
       cellspacing="2" align="center">
  <tr>
    <th>Movie Title</th>
    <th>Year of Release</th>
    <th>Movie Director</th>
    <th>Movie Lead Actor</th>
    <th>Movie Type</th>
  </tr>

EOD;
  $movie_details = '';
  while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)); {
  $movie_name = $row['movie_name'];
  $movie_director = $row['movie_director'];
  $movie_leadactor = $row['movie_leadactor'];
   $movie_details .=<<<EOD
  <tr>
  <td>$movie_name</td>
  <td>$movie_director</td>
  <td>$movie_leadactor</td>
  </tr>
  EOD;

  }
  $movie_details .=<<<EOD

 <tr>
 <td>&nbsp;</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Total :$num_movies Movies</td>
 </tr>

  EOD;
?>
Hope someone can help me!
Grts

The heredoc syntax doesn't seem to work, what should/can I do?

It looks like you have some spaces after you "=<<<EOD" code. I recall reading that this technique was picky about spaces after the text. If you highlight the text in your post, it looks like there is a tab at the end of line 10.
Hope this helps. I'm on chapter four as well.
Jay R

What worked for me is to put a space on each side of the equal sign and remove the extra spaces at the end of the line.

jr

I cannot get this to work either, p116, table2.php. I get
Parse error: parse error, unexpected $end in C:\Program Files\xampp\htdocs\wrox\table2.php on line 58
. This is probably a problem with heredocs. I have tried for days to get this to work and can't figure out what the problem is. Here's the code:
Help is greatly appreciated. If I can't get past this, I fear I can't go on!

I had the same problem. You have too watch your spacing,
$movie =<<<MOVIE, the heredoc should beging like this. The 2nd thing don't indent too much with heredoc statements. I think the webserver are very sensitive. This should solve your problem if you haven't solved it already. I have a problem with the next chapter.