Vscode: settings.json error: "(json-to-ast) Cannot Tokenize Symbol </> at (1:1)"

[frankhale]

• VSCode Version: Code - Insiders 1.14.0-insider (b508e11e5a8b90c8fa19e6e3a7d8ccd57ab6e9b7, 2017-06-26T05:16:29.957Z)
• OS Version: Windows_NT ia32 10.0.15063
• Extensions:

Extension|Author (truncated)|Version
---|---|---
aurelia|Aur|0.3.4
vscode-icontheme-nomo-dark|be5|1.3.2
path-intellisense|chr|1.4.2
githistory|don|0.2.0
vscode-generate-getter-setter|DSK|0.4.2
vscode-babel-coloring|dza|0.0.4
tslint|eg2|0.15.0
vscode-great-icons|emm|2.1.8
vsc-material-theme|Equ|1.0.0
prettier-vscode|esb|0.20.0
code-runner|for|0.6.24
beautify|Hoo|1.1.1
rest-client|hum|0.14.5
easy-icons|jam|0.3.1
continuum|jam|1.2.0
sublime-babel-vscode|jos|0.2.5
vscode-icon-theme|jtl|1.5.0
Lua|key|0.0.9
vscode-simple-icons|Lau|1.3.1
cpptools|ms-|0.12.0
typescript-javascript-grammar|ms-|0.0.22
debugger-for-chrome|msj|3.1.5
color-highlight|nau|2.2.0
material-icon-theme|PKi|2.0.9
vscode-icons|rob|7.10.1
code-settings-sync|Sha|2.8.1
vscode-parinfer|sha|0.6.1
bunker|sld|0.2.5
guides|spy|0.8.3
visualclojure|sti|0.0.2
ayu|tea|0.4.0
ReactSnippets|xab|1.4.0
maple|yjt|1.1.6
markdown-pdf|yza|0.1.7

(93 theme extensions excluded)

---

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Not sure how to reproduce this. It just started happening after I updated tonight. I've been using VS Code Insiders for a really long time but have never seen this issue.

"(json-to-ast) Cannot Tokenize Symbol at (1:1)"

I get this error on my VS Code settings.json file.

[PerplexDaniel]

I experience this issue as well, with a very minimal custom config so far.
In my case, it appears to be caused by editor.formatOnSave. When I remove the setting or set it to false (the default), the error disappears (sometimes after saving settings a few times).

{
    "editor.wordBasedSuggestions": false,
    "javascript.nameSuggestions": false,
    "workbench.colorTheme": "Blackboard",
    "prettier.tabWidth": 4,
    "editor.fontFamily": "'Source Code Pro', Consolas, 'Courier New', monospace",
    "editor.minimap.enabled": false,    
    "editor.fontSize": 14,
    "editor.formatOnSave": false
}

[kpman]

Having the same problem here. @PerplexDaniel
After remove the editor.formatOnSave and restart the VSCode, the error message will disappear.

[Chillee]

This is caused by prettier, not VSCode.

[geirman]

Wait, so it's caused by prettier... fine... but is there a work around? Is there an open issue with prettier? How do we deal with this. Feeling a little stranded.

I opened an issue at prettier, but then quickly realized it was the leading comment causing the error.

[frankhale]

@geirman here is the reference issue on the Prettier repo: https://github.com/esbenp/prettier-vscode/issues/149

[frankhale]

In the case of my settings.json file it had a comment at the top. Pretty sure that is a stock comment added by VS Code and Prettier as of a week ago is now strictly parsing JSON and comments are not part of the spec. See the issue for details on the Prettier repo, issue linked above.

[geirman]

@frankhale thank you! I figured out it was the comment pretty quickly after posting this and updated my earlier comment to highlight my oversight. Appreciate it though!

[thedamon]

This is weird. It kind of is an issue with vsCode then if they're using invalid json, isn't it? ;-)

Wonder if there's any specific reason to not just use *.js for settings