Plesk hosted website is not accessible: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is no longer supported

Symptoms

• An attempt to browse a Plesk hosted website fails with:

  CONFIG_TEXT: Fatal error: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is no longer supported

• Once a page in WebPresence builder is password protected, it can no longer be accessed.

• PHP handler version 7.4 or higher is selected under Domains > example.com > PHP Settings > PHP version.

• The site code uses array and string offset access syntax with curly braces which is deprecated since PHP 7.4, e.g. $var{$idx}.

Cause

Website code using syntax deprecated since PHP 7.4.

Resolution

Consider one of the following solutions:

• Change the website PHP handler version to 7.3 or lower.
• Fix the site code syntax to met newer PHP versions requirements, e.g.: Use $var[$idx] instead of $var{$idx}.