Microsoft KB Archive/58559

= Executable code between declarations causes the C2143 error message or the C2144 error message =

Article ID: 58559

Article Last Modified on 6/14/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Service Pack 5
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.51
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition

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This article was previously published under Q58559





SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft C, compiler errors C2143 and C2144 are defined as follows:

C2143: syntax error : missing 'token1' before 'token2'

C2144: syntax error : missing 'token' before type 'type'



CAUSE
You may receive this error message if your program places executable code before a data declaration, an acceptable practice in Kernighan-and-Ritchie C. This practice has been outlawed in later versions of the ANSI drafts.

This error message will normally occur if a required closing curly brace (}), right parenthesis [)], or semicolon is missing.



RESOLUTION
Placing all data declarations before all executable code corrects the programming error. void main {  int i;   printf( &quot;Hello world!\n&quot; ); {     int j;   } } Note In the C++ language, it is legal to declare data within a block of executable code.



Sample code
The following code demonstrates this error message. /* Compile options needed: none


 * 1) include 

void main(void) {  int i;   printf(&quot;Hello World\n&quot;); int j; } Compiling this code with a version of Microsoft C prior to C/C++ 7.0 will return the following error message:

C2144: syntax error : missing ';' before type 'int'

C/C++ version 7.0 and Visual C/C++ issue the following error:

C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before 'type'

Additional query words: 8.00 8.00c 9.00 9.10

Keywords: kberrmsg kbtshoot kbvc152fix kbprb kbcompiler KB58559

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