Unexpected reserved word 'import' when using babel

Question

Using Babel in my NodeJSv4.1.1 code.

Got the require hook in:

require(\"babel-core/register\");

$appRoot = __dirname;

module.exports = require(\".         


        

Answer 1

Sounds like you aren't using the right presets. As of babel 6, the core babel loader no longer includes the expected ES6 transforms by default (it's now a generic code transformer platform), instead you must use a preset:

require('babel-register')({
        "presets": ["es2015"]
});

You will also need to install the preset package:

npm install --save-dev babel-preset-es2015

Answer 2

It seems that this file is not being transpiled. Is this subsequently loaded .js file in the node_modules directory? If so, you need to:

require("babel-core/register")({
  // This will override `node_modules` ignoring - you can alternatively pass
  // an array of strings to be explicitly matched or a regex / glob
  ignore: false
});

By default all requires to node_modules will be ignored. You can override this by passing an ignore regex

https://babeljs.io/docs/usage/require/

Answer 3

I was hitting the problem when trying to run tests via mocha, and I solved it by putting this in my package.json file:

"babel": {
    "presets": [
      "es2015"
    ]
},

I'm not completely clear on how this works. I'm running tests like this:

mocha --compilers js:babel-core/register --require ./test/test_helper.js --recursive

Eventually, this will all make sense I suppose.