Ts-node: Can't get simple script to run due to SyntaxError: Unexpected token import

[lucastheisen]

I hope i'm not just doing something stupid but i have created an extremely simple project just to figure out how to use ts-node properly. This is my setup:

package.json

{
  "dependencies": {},
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/node": "^7.0.13",
    "ts-node": "^3.0.2",
    "typescript": "^2.2.2"
  },
  "name": "learn-tsnode",
  "scripts": {
    "script": "ts-node bin/script.ts"
  },
  "version": "0.0.1"
}

tsconfig.json

{
    "compilerOptions": {
        "lib": [
            "es5",
            "es2015"
        ],
        "module": "es2015",
        "moduleResolution": "node",
        "noImplicitAny": true,
        "outDir": "./dist/",
        "preserveConstEnums": true,
        "removeComments": true,
        "sourceMap": true,
        "target": "es5"
    },
    "include": [
        "./bin/**/*"
    ],
    "exclude": [
        "./node_modules"
    ]
}

bin/script.ts

import * as path from "path";
console.log(path.resolve(__dirname, ".."));

However, when I run npm run script, i get this:

PS C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode> npm run script

> [email protected] script C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode
> ts-node bin/script.ts

C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode\bin\script.ts:1
(function (exports, require, module, __filename, __dirname) { import * as path from "path";
                                                              ^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Unexpected token import
    at Object.exports.runInThisContext (vm.js:76:16)
    at Module._compile (module.js:542:28)
    at Module.m._compile (C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode\node_modules\ts-node\src\index.ts:395:23)
    at Module._extensions..js (module.js:579:10)
    at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .ts] (C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode\node_modules\ts-node\src\index.ts:398:12)
    at Module.load (module.js:487:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (module.js:446:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:438:3)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:604:10)
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode\node_modules\ts-node\src\_bin.ts:177:12)

npm ERR! Windows_NT 10.0.15063
npm ERR! argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "run" "script"
npm ERR! node v6.9.4
npm ERR! npm  v3.10.10
npm ERR! code ELIFECYCLE
npm ERR! [email protected] script: `ts-node bin/script.ts`
npm ERR! Exit status 1
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Failed at the [email protected] script script 'ts-node bin/script.ts'.
npm ERR! Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed.
npm ERR! If you do, this is most likely a problem with the learn-tsnode package,
npm ERR! not with npm itself.
npm ERR! Tell the author that this fails on your system:
npm ERR!     ts-node bin/script.ts
npm ERR! You can get information on how to open an issue for this project with:
npm ERR!     npm bugs learn-tsnode
npm ERR! Or if that isn't available, you can get their info via:
npm ERR!     npm owner ls learn-tsnode
npm ERR! There is likely additional logging output above.

npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\ltheisen\git\learn-tsnode\npm-debug.log

[lucastheisen]

Nevermind, it appears es2015 is not _yet_ supported.

[brunolemos]

In case anyone else arrive here, this works: ts-node -O '{"module": "commonjs"}'

[RehanSaeed]

Did you manage to get webpack config written in TypeScript to work? Following the webpack documentation on the subject seems to give a Unexpected token import error. See https://github.com/webpack/webpack/issues/5053 for more info.

[kuanyen]

In case anyone else arrive here, this works: ts-node -O '{"module": "commonjs"}'

I think this should be added to README.

Did you manage to get webpack config written in TypeScript to work? Following the webpack documentation on the subject seems to give a Unexpected token import error. See webpack/webpack#5053 for more info.

Don't want to write stupidly annoying Webpack config at all for just a small script. Otherwise, why use ts-node?

[IAMtheIAM]

Prior to TypeScript v4.0.5, I didn't need any special flags to run ts-node. However, after updating today, I started , receiving "Unexpected token 'Export'".

In order to run the script successfully from within package.json as an npm script I had to escape the quotes, or the program complained about SyntaxError: Unexpected token m in JSON at position 1, using this format:

"extract-config": "ts-node -O \"{\\\"module\\\":\\\"commonjs\\\"}\" myscript.ts"

So you have to escape the escape. The first \ makes it so the next \ gets rendered out, and that makes it so the " gets rendered out. So \\\" === \". The quote is necessary for it to be considered valid JSON. It renders out to this to be evaluated at runtime:
```

ts-node -O "{\"module\":\"commonjs\"}" myscript.ts
````

To run it from the CLI directly rather than as an npm script, use the format above

It took me about an 2 hours messing around to figure this out. Works cross platform on Windows and Linux build agents

I hope this note can help someone else.

[cspotcode]

In these situations, I recommend using ts-node-script and putting all the necessary options in a tsconfig.json. ts-node-script will search for the nearest tsconfig.json by ascending one directory at a time, starting in the directory of myscript.ts

tsconfig.json can be given special, ts-node-only options.

// tsconfig.json
{
  "ts-node": {
    "transpileOnly": true, // you can specify ts-node options here
    "compilerOptions": {
      "module": "commonjs" // you can also override compilerOptions.  Only ts-node will use these overrides
    }
  },
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "esnext" // tsc will continue to use these options
  }
}