cannot run javascript program in terminal Mac

Question

I have made a JavaScript hello world program in BBEdit, and saved it as app.js. But when I'm trying to run the file in Terminal, I keep getting the error (syntax error near unexpected token `'Hello world'').

The code:

console.log("Hello world")

The odd thing is, when I type node and then console.log("Hello world") into terminal, it works, just not when placing app.js directly into terminal.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for the quick replies. I drag and drop "app.js" into terminal, and press enter. That's when I get the error. — amos, Apr 14 '22 at 07:59
I'm guessting that Terminal is attempting to run the JavaScript file as if it's a shell script. — phuzi, Apr 14 '22 at 08:03
Do you have node installed? If so, you could run `node app.js` — phuzi, Apr 14 '22 at 08:04
You will have to make sure that the node binary is in your path environment variable so it can be found by your system. — phuzi, Apr 14 '22 at 08:08

phuzi · Answer 1 · 2022-04-14T08:10:49.610

0

It seems that you are attempting to run the JavaScript as if it was a shell script (dragging app.js on to Terminal).

What you will have to do instead is run the JavaScript file with Node.

Open Terminal and then type:

node app.js

Make sure you have the correct path to find your JavaScript file and it should work as you expect.

Make sure your system knows where node is, of course.

edited Apr 14 '22 at 08:10

answered Apr 14 '22 at 08:07

phuzi

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cannot run javascript program in terminal Mac

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