Embedded PHP, cannot stop?

I'm a little bit confused right now. I have this code:

<?php $this->head( ?>
    <style type="text/css">
        .error {
            background-color: #ccc;
            border: 1px solid #999;
            padding: 10px;
            width: 500px;
        }
    </style>
<?php ); ?>

I was pretty sure that you could do this. It's pretty similar to:

<?php if (true) { ?>
    Hei
<?php } ?>

In fact an error occurs:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ';', expecting ')' in file.php on line 1 (line 1 of the code)

How can i better fix it?

Solution

If you are trying to pass the html as a variable then use heredoc.

$var = <<<HTML
  <style type="text/css">
    .error {
      background-color: #ccc;
      border: 1px solid #999;
      padding: 10px;
      width: 500px;
    }
  </style>
HTML;

$this->head($var);

You cannot do this:

$variable = ?> <p>omgwtfbbq</p> <?;

Thats just isn't a valid syntax.

Insead, you can surround it with quotes (single or double)

$variable = "<p>omgwtfbbq</p>";