Linux – Why did ; after & return an unexpected token error in bash

bashlinux

I received the error:

bash: syntax error near unexpected token `;'

due to the following command:

evince foo.pdf bar.pdf &; emacs foo.tex &

I is it illegal to separate commands with ; when using & to background a job? Or is there another reason this didn't work?

Thank you.

Best Answer

You don't need the semicolon. After it's sent to the background it's free to get another command.

evince foo.pdf bar.pdf & emacs foo.tex &

`bash: syntax error near unexpected token '('`

You need to escape the brackets:

mv hiscore\(pre_mame0133u1\).dat /mnt/three/usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore.dat

Note:

For future reference you can use ShellCheck to find bugs in your bash code. Entering the uncorrected script gives the following:

$ shellcheck myscript

Line 1:
mv hiscore(pre_mame0133u1).dat /mnt/three/usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore.dat
^-- SC2148: Tips depend on target shell and yours is unknown. Add a shebang.
          ^-- SC1036: '(' is invalid here. Did you forget to escape it?
          ^-- SC1088: Parsing stopped here. Invalid use of parentheses?

Correcting the first error:

$ shellcheck myscript

Line 1:
mv hiscore\(pre_mame0133u1).dat /mnt/three/usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore.dat
^-- SC2148: Tips depend on target shell and yours is unknown. Add a shebang.
                          ^-- SC1089: Parsing stopped here. Is this keyword correctly matched up?

And correcting the second error:

$ shellcheck myscript

Line 1:
mv hiscore\(pre_mame0133u1\).dat /mnt/three/usr/local/share/xmame/hiscore.dat
^-- SC2148: Tips depend on target shell and yours is unknown. Add a shebang.

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