Invalid JSON character when running ng serve

Question

I am getting following error when running ng serve...

PS F:\Projects\RecipeApp> ng serve
Invalid JSON character: "\"" at 76:13.
Error: Invalid JSON character: "\"" at 76:13.
    at _token (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:63:19)
    at _readArray (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:316:9)
    at _readValue (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:561:22)
    at _readProperty (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:398:19)
    at _readObject (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:431:30)
    at _readValue (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:564:22)
    at _readProperty (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:398:19)
    at _readObject (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:431:30)
    at _readValue (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:564:22)
    at _readProperty (F:\Projects\RecipeApp\node_modules\@angular-devkit\core\src\json\parser.js:398:19)

I am using angular version 6

Answer 1

Check your Angular.json.

It seems that this config file is not correct.

---

Update for clarification:
A misplaced "/" in the angular.json will create exactly that kind of error.

Answer 2

In my case the problem was Visual Studio 2017 adding UTF-8 BOM characters to angular.json after I edited the file.

Permanent solution for Visual Studio and Angular CLI was to open the file once and save as UTF-8 without signature

1. Go to File -> Save As.

2. Then on Save button click on triangle and click Save with Encoding....

3. From Encodings dropdown select UTF-8 Without signature -> Click OK.