"Syntax error: Invalid or unexpected token" running a script with node.js

Question

i get the following error message from the terminal (powershell) when i try to run my echo.js file using node js

PS C:\Users\ASUS\Dropbox\Web Development\Backend\Intro To Node> node echo.js
C:\Users\ASUS\Dropbox\Web Development\Backend\Intro To Node\echo.js:1
(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { ��
                                                              ^

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at createScript (vm.js:80:10)
    at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:139:10)
    at Module._compile (module.js:616:28)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:663:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:565:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:505:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:497:3)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:693:10)
    at startup (bootstrap_node.js:188:16)
    at bootstrap_node.js:609:3

Evin

Answer 1

Your echo.js file is most likely UTF-16LE-encoded, which is an encoding that node doesn't support. (The �� are the BOM (Unicode byte-order mark) characters, which node misinterprets as data).

To fix this problem, save echo.js using UTF-8 encoding. While you can choose UTF-8 without a BOM, it isn't necessary and better avoided.

Slam

Answer 2

In Mac, use TextEdit. Go to FORMAT and select Make Plain Text. Then while saving file, choose plain text encoding as Customize Encoding List and select Unicode (UTF-8) and unselect everything else.

Also, you get this error when you copy paste code. In that case ensure you replace your single inverted commas as the format is different when you copy paste code. Replacing should make the error go away.

Somali