Node.js - SyntaxError: Unexpected token import

Question

I don't understand what is wrong. Node v5.6.0 NPM v3.10.6

The code:

function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) {
    import express from 'express'
};

The error:

SyntaxError: Unexpected token import
    at exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:53:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:387:25)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:422:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:357:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:314:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:447:10)
    at startup (node.js:140:18)
    at node.js:1001:3

Answer 1

Error: SyntaxError: Unexpected token import or SyntaxError: Unexpected token export

---

Solution: Change all your imports as example

const express 				= require('express');
const webpack				= require('webpack');
const path				= require('path');
const config				= require('../webpack.config.dev');
const open 				= require('open');

And also change your export default = foo; to module.exports = foo;

Answer 2

if you can use 'babel', try to add build scripts in package.json(--presets=es2015) as below. it make to precompile import code to es2015

"build": "babel server --out-dir build --presets=es2015 && webpack"

Answer 3

Unfortunately, Node.js doesn't support ES6's import yet.

To accomplish what you're trying to do (import the Express module), this code should suffice

var express = require("express");

Also, be sure you have Express installed by running

$ npm install express

See the Node.js Docs for more information about learning Node.js.

Answer 4

In my case it was looking after .babelrc file, and it should contain something like this:

{
  "presets": ["es2015-node5", "stage-3"],
  "plugins": []
}

Answer 5

Update: In Node 9, it is enabled behind a flag, and uses the .mjs extension.

node --experimental-modules my-app.mjs

---

While import is indeed part of ES6, it is unfortunately not yet supported in NodeJS by default, and has only very recently landed support in browsers.

See browser compat table on MDN and this Node issue.

From James M Snell's Update on ES6 Modules in Node.js (February 2017):

Work is in progress but it is going to take some time — We’re currently looking at around a year at least.

Until support shows up natively, you'll have to continue using classic require statements:

const express = require("express");

If you really want to use new ES6/7 features in NodeJS, you can compile it using Babel. Here's an example server.