Syntax error on simple while loop

Question

This general question has been asked many times and almost always there is an obvious syntax problem. But this seems correct:

cat mixed_encoded.txt |
while read i do
type=${"$(echo "$i" | file -bi -)"#*=}
if [[ $type == 'iso-8859-1' ]]; then
    echo "$i" | iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8
else
    echo "$i"
fi
done > utf8_encoded.txt

gives

bash: syntax error near unexpected token `done'

Whether pasted as multiline or in one-line mode. With or without the final > utf8_encoded.txt. With the inner quotes escaped or not.

What could be wrong?

Try and put the while right after the pipe in the previous line. — fejese
– fejese, Commented Dec 25, 2014 at 2:24
Don't use cat to loop over single files (cat filea fileb | while ... is fine, assuming it is ok to run the loop in a subshell). For single files, while ...; done < mixed_encoded.txt is the preferred style. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Dec 25, 2014 at 14:55

jgritty · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-25 17:10:44Z

1

cat mixed_encoded.txt |
while read i; do
type=${"$(echo "$i" | file -bi -)"#*=}
if [[ $type == 'iso-8859-1' ]]; then
    echo "$i" | iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8
else
    echo "$i"
fi
done > utf8_encoded.txt

You are missing a semicolon.

This only fixes the unexpected done token. The substitution is still bad.

This edit fixes the bad substitution:

cat mixed_encoded.txt |
while read i; do
type=$(echo "$i" | file -b --mime-encoding -)
if [[ $type == 'iso-8859-1' ]]; then
    echo "$i" | iconv -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8
else
    echo "$i"
fi
done > utf8_encoded.txt

edited Dec 25, 2014 at 17:10

answered Dec 25, 2014 at 2:19

jgritty

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5 Comments

William Pursell Over a year ago

The semi colon is not necessary before the newline.

jgritty Over a year ago

But it is necessary before the do

William Pursell Over a year ago

You need either a semi-colon or a newline before the do, but not both.

Jortstek Over a year ago

I too thought that was the rule but the syntax error is fixed by the semicolon.

Reinstate Monica Please Over a year ago

@user3343285 You need an eol or ; before the do. You have it after

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