Getting "Syntax Error: invalid or unexpected token" in Puppeteer

Question

I'm trying to run a script using Puppeteer framework. (I'm a relative newbie to software). Every time I try to run, I get the error below. I'm sure nothing is wrong with the code as it worked fine an a different machine earlier. This error is noted right as main.js makes the (only) function call.

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at new Script (vm.js:80:7)
    at createScript (vm.js:274:10)
    at Object.runInThisContext (vm.js:326:10)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:664:28)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:712:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:600:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:539:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:531:3)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:754:12)
    at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:283:19)

var puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
var $ = require('cheerio');
const url = 'https://www.reddit.com/controversial/';

puppeteer
  .launch()
  .then(function(browser) {
    return browser.newPage();
  })
  .then(function(page) {
    return page.goto(url).then(function() {
      return page.content();
    });
  })
  .then(function(html) {
    $('h2', html).each(function() {
        console.log($(this).text());
        console.log('\r\n');
    });
    })
  .catch(function(err) {
    //handle error
  });

I've uninstalled, cleaned, reinstalled Node.js as per this link (How do I completely uninstall Node.js, and reinstall from beginning (Mac OS X))

What's your Node version (`node -v`)? And can you post some of your code? There may be syntax that only works in newer Node versions. — Zac Anger, Apr 12 '19 at 00:42
What version of Puppeteer are you using? there was a bug fix for a similar error: https://github.com/aslushnikov/puppeteer/commit/510ecbad22e5f3d92ceb0291f263c49169f795e0 — Nir Alfasi, Apr 12 '19 at 00:44
Cool, that version of Node is recent, so that's probably not the problem. To find your version of puppeteer, try `cat package.json` from the project root. If it doesn't appear in there, try `grep version node_modules/puppeteer/package.json` — Zac Anger, Apr 12 '19 at 01:30
That version of puppeteer is also very recent, so the bug alfasin found (good find!) probably isn't the issue. Can you post any of your code? — Zac Anger, Apr 12 '19 at 01:32
I added a followup as an answer -- this solution fixed it on both my Mac and Linux. — Zac Anger, Apr 12 '19 at 01:37

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 12 '19 at 01:36

5

This isn't actually related to puppeteer at all. On line 4, you have a zero width space character, which doesn't look like anything, but makes your Node program invalid. This sometimes shows up if you're copying a line from a site or some other source.

If you delete that line and insert a blank new line, you should be fine. I tested by copying out your code, installing the dependencies, and running it. Depending on your editor, you should be able to show unexpected unicode characters like this.

answered Apr 12 '19 at 01:36

Zac Anger

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wow, thank you. that fixed it! how did you spot that? i'd never come across that before – waterbottle Apr 12 '19 at 01:43
I have my editor (Vim) set to show unicode characters, using [this Vim plugin](https://github.com/vim-utils/vim-troll-stopper), so as soon as I copied your code into Vim it showed up. There's probably a plugin or config to get that to work for your editor, depending on what you use. I added that to my Vim config because I work with a lot of devs who use Windows, so it's sometimes an issue. – Zac Anger Apr 12 '19 at 01:45

Getting "Syntax Error: invalid or unexpected token" in Puppeteer

1 Answers1