Common Error in Production Mode When html is Minified

Hello everyone, when you set production mode in your Magento 2 and minify the HTML files to speed your website, you often see an error like “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘, expecting end of file”

or some Fatal error as in the below image –

Or simply a blank screen.

The cause of such errors is hidden in the template files. In the following commented code-

<?php //echo "this is an unwanted php code";?>

there is no space between the semicolon “;” and the closing tag of php i.e. “?>” which causes the error.

For the above code, when the HTML file is minified, the closing tag of php is considered as a part of the commented code which is not included in the minified file and throws the error.

So, while commenting a php code in a phtml file, make sure that there is a space before the closing tag of php as done in the code below-

<?php //echo "this is an unwanted php code";  ?>

Doing this will avoid the error due to minification of the HTML file.

Hope this will help you.

For any queries, feel free to comment below.