# Syntax errors at terminal (new installation)
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [April 22, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776 "2023-04-22T05:02:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rcomm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rcomm)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/1 "2023-04-22T05:02:29Z")
I have just installed Julia and VS code on a Win10 Pro platform. New to both Julia & VSC.
A trial run of a \*.jl program off the Net worked fine. So then I tried to experiment with simple commands at the Terminal. I had assumed that the Terminal would respond to interactive use like the CMD console created by running julia.exe directly. But no, the most trivial commands (eg, a = 6, or A = [1 2; 3 4]) cause a variety of different syntax errors. The \*.jl files still run perfectly. Is this expected?
If so, where do I read up about the difference between interactive use of the Terminal vs interactive use at the CMD console? Haven’t mastered all the documentation yet …
---
### Author:  [@Sukera](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Sukera)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/2 "2023-04-22T06:11:06Z")
That shouldn’t happen. How are you starting julia and how did you install it? What errors exactly do you get?
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### Author:  [@rcomm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rcomm)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:01am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/3 "2023-04-22T07:01:04Z")
After I installed VS Code, I installed Julia language as an extension that it recognised, from the marketplace search. So then, when I click on a \*.jl file, the Julia editor opens and I edit the \*.jl file, save it and press Run. All standard practice as far as I know. And the results are what I expect from the code.
But here are the results of 2 simple Terminal commands:
PS D:\3\_progdata\prog\_lang\Julia\> A = [1 2; 3 4]
At line:1 char:13
- A = [1 2; 3 4]
-
```
~~
```
Unexpected token ‘4]’ in expression or statement.
At line:1 char:14
- A = [1 2; 3 4]
-
```
~
```
Unexpected token ‘]’ in expression or statement.
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (🙂 , ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken
PS D:\3\_progdata\prog\_lang\Julia\> a = 6
a : The term ‘a’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable
program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is
correct and try again.
At line:1 char:1
- a = 6
- ~
- CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (a:String) , CommandNotFoundException
- FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
I have uninstalled both Julia and VS Code, removed all their directories, reinstalled them, but no change to these errors.
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### Author:  [@jar1](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/jar1)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:29am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/4 "2023-04-22T07:29:05Z")
`ParentContainsErrorRecordException` seems to be a PowerShell error message, so I’m guessing VSCode is trying to run Julia code in PowerShell and never actually started Julia. I don’t know why that would happen.
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### Author:  [@rcomm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rcomm)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/5 "2023-04-22T07:46:56Z")
I can’t come back to this for a few days, but if I find out further details I’ll let you know.
By the way, I also have a problem that others have also reported: every time you run a \*.jl file, you see a series of repeats of the same error message in the OUTPUT view:
“Error: there is no registered task type ‘julia-proc’.”
As far as I could see, no-one has found the cause for that one either. Both of these are benign in that they don’t affect the execution of \*.jl files.
---
### Author:  [@cormullion](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/cormullion)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/syntax-errors-at-terminal-new-installation/97776/6 "2023-04-22T08:42:51Z")
> [@rcomm](#):
>
> But here are the results of 2 simple Terminal commands:
> PS D:\3\_progdata\prog\_lang\Julia\> A = [1 2; 3 4]
If you don’t see the `julia>` prompt, then that particular Terminal window isn’t (yet) running a Julia REPL but an OS shell. So you should start another Julia session (eg by typing the path to the Julia program - see [the installation instructions](https://julialang.org/downloads/platform/#windows) for more information). You can have more than one Terminal, which can be confusing.