How To Fix Python Error EOL While Scanning?

Take a look at how our technical support team recently assisted a customer who was experiencing Python error EOL while scanning.

What does the Python error EOL mean when scanning?

Each line of Python code is scanned by the Python interpreter. It raises a Syntax error whenever it encounters anything out of the ordinary. These errors could be caused by a missing end quote, a missing bracket, or other basic syntax errors.

While attempting to scan a string literal, the Python interpreter reached the end of the line, which is referred to as EOL.

String literals must be enclosed in single and double quotation marks, according to our Support Team.

For example:

# String value
s = "This is a string literal...


# Printing the string
print(s)

When you run the code, you’ll get the following results:

File "EOL.py", line 2
    s = "This is a string literal...
                                   ^
SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

The “^” symbol denotes the string’s final character. This indicates that the problem is caused by that component.

How do I fix the Python error EOL that occurs during scanning?

As shown below, the “Syntax Error: EOL while scanning string literal” error can occur in four different scenarios:

• when there is a missing quotation mark at the end of the sentence.

• If the ending quotation mark is incorrect.

• Adding multiple lines to a string constant

• The backslash before the end quotation mark

Missing an ending quotation mark

The Python interpreter will return an EOL error if the quotation mark at the end of the string literal is missing. We can easily fix this problem by making sure the end quotation marks are in place.

Incorrect ending quotation mark

The characters ‘‘ and “ can be used to enclose string constants in Python. We will get an EOL error if we use the incorrect counterpart of the quotation marks. To avoid this error, our Support Techs recommend that the beginning and ending quotation marks match.

Stretching string constant to multiple lines

Stretching the string constant across multiple lines is another frequent issue that causes the EOL error.

For example:

s = "This is a string literal...
          Going to the next line"


# Printing the string
print(s)

The Python interpreter will raise an error for not enclosing the string constant in the above preceding example. Any of the following solutions can be used to avoid this:

Option 1: Rather than stretching the string constant across multiple lines, we can use the escape sequence, ‘\n’ to add a new line to it.

Option 2: To store multi-line string literals, another option is to use triple quotation marks, such as  ‘’’ or “””.

The backslash before an ending quotation mark

The backslash is another common reason for the EOL syntax error. The Python interpreter treats \” as a single character if it is used at the end of a string constant. It also has the same meaning as a quotation mark.

To fix this error, our Support Techs recommend using an escape sequence. For example, in order to avoid the syntax error shown below, we must replace \ by \\.

s = "\\home\\User\\Desktop\\"


# Printing the string
print(s)

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