npm search failing with "npm ERR! Unexpected token g"

[geuis]

I'm opening this issue because:

• npm is crashing.
• npm is producing an incorrect install.
• npm is doing something I don't understand.
• Other (see below for feature requests):

What's going wrong?

When I search for something, I get results for the first search. Subsequent searches, even for the same term, produce invalid output.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the latest npm@3.10.3 and have the same issue that was occuring with 3.9 (previously installed).

How can the CLI team reproduce the problem?

npm-debug.log gist here: https://gist.github.com/geuis/198fd71410a40bfeaf0a875f42b276ef

npm cache clean
npm search
// get correct results
npm search
// get error and invalid results

// now do the whole thing again
npm cache clean
npm search
// get correct results
npm search
// get error and invalid results

supporting information:

• npm -v prints: 3.10.3
• node -v prints: v4.3.1
• npm config get registry prints: http://registry.npmjs.org/
• Windows, OS X, or Linux?: OS X
• Network issues:
  • Geographic location where npm was run: San Francisco
  • I use a proxy to connect to the npm registry.
  • I use a proxy to connect to the web.
  • I use a proxy when downloading Git repos.
  • I access the npm registry via a VPN
  • I don't use a proxy, but have limited or unreliable internet access.
• Container:
  • I develop using Vagrant on Windows.
  • I develop using Vagrant on OS X or Linux.
  • I develop / deploy using Docker.
  • I deploy to a PaaS (Triton, Heroku).

[zkat]

This should be fixed by #13746 once that's done.