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So I have this huge file (a SharePoint rendering templates file, if you're interested). The problem is, it doesn't work, because somewhere inside that file, in a code block, there is an unmatched '('. How do I find it? I'm on a Windows machine, but I have all the GNU command-line utilities installed.

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Obligatory XKCD. – slhck♦ Mar 21 '12 at 18:30
You can always go through it by hand. ;) I have an effective mental algorithm that I use for this kind of debugging. I should code up a Perl script to automate it though, at some point. :) – Ben Richards Mar 21 '12 at 19:03
@sidran32, you just keep a count, and see where it goes negative? – soandos Mar 21 '12 at 19:11
@soandos More or less. Or where it stays positive. :) It also helps that compilers will start throwing errors directly after the line where the error is. Before I realized how to do that kind of debugging properly, it really was a nightmare to try and fix. :P One mismatched curly brace, missing semicolon, or mismatched parenthesis can trigger hundreds of errors. – Ben Richards Mar 21 '12 at 19:15
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To be honest, with proper indentation, it is almost never hard to fix. If you don't have that, it can be a nightmare. – soandos Mar 21 '12 at 19:21

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Use the emacs command M-x check-parens<RET>.

Turning on show-paren-mode would also probably be a good idea.

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I'm more of a Vim person, but looks like this is my only option. Thanks! – Mihai Mar 21 '12 at 20:00

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