NodeJS script with async/await causing syntax error (v7.10.0)

Question

I am trying to use async/await in NodeJS but my script is throwing a syntax error.

I was under the impression that async/await is supported naively since Node 7.6. W

Answer 1

await is only valid inside async functions, so you need, for example, an async IIFE to wrap your code with:

void async function() {
  let value = await getValueAsync();
  console.log(value);
}();

And, since return values from async functions are wrapped by a promise, you can shorten getValueAsync to simply this:

async function getValueAsync() {
  return 'foo';
}

Or don't mark it as async and return a promise from it:

function getValueAsync() {
  return new Promise(function(resolve) {
    resolve('foo');
  });
}