nginx set invalid number of arguments in "set" directive

Question

I'm using the set directive as described in the nginx doc but I keep getting this error:

nginx_1     | 2016/09/13 15:06:08 [emerg] 8#8: invalid number of arguments in "set" directive in /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:9
nginx_1     | nginx: [emerg] invalid number of arguments in "set" directive in /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:9

default.conf :

server {
    set $dn "foo.dnsalias.net";
    ...
}

I've tried both with and without quotes, with no change.

I'm using nginx version 1.10.1

Does anyone know what the issue is?

Answer 1

In your snippet you have

server {
    set $dn "foo.dnsalias.net";
    ...
}

However, if in your actual conf file you are missing a trailing semicolon ; after the set directive, the directive will not be terminated and text on the next line will be treated as additional arguments, which will trigger your error.