I am pretty new to Laravel. With Laravel 11, I have this error which I couldn’t fix…

When I run:
AppModelsUser::factory()->create()

I get this error:

PARSE ERROR PHP Parse error: Unexpected character "" (ASCII 26) in vendorpsypsyshsrcExceptionParseErrorException.php on line 44.

This is my UserFactory.php

<?php

namespace DatabaseFactories;

use IlluminateDatabaseEloquentFactoriesFactory;
use IlluminateSupportFacadesHash;
use IlluminateSupportStr;

/**
 * @extends IlluminateDatabaseEloquentFactoriesFactory<AppModelsUser>
 */
class UserFactory extends Factory
{
    /**
     * The current password being used by the factory.
     */
    protected static ?string $password;

    /**
     * Define the model's default state.
     *
     * @return array<string, mixed>
     */
    public function definition(): array
    {
        return [
            'first_name' => fake()->firstName(),
            'last_name' => fake()->lastName(),
            'email' => fake()->unique()->safeEmail(),
            'email_verified_at' => now(),
            'password' => static::$password ??= Hash::make('password'),
            'remember_token' => Str::random(10),
        ];
    }

    /**
     * Indicate that the model's email address should be unverified.
     */
    public function unverified(): static
    {
        return $this->state(fn (array $attributes) => [
            'email_verified_at' => null,
        ]);
    }
}

and User.php

<?php

namespace AppModels;

// use IlluminateContractsAuthMustVerifyEmail;
use IlluminateDatabaseEloquentFactoriesHasFactory;
use IlluminateFoundationAuthUser as Authenticatable;
use IlluminateNotificationsNotifiable;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasFactory, Notifiable;

    /**
     * The attributes that are mass assignable.
     *
     * @var array<int, string>
     */
    protected $fillable = [
        'first_name',
        'last_name',
        'email',
        'password',
    ];

    /**
     * The attributes that should be hidden for serialization.
     *
     * @var array<int, string>
     */
    protected $hidden = [
        'password',
        'remember_token',
    ];

    /**
     * Get the attributes that should be cast.
     *
     * @return array<string, string>
     */
    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return [
            'email_verified_at' => 'datetime',
            'password' => 'hashed',
            'is_admin' => 'boolean',
        ];
    }
}

I’ve tried:

1. Checked for Hidden Characters
2. Ensured that PHP files are saved with UTF-8 without BOM
3. Checked composer

composer install
composer update

4. Cleared cache

php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan route:clear
php artisan view:clear

5.Another factory is working without problem

<?php

namespace DatabaseFactories;

use IlluminateDatabaseEloquentFactoriesFactory;
use IlluminateSupportFacadesHash;
use IlluminateSupportStr;

/**
 * @extends IlluminateDatabaseEloquentFactoriesFactory<AppModelsRelease>
 */
class ReleaseFactory extends Factory
{
    /**
     * The current password being used by the factory.
     */
    protected static ?string $password;

    /**
     * Define the model's default state.
     *
     * @return array<string, mixed>
     */
    public function definition(): array
    {
        return [
            'version_name' => fake()->firstName(),
            'summary' => fake()->text(),
        ];
    }
}