npm version Throwing Up An Error - macos

Question

When I run npm version it's throwing up some errors. Here's the entire npm-debug.log file:
0 info it worked if it ends with ok
1 verbose cli [ 'node', '/usr/local/bin/npm', 'version' ]
2 info using npm#2.1.17
3 info using node#v0.10.35
4 verbose node symlink /usr/local/bin/node
5 verbose config Skipping project config: /Users/realph/.npmrc. (matches userconfig)
6 error version Bad package.json data undefined
7 verbose type unexpected_token
8 verbose stack SyntaxError: Unexpected token u
8 verbose stack at Object.parse (native)
8 verbose stack at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/version.js:36:19
8 verbose stack at evalmachine.<anonymous>:208:20
8 verbose stack at OpenReq.Req.done (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:141:5)
8 verbose stack at OpenReq.done (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/graceful-fs/graceful-fs.js:61:22)
8 verbose stack at Object.oncomplete (evalmachine.<anonymous>:108:15)
9 verbose cwd /Users/realph
10 error Darwin 14.0.0
11 error argv "node" "/usr/local/bin/npm" "version"
12 error node v0.10.35
13 error npm v2.1.17
14 error Unexpected token u
15 error If you need help, you may report this error at:
15 error <http://github.com/npm/npm/issues>
16 verbose exit [ 1, true ]
Not sure if it's got anything to do with changing my shell to zsh.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

There are two issues here.
One is that there's a bug in recent versions of npm where npm version will error if package.json is missing or contains invalid data. https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/7056 That should be fixed with npm#2.2.0 which will officially be latest sometime later today. You can upgrade by following the appropriate instructions here https://github.com/npm/npm/wiki/Troubleshooting#try-the-latest-stable-version-of-npm
The second problem is that your package.json file can't be parsed - please check out the error message above:
Bad package.json data undefined
7 verbose type unexpected_token
8 verbose stack SyntaxError: Unexpected token u
You should inspect your package.json file to see if it is valid JSON http://www.json.org/ (which is a strict subset of javascript, identifier names must be double-quoted, etc.). You can run it through a validator at http://jsonlint.com/