NVM giving error while doing nvm ls

Question

I was trying to install and switch between node version, so i first install nvm using below

Administrators-MacBook-Pro:~ user.name$ sudo npm install nvm -g
Password:
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/nvm
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/nvm
npm http GET https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp
npm http 304 https://registry.npmjs.org/mkdirp
/usr/local/bin/nvm -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/nvm/bin/nvm
[email protected] /usr/local/lib/node_modules/nvm
└── [email protected]

After this i was trying to do "nvm ls" to list node version but it gave me an error(below). Please advice what's wrong with it

Administrators-MacBook-Pro:~ user.name$ nvm ls

module.js:340
    throw err;
          ^
Error: Cannot find module '/usr/local/lib/node_modules/nvm/bin/nvm-ls'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:338:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:280:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:364:17)
    at require (module.js:380:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/nvm/bin/nvm:15:1)
    at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
    at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)

Answer 1

I recently ran into this problem after I installed nvm as an npm package (from https://npmjs.org/package/nvm).

To resolve the issue, install nvm directly using the instructions at https://github.com/creationix/nvm#installation

Once installed and

source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh

ran (this is important, as it makes nvm available in your current terminal session), then you'll be able to run

nvm ls

and other nvm commands successfully from your project directory.

Hope this helps & cheers to learning node!

Answer 2

To use the nvm command you need to source it as described above. But you don't want to do this after every login.

Just add these lines to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.profile, or ~/.zshrc file to have it automatically sourced upon login:

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

See also https://github.com/creationix/nvm#manual-install

Answer 3

just to add, I use mac as well but non default shell (zsh) installing nvm will modify .bash_profile (and add line of "source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh")

so I was getting same error, you need to make sure you need to add "source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh" to your shell profile file (for me it was .zshrc)

Answer 4

@jewel is correct: As of January 2016 (and maybe earlier), the NPM-installed version of nvm no longer seems to exist (at least, its github repo gives a 404). If this old, unmaintained package is installed, you may see errors like "local" not implemented yet or Error: Cannot find module './nvm-help' when typing nvm commands.

The correct version of nvm now comes from https://github.com/creationix/nvm

If you have installed the earlier (now unmaintained) version, you can get back on the air by doing these steps:

1. npm uninstall -g nvm
2. Using the Install Script on the github page above