SyntaxError: invalid syntax, what is it?

Question

Python

File "autoposter.py", line 51
    return print(error_msg)
               ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

What is causing this error? How to fix it? I am new to python so please help!
Here is the code:

import random

import linecache

import vk_api

import requests

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

import time

from vk_api import VkUpload

import configparser

import logging

import os

from datetime import datetime





def get_files(path):

    files = [f for f in os.listdir(path) if os.path.isfile(os.path.join(path, f))]

    for f in files:

        if not f.startswith('.'):

            yield f





def get_poster():

    """

    For testing purposes.

    :return: Anime picture URL from MyAnimeList.net, number of attempts to find it,

    and anime's ID on MAL

    """

    attempts = 0

    while True:

        attempts += 1

        mal_id = str(random.randint(1, 40000))

        result = requests.get('https://myanimelist.net/anime/' + mal_id + '/a/pics')

        page = result.text

        soup = BeautifulSoup(page, 'html.parser')

        try:

            img_src = soup.find('a', class_='js-picture-gallery')['href']

        except (AttributeError, TypeError):

            img_src = 404

        if img_src != 404:

            return img_src, attempts, mal_id

        else:

            time.sleep(1)  # Wait a second before starting a new search





def get_vk_api(login, password, app_id, scope='wall,photos'):

    vk_session = vk_api.VkApi(login=login, password=password,

                              app_id=int(app_id), scope=scope)

    try:

        vk_session.auth()

    except vk_api.AuthError as error_msg:

        logging.error(error_msg)

        return print(error_msg)

    vk = vk_session.get_api()

    upload = VkUpload(vk_session)

    return vk, upload







def main():

    logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s %(levelname)s:%(message)s',

                        filename='events.log',

                        datefmt='%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S',

                        level=logging.DEBUG)

    # Reading config file

    config = configparser.ConfigParser()

    config.read('config.ini')

    login = config['Auth']['Login']

    password = config['Auth']['Password']

    app_id = config['Auth']['App_ID']

    txt_file = config['Post']['TxtFile']

    min_length = int(config['Post']['LineMinimumLength'])

    post_interval = config['Post']['PostInterval']

    attach_photo = config['Post']['AttachPhoto']

    owner_id = config['Post']['OwnerID']

    photo_source = config['Post']['PhotoSource']

    photo_location = config['Post']['PhotoLocation']

    random_line = config['Post']['RandomLine']



    if txt_file == '':

        print('Specify your text file in config.ini')

        quit()

    if app_id == '':

        print('Specify app id in config.ini')

        quit()

    if (photo_source == 'local' or photo_source == 'rand-local') and photo_location == '':

        print('Specify your photo location in config.ini')

        quit()

    if owner_id == '':

        owner_id = None

    else:

        owner_id = int(owner_id)



    current_position = 0

    line_position = 0

    while True:

        session = requests.Session()

        vk, upload = get_vk_api(login, password, app_id)

        # Get a picture

        attachments = []

        if attach_photo == 'yes':

            # Loading a picture

            if photo_source == 'mal':

                image_url, p_attempts, mal_id = get_poster()

                image = session.get(image_url, stream=True)

                photo = upload.photo_wall(photos=image.raw)[0]

                logging.info('Attempts to find a picture: %s', str(p_attempts))

                logging.info('MAL ID: %s', str(mal_id))

            if photo_source == 'rand-local':

                files = list(get_files(photo_location))

                image = random.choice(files)

                if os.name == 'nt':

                    image = photo_location + '\\' + image

                else:

                    image = photo_location + '/' + image

                photo = upload.photo_wall(photos=image)[0]

                logging.info('Photo attached:' + image)

            if photo_source == 'local':

                files = list(get_files(photo_location))

                if current_position >= len(files):

                    current_position = 0  # Reset

                image = files[current_position]

                current_position += 1

                if os.name == 'nt':

                    image = photo_location + '\\' + image

                else:

                    image = photo_location + '/' + image

                photo = upload.photo_wall(photos=image)[0]

                logging.info('Photo attached:' + image)

            attachments.append('photo{}_{}'.format(photo['owner_id'], photo['id']))



        # Get a text

        total_lines = sum(1 for line in open(txt_file))

        if random_line == 'yes':

            # Filtering random lines using the loop

            while True:

                curr_line = linecache.getline(txt_file, random.randint(1, total_lines))

                if len(curr_line) >= min_length:

                    txt_line = curr_line

                    break

        else:

            # Filtering lines and sending them one by one.

            # Start over from the first line after last line is sent

            with open(txt_file) as f:

                lines = filter(lambda s: len(s) >= min_length, (line.rstrip() for line in f))

                lines_list = list(lines)

                txt_line = lines_list[line_position]

            line_position += 1

            if line_position >= len(lines_list):

                line_position = 0



        vk.wall.post(attachment=','.join(attachments), message=txt_line, owner_id=owner_id)

        logging.info('Sent text: "%s"', txt_line)

        print('Message sent')

        timestamp = int(time.time())

        value = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp + int(post_interval))

        next_message = value.strftime('%H:%M:%S')

        print('Next message in %s seconds (%s)' % (post_interval, next_message))

        time.sleep(int(post_interval))





if __name__ == '__main__':

    main()

Answer 1

In Python2 print, this is an operator. Obviously, the sequence of operators returnand is printmeaningless. In Python3, this code will run normally because it printhas become a function, but will return Nonebecause this function does not return anything.