During my latest project, I dynamically created an XML sitemap for search engines using Laravel. However, while rendering the Blade template, I encountered the following error message:
syntax error, unexpected identifier "version"
The root cause of this issue can be traced back to PHP potentially interpreting what's known as "Short Open Tags". PHP code typically begins with <?php. However, when Short Open Tags are enabled, <? is sufficient, which can lead to a conflict with the intended XML code.
One solution to this problem would be to disable Short Open Tags. Alternatively, there are also two functioning workarounds:
{!! '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' !!}
or
<?php echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>'; ?>