[BUG] npm run / start / test cannot find module when path to directory contains ampersand & or caret ^.

[Zazzik1]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

If script defined in package.json ( npm start / npm test / npm run test ) depends on something installed locally in node_modules directory (react-scripts, jest, etc.), e.g.:

# example package.json file
 "scripts": {
    "test": "jest", # this script fails
    "start": "react-scripts start" # this also
  }

and ( important! ) path to current working directory contains ampersand & or caret ^, then npm does not see these dependencies and as a result throws the following error:

PS C:\Users\mateu\Desktop\a&> npm run test

> a@1.0.0 test
> jest

'\node_modules\.bin\' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:936
  throw err;
  ^

Error: Cannot find module 'C:\Users\mateu\Desktop\jest\bin\jest.js'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:933:15)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:778:27)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:81:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:17:47 {
  code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
  requireStack: []
}

In the above situation, installing jest globally also did not make the script run.

Similar bug was also incorrectly reported as Next.js problem here: vercel/next.js#26906

Expected Behavior

I expect the behavior (script runs) to be similar to the situation where the path does not contain a special character ( & / ^ ), or I expect npm to inform user about incorrect path of the working directory - just like when the command npm init -y is issued:

PS C:\Users\mateu\Desktop\a&> npm init -y
npm ERR! Invalid name: "a&"

npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR!     C:\Users\mateu\AppData\Local\npm-cache\_logs\2022-01-08T22_38_24_861Z-debug-0.log

log from the above command

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create directory with correct name
2. Initialize empty package.json file: npm init -y
3. Install something which provide console command, for example: npm install jest
4. Add new script in package.json with command mentioned above:

# package.json
  "scripts": [
    "test": "jest",
  ],

5. Change name of directory to "&" or "^"
6. Run the defined npm script via npm run test or npm test - both fail

Environment

• npm: 8.3.0
• Node.js: 17.3.0
• OS Name: Windows 10
• npm config:

; "builtin" config from C:\Program Files\nodejs\node_modules\npm\npmrc

prefix = "C:\\Users\\mateu\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm"

; node bin location = C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe
; cwd = C:\Users\mateu
; HOME = C:\Users\mateu

[philipposslicher]

Seeing the same behavior under v8.0.0.

[PwrSrg]

Confirmed. Same issue here in v8.5.2.

[kenjipm]

Same here, issue still encountered in v8.13.2. Any workaround?

[Voltra]

Same here with NPM v9.6.3 on a Node v14.21.3

[ericburrell-23-1]

Same here on npm 10.2.4. STILL no workaround??

[ljharb]

the workaround would be to rename your directory.

[ericburrell-23-1]

Thought about adding "Username my organization provided for me has an ampersand in it so I can't rename the directory" but I thought it was extraneous info.

[ljharb]

nope, since it's extremely uncommon to have non-alphanumeric chars in a username in any part of computing, that's pretty important info to state explicitly.

[ericburrell-23-1]

Except for when you're on a thread about special characters causing an issue. Also, workaround found: use yarn. Zero problems.

[Voltra]

What constitutes a valid pathname is not up for debate. Systems allow names such as R&D, therefore they should be handled properly by libraries. Any path/fs library worth being used should handle spaces and "special" characters properly. If it can be represented on the OS, it should be properly handled by the library.

[ljharb]

@Voltra i wasn't debating it. I was just pointing out that a workaround does exist.

[Voltra]

I'll try to have a look if I can find a way to fix the paths handling (in npm or node's module resolution directly)

[Voltra]

It looks to me like that the issue might come from promise-spawn's path handling on Windows, quite likely this part