title: Error: unexpected symbol/input/string constant/numeric constant/SPECIAL in my code
body: <p>I received one of these errors.  </p>
  
  <pre><code>Error: unexpected symbol in "&lt;my code&gt;"    
  Error: unexpected input in "&lt;my code&gt;"
  Error: unexpected string constant in "&lt;my code&gt;"  
  Error: unexpected numeric constant in "&lt;my code&gt;"   
  Error: unexpected SPECIAL in "&lt;my code&gt;"         
  Error: unexpected '&lt;some punctuation&gt;' in "&lt;my code&gt;" 
  Error: unexpected '&lt;reserved word&gt;' in "&lt;my code&gt;"        
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>What does the error mean, and how can I fix it?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Some simple examples that reproduce the errors, and common variants:</p>
  
  <pre><code>a a
  ## Error: unexpected symbol in "a a"
  a\
  ## Error: unexpected input in "a\"
  a""
  ## Error: unexpected string constant in "a"""
  ""1
  ## Error: unexpected numeric constant in """1"
  %%
  ## Error: unexpected SPECIAL in "%%"
  ,
  ## Error: unexpected ',' in ","
  =
  ## Error: unexpected '=' in "="
  )
  ## Error: unexpected ')' in ")"
  else
  ## Error: unexpected 'else' in "else"
  </code></pre>