Importing node.js module - SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier

Question

I'm trying to do the following import

import  ResClient from 'resclient';

Result

/home/arran/WebstormProjects/untitled1/app.js:2
import  ResClient from 'resclient';
        ^^^^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier
    at new Script (vm.js:85:7)
    at createScript (vm.js:266:10)
    at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:314:10)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:698:28)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js 
(internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:749:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:630:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:570:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:562:3)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:801:12)

The module documentation is located here and does the exact same import in the example.

I have installed the module globally.

npm list -g | grep resclient
└─┬ resclient@2.0.2

I am using the following node version
```
 $node -v
 v11.10.1
```

I have seen some other posts about this error. For example here but it is a browser based problem using client side javascript rather than node. I'm a node newbie, so would appreciate any pointers no matter how basic.

Possible duplicate of [How can I use an es6 import in node?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45854169/how-can-i-use-an-es6-import-in-node) — Seblor, Mar 05 '19 at 12:25
@Seblor I disagree. I have seen that post. imports only work natively with node.js after version 8.50. I have upgraded my version to 11.1, so that is no longer an issue for me. If you look at the error they are talking about it is different — Arran Duff, Mar 05 '19 at 12:27
@ArranDuff I'm afraid you're only partially correct, it is supported in Node 8.5+ but only with the `--experimental-modules` flag enabled (which the answer linked does explain). So your options are to either enable that flag or use a transpiler like Babel. — James, Mar 05 '19 at 12:30

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 13 '19 at 19:15

5

As for node 12, you can add the property type in your package.json as

"type": "module"

and dont forget to run node with experimental-modules flag node --experimental-modules youapp.js

answered Aug 13 '19 at 19:15

Aldo Porcallo

142
1
4

`"type": "module"` Good catch – CallMeLaNN Aug 19 '19 at 05:19

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 11 '20 at 14:36

I was also facing the same issue. Here is how I fixed it.

I first updated my node and its package manager version using the following commands :

npm install node@latest -g

and

npm install npm@latest -g

After doing so, I went to my package.json file and added the following line before the scripts property:

"type": "module",

And last, I went back and tried to run my code using node app.js but it did not work until I used the following command:

node --experimental-modules app.js

At your side, replace app.js with your index file. Hope it also works for you

Nice coding

Importing node.js module - SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier

Result

2 Answers2

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