npm cannot find module 'semver' after reinstall

Question

I am using ubuntu 19.04.

I am getting following error, when trying to do anything with npm

internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:638
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module 'semver'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:636:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:562:25)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:692:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:25:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js:2:14)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:778:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:789:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)

I have tried to apply different solutions from SO, but unfortunately they have not worked.

It started happening after reinstalling NPM because of some errors I unfortunately cannot recreate.

What I have tried

sudo apt purge nodejs
sudo apt autoremove

after these two steps, npm is uninstalled.

npm -v
bash: /usr/bin/npm: No such file or directory

I proceed to

sudo apt install nodejs

However the error occurs even after I have purged the files

User@User:/$ node -v
v10.16.3
User@User:/$ npm -v
internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:638
    throw err;
    ^

Error: Cannot find module 'semver'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:636:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:562:25)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:692:17)
    at require (internal/modules/cjs/helpers.js:25:18)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/share/npm/lib/utils/unsupported.js:2:14)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:778:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:789:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32)
    at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)

I have also tried following

sudo apt purge npm
sudo apt purge nodejs
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt install npm
sudo apt install nodejs

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm -rf ~/.npm
brew uninstall --force node
brew install node

It still yields the same error. The global files should be uninstalled with both of these approaches.

To be certain I have searched the computer with and deleted anything if it looked like something relevant to node or npm.

sudo find / -type f -name "node"
sudo find / -type f -name "node_modules"
sudo find / -type f -name "npm"

It is if something is carried on through the purging, perhaps some files communication with NPM yielding the error.

Answer 1

Try

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_10.x | sudo -E bash -
apt-get update
apt-get install nodejs

You might also want to check out the answers here: Npm install cannot find module 'semver'

Answer 2

I had a similar issue and reinstalling works for me. this straightforward approach works fine for me. founded here

First, remove old staff

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* ~/.npm
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*

sudo apt-get purge nodejs npm
sudo apt autoremove

then, Download the latest tar.xz NodeJS file from official site

tar -xf node-v#.#.#-linux-x64.tar.xz
sudo mv node-v#.#.#-linux-x64/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv node-v#.#.#-linux-x64/lib/node_modules/ /usr/local/lib/

Where #.#.# is the version you downloaded.

finally, Verify installation using

node -v
npm -v