Syntax error near unexpected token '{'

Question

Every time I run new virtual terminal, it starts with

bash: /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion: line 226: syntax error near unexpected token `}'
bash: /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion: line 226: `}'
kimifish@kimipc:~$ 

But the file bash_completion seems to be оk (sure it's not though). Sorry for those vertical bars, it's just vim tab highlight:

     ...
     186 # Assign variables one scope above the caller
     187 # Usage: local varname [varname ...] &&
     188 #        _upvars [-v varname value] | [-aN varname [value ...]] ...
     189 # Available OPTIONS:
     190 #     -aN  Assign next N values to varname as array
     191 #     -v   Assign single value to varname
     192 # Return: 1 if error occurs
     193 # See: http://fvue.nl/wiki/Bash:_Passing_variables_by_reference
     194 _upvars()
     195 {
     196     if ! (( $# )); then
     197     |   echo "${FUNCNAME[0]}: usage: ${FUNCNAME[0]} [-v varname"\
     198     |   |   "value] | [-aN varname [value ...]] ..." 1>&2
     199     |   return 2
     200     fi
     201     while (( $# )); do
     202     |   case $1 in
     203             -a*)
     204     |   |   |   # Error checking
     205     |   |   |   [[ ${1#-a} ]] || { echo "bash: ${FUNCNAME[0]}: \`$1': missing"\
     206     |   |   |   |   "number specifier" 1>&2; return 1; }
     207     |   |   |   printf %d "${1#-a}" &> /dev/null || { echo "bash:"\
     208     |   |   |   |   "${FUNCNAME[0]}: \`$1': invalid number specifier" 1>&2
     209     |   |   |   |   return 1; }
     210     |   |   |   # Assign array of -aN elements 
     211     |   |   |   [[ "$2" ]] && unset -v "$2" && eval $2=\(\"\${@:3:${1#-a}}\"\) &&
     212     |   |   |   shift $((${1#-a} + 2)) || { echo "bash: ${FUNCNAME[0]}:"\
     213     |   |   |   |   "\`$1${2+ }$2': missing argument(s)" 1>&2; return 1; }
     214     |   |   |   ;;
     215             -v) 
     216     |   |   |   # Assign single value
     217     |   |   |   [[ "$2" ]] && unset -v "$2" && eval $2=\"\$3\" &&
     218     |   |   |   shift 3 || { echo "bash: ${FUNCNAME[0]}: $1: missing"\
     219     |   |   |   "argument(s)" 1>&2; return 1; }
     220     |   |   |   ;;
     221             *)  
     222     |   |   |   echo "bash: ${FUNCNAME[0]}: $1: invalid option" 1>&2
     223     |   |   |   return 1 ;;
     224         esac
     225     done
     226 }
     ...

and I have absolutely no idea where to look for an error…

Part of my ~/.bashrc about bash-completion:

  91 if ! shopt -oq posix ; then
  92   if [ -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion ]; then
  93     . /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
  94   elif [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
  95     . /etc/bash_completion
  96   fi
  97 fi

Deleting code by parts revealed somewhat: cutting "while" loop eliminates the error, but cutting only "case" construction does not. =/

Answer 1

One possible explanation is that you do

alias done='something'

prior to sourcing /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion.

That would explain that error message as bash would complain about the function being closed while the while loop hasn't (because of the missing done that was replaced by something).

Don't use done or any shell keyword as an alias name (though you could define some instrumenting aliases like alias do='do ((loop_level++));'; alias done='((loop_level--)); done' as long as they keep the shell structure).