-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline' for display command

Question

I want to open a gif file using linux command.The file's name is "Simulation of electrical activity in the heart during fibrillation (with comparison with experiment).gif".

I use the following command:

$display <Simulation of electrical activity in the heart during fibrillation\(\with comparison with experiment\)\.gif>

It gives me

-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

What's wrong with it? Thank you!

Answer 1

The reason

display <filename>

gives you a syntax error near unexpected token newline is that the arrow brackets in whatever documentation you were following were not intended to be taken literally.

A < indicates that the thing that follows is a filename to be used as input on stdin, and a > indicates that the thing that follows is a filename to be used for output on stdout; thus, a > at the very end of your command is a syntax error, because it expects a file name to follow, not a newline.

Rather, use:

display filename