Parsing error line 39 cron.php while running from command line

Question

I have set a cron job using cpanel but I have found one issue. My another cron is running as expected and it is firing a testing mail every 5 minutes. I have latest version of magento 1.7.0.2 and I have changed nothing from cron.php file that was provided with magento installation.

When I try to run /usr/bin/php /full/path/to/htdocs/cron.php from terminal, I am getting below error.

<b>Parse error,</b>: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in <b>/full/path/to/htdocs/cron.php</b> on line <b>39</b><br/>

I know that there is some issue with mage autoloader but cron.php is untouched and it seems like mage is not being loading while running cron.php through command line.

Please help me. It is really frustrating to me.

BTW, here is the cron.php file.

    <?php
/**
 * Magento
 *
 * NOTICE OF LICENSE
 *
 * This source file is subject to the Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
 * that is bundled with this package in the file LICENSE.txt.
 * It is also available through the world-wide-web at this URL:
 * http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php
 * If you did not receive a copy of the license and are unable to
 * obtain it through the world-wide-web, please send an email
 * to [email protected] so we can send you a copy immediately.
 *
 * DISCLAIMER
 *
 * Do not edit or add to this file if you wish to upgrade Magento to newer
 * versions in the future. If you wish to customize Magento for your
 * needs please refer to http://www.magentocommerce.com for more information.
 *
 * @category   Mage
 * @package    Mage
 * @copyright  Copyright (c) 2008 Irubin Consulting Inc. DBA Varien (http://www.varien.com)
 * @license    http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php  Open Software License (OSL 3.0)
 */

require 'app/Mage.php';

if (!Mage::isInstalled()) {
    echo "Application is not installed yet, please complete install wizard first.";
    exit;
}

// Only for urls
// Don't remove this
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] = str_replace(basename(__FILE__), 'index.php', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']);
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME'] = str_replace(basename(__FILE__), 'index.php', $_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']);

Mage::app('admin')->setUseSessionInUrl(false);

umask(0);

try {
    Mage::getConfig()->init()->loadEventObservers('crontab');
    Mage::app()->addEventArea('crontab');
    Mage::dispatchEvent('default');
} catch (Exception $e) {
    Mage::printException($e);
}

On line 39, Mage::app('admin')->setUseSessionInUrl(false);. TIA.

Regards

Answer 1

<b>Parse error,</b>: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in <b>/full/path/to/htdocs/cron.php</b> on line <b>39</b><br/>

BTW, here is the cron.php file.

That seems — unlikely. I saved the source of the include cron.php file to a file on my system, and ran the basic PHP lint on it

php -l /path/to/cron.php
No syntax errors detected in /path/to/cron.php

The error you're getting is a Parse Error. This means no PHP executes, because the code syntax is completely wrong.

I'd check

1. That your version of PHP isn't some ancient PHP 4 version ($ php -v)
2. That the version of cron.php you're running for the error is the same version of cron.php you're looking at to debug.