title: Python dynamodb ExpressionAttributeValues contains invalid key: Syntax error; key:
body: <p>Trying to do an update_item which is supposed to create new attributes if it doesn't find existing ones (according to documentation) but I am getting a Sytax error.</p>
  
  <p>I have been wracking my brain all day trying to figure out why I am getting this and I can't seem to get past this.  Thank you for any help</p>
  
  <p>Error I am getting: </p>
  
  <pre><code>ClientError: An error occurred (ValidationException) when calling the UpdateItem operation:
     ExpressionAttributeValues contains invalid key: Syntax error; key: "var4"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>MyCode:</p>
  
  <pre><code>dynamodb = boto3.resource('dynamodb')
  table = dynamodb.Table('contacts')
      table.update_item(
      Key={'email': emailID},
      UpdateExpression=SET last_name = :var0, address_1_state = :var1, email_2 = :var2, phone = :var3, phone_2 = :var4
  
      ExpressionAttributeValues={
       'var0': 'Metzger', 
       'var1': 'CA', 
       'var2': 'none', 
       'var3': '949 302-9072', 
       'var4': '818-222-2311'
      }
      )
  </code></pre>