Nagios.cfg error when testing nagios

I am new to nagios and am installing on a test server for my company and i am unable to get nagios to start
When i try and test nagios with the -v switch i get several errors:
./nagios.cfg: line 901: syntax error near unexpected token |' ./nagios.cfg: line 901:illegal_macro_output_chars=`~$&|’"<>’

When i goto the nagios.cfg file those lines look correct.

I even tried removing the | and ’ from the illegal_macro_output_chars" string on line 901 but i still get errors: ./nagios.cfg: line 917: unexpected EOF while looking for matching"’
./nagios.cfg: line 964: syntax error: unexpected end of file

Nothing look wrong with any of these lines.
Does anyone know what is going on? any help would be great

Thanks

Nagios Newbe