[javascript] npm install error from the terminal

I am trying to install node in my mac.. i am getting the following error... i downloaded the node from node site and ran that package... can you guys tell me why i am facing that errror..when i do npm install

MacBook-Pro:~ Raj$ npm install
npm ERR! install Couldn't read dependencies
npm ERR! package.json ENOENT, open '/Users/Raj/package.json'
npm ERR! package.json This is most likely not a problem with npm itself.
npm ERR! package.json npm can't find a package.json file in your current directory.

npm ERR! System Darwin 13.0.0
npm ERR! command "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "install"
npm ERR! cwd /Users/Raj
npm ERR! node -v v0.10.26
npm ERR! npm -v 1.4.3
npm ERR! path /Users/Raj/package.json
npm ERR! code ENOPACKAGEJSON
npm ERR! errno 34
npm ERR! 
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR!     /Users/Raj/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

I had this problem when trying to run 'npm install' in a Terminal window which had been opened before installing Node.js.

Opening a new Terminal window (i.e. bash session) worked. (Presumably this provided the correct environment variables for npm to run correctly.)

In case it helps anyone else - my issue was a rookie error, I had a space in the name line of my package.json and it caused the dependencies to be unreadable.

You're likely not in the node directory. Try switching to the directory that you unpacked node to and try running the command there.

I came across this, and my issue was using an older version of node (3.X), when a newer version was required.

The error message actually suggested this as well:

...
Make sure you have the latest version of node.js and npm installed
...

So the solution may be as simple as upgrading node/npm. You can easily do this using nvm, the "Node Version Manager"

After you've installed nvm, you can install and use the latest version of node by simply running this command:

nvm install node

For example:

$ nvm install node                                                             
Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v8.2.1/node-v8.2.1-darwin-x64.tar.xz...
######################################################################## 100.0%
Now using node v8.2.1 (npm v5.3.0)

$ node --version                                                               
v8.2.1

First download json package file from https://github.com/npm/read-package-json and then run npm install from terminal.

This is all because you are not in the desired directory. You need to first get into the desired directory. Mine was angular-phonecat directory. So I typed in cd angular-phonecat and then npm install.

In my case it was due to a bad URL (http:// instead of git://, no .git at the end) for one of the dependencies.

npm install -d --save worked for me. -d flag command force npm to install your dependencies and --save will save the all updated dependencies in your package.json

In mac you might have downloaded and installed Node js in /Users/yourusername/Downloads/nodejs-todo-master , so go here and run npm install command, no need of sudo as well., you should get output like this...

[email protected] node_modules/underscore

[email protected] node_modules/ejs

[email protected] node_modules/redis

[email protected] node_modules/jasmine-node
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected] ([email protected])
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected] ([email protected])

[email protected] node_modules/express
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected]
+-- [email protected] ([email protected])
+-- [email protected] ([email protected])
+-- [email protected] ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])