'await Unexpected identifier' on Node.js 7.5

Question

I am experimenting with the await keyword in Node.js. I have this test script:

"use strict"; function x() {   return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {     setTimeout(function() {       resolve({a:42});     },100);   }); } await x(); 

But when I run it in node I get

await x();       ^ SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier 

whether I run it with node or node --harmony-async-await or in the Node.js 'repl' on my Mac with Node.js 7.5 or Node.js 8 (nightly build).

Oddly, the same code works in the Runkit JavaScript notebook environment: https://runkit.com/glynnbird/58a2eb23aad2bb0014ea614b

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Thanks to the other commenters and some other research await can only be used in an async function e.g.

async function x() {   var obj = await new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {     setTimeout(function() {       resolve({a:42});     },100);   });   return obj; } 

I could then use this function as a Promise e.g.

x().then(console.log) 

or in another async function.

Confusingly, the Node.js repl doesn't allow you to do

await x(); 

where as the RunKit notebook environment does.