ReferenceError: TextEncoder is not defined

Question

I'm writing a simple addon in Firefox - 24, on Linux. I get the error:

ReferenceError: TextEncoder is not defined

when I do: var encoder = new TextEncoder(); the function I'm using is:

function write_text(filename, text) {
    var encoder = new TextEncoder();
    var data = encoder.encode(text);
    Task.spawn(function() {
       let pfh =  OS.File.open("/tmp/foo", {append: true});
       yield pfh.write(text);
       yield pfh.flush();
       yield pfh.close(); 
    });
}

I upgraded my nodejs version to latest and it fixed the issue. — Eranki, May 10 '22 at 17:36

score 59 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 09 '22 at 12:10

59

if you are having this error while running node server

locate this file node_modules/whatwg-url/dist/encoding.js or .../lib/encoding.js

add this line at top const { TextEncoder, TextDecoder } = require("util");

edited Jun 09 '22 at 12:10

Ericksan Pimentel

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answered Sep 22 '21 at 15:54

vivek pawar

639
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9

This worked but the path has changed to `node_modules/whatwg-url/lib/encoding.js` – Ganesh Dagadi Jan 17 '22 at 13:53
After add the line const { TextEncoder, TextDecoder } = require("util"),. run npm install. – Martinho Mussamba Apr 08 '22 at 08:41

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered May 14 '19 at 10:21

30

In nodejs you can solve with util:

var util= require('util');
var encoder = new util.TextEncoder('utf-8');

answered May 14 '19 at 10:21

Diep Gepa

515
5
5

6

Where to add this? – dragonfly02 Aug 23 '22 at 03:02

score 18 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 13 '21 at 08:38

18

If you experienced this because of using Mongodb via npm install mongodb then the simplest way is just to upgrade your Node Version. Needs to be higher than version 12; I used version 16 and it clearly fixed my problem

answered Oct 13 '21 at 08:38

Dean Christian Armada

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The project I was trying to install the dependancies on used a higher version of NodeJS without specifying the NodeJS version used. I needed to add a nvm config file and specify the latest version of NodeJS. My local version of NodeJS was using an older version of NodeJS. – Tjaart van der Walt Oct 19 '21 at 15:07
1

Thanks, updating Nodejs solved the problem. I used Ubuntu 20, where node v10 is installed by default. – gneric Dec 05 '21 at 13:38
I am using node 14 and still has this – dragonfly02 Aug 23 '22 at 03:02
Kindly try version 16 – Dean Christian Armada Aug 23 '22 at 08:59
What does MongoDB have to do with this...? – garraflavatra Jul 28 '23 at 19:08

Sahil Thummar · Answer 4 · 2022-02-23T06:04:41.807

14

This issue occurs in node 10 or lower version only. To resolve this issue upgrade node version to 12 or higher and then rm -rf node_modules && npm i

Or If you don't want to upgrade node version, then,

Locate this file

node_modules/whatwg-url/dist/encoding.js // If dist folder

node_modules/whatwg-url/lib/encoding.js // If lib folder

And add this line in encoding.js file

const { TextEncoder, TextDecoder } = require("./utils"); // if utils file

const { TextEncoder, TextDecoder } = require("./util"); // if util file

edited Feb 23 '22 at 06:04

answered Feb 23 '22 at 05:58

Sahil Thummar

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16
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I am using typescript, where to add this? – dragonfly02 Aug 23 '22 at 03:03

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 31 '13 at 08:20

Ah, you're using the SDK, I gather when re-reading the actual error of your other question.

You need to import TextEncoder explicitly from some other module, as SDK modules lack the class.
You need to yield OS.File.open.
append: is only supported in Firefox 27+
.flush() is only supported in Firefox 27+ (and a bad idea anyway). Use .writeAtomic if you need that.
You write: true to write to a file.

Here is a full, working example I tested in Firefox 25 (main.js)

const {Cu} = require("chrome");
// It is important to load TextEncoder like this using Cu.import()
// You cannot load it by just |Cu.import("resource://gre/modules/osfile.jsm");|
const {TextEncoder, OS} = Cu.import("resource://gre/modules/osfile.jsm", {});
const {Task} = Cu.import("resource://gre/modules/Task.jsm", {});

function write_text(filename, text) {
    var encoder = new TextEncoder();
    var data = encoder.encode(text);
    filename = OS.Path.join(OS.Constants.Path.tmpDir, filename);
    Task.spawn(function() {
       let file = yield OS.File.open(filename, {write: true});
       yield file.write(data);
       yield file.close(); 
       console.log("written to", filename);
    }).then(null, function(e) console.error(e));
}

write_text("foo", "some text");

score 5 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 09 '21 at 14:13

5

I was also getting this error so I solved it in this way, in nodejs project go to the node_modules/whatwg-url/dist/encoding.js file in that add this line =>

const {TextDecoder, TextEncoder} = require("util");

And your problem is solved

edited Sep 09 '21 at 14:13

Suraj Rao

29,388
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answered Sep 09 '21 at 14:08

Sonam Madan Jha

61
1
1

4

This would be a problem if you ever need to reinstall npm packages or update etc. How will you track this change? – Suraj Rao Sep 09 '21 at 14:15
1

What? manually change the file in dist folder? How is this going to work in a clean deployment where everything is rebuilt? – dragonfly02 Aug 23 '22 at 03:04

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 22 '21 at 12:32

A text encoder for Node.js can be found in the util module. You can access it like so:

const util = require('util');
const TextEncoder = new util.TextEncoder();

One of the roles of the TextEncoder is to convert a string of text into an array of bytes. You can achieve this like so:

const data = TextEncoder.encode(
   JSON.stringify({ c: "Green" })
);
// Uint8Array [ 123, 34, 99, 34, 58, 34, 71, 114, 101, 101, 110, 34, 125 ]

The array returned is called a Uint8Array. It consists of integers in the range 0 to 255.

Note that TextEncoder only supports UTF-8 encoding.

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 23 '22 at 08:01

2

For me upgrade Node.js version resolved this issue

answered Jan 23 '22 at 08:01

Quang Tuyen Nguyen

131
2
6

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 07 '22 at 12:15

Open your encoding.js folder in node_modules>whatwg-url>dist

And in place of:

"use strict";
const utf8Encoder = new TextEncoder();
const utf8Decoder = new TextDecoder("utf-8", { ignoreBOM: true });

Write this code:

"use strict";
var util= require('util');
const utf8Encoder = new util.TextEncoder();
const utf8Decoder = new util.TextDecoder("utf-8", { ignoreBOM: true });

all you where missing is this small part by including utils.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Oct 31 '13 at 22:55

1

The TextEncoder can be found in the sdk/io/buffer module:

let { TextEncoder, TextDecoder } = require('sdk/io/buffer')

answered Oct 31 '13 at 22:55

jsantell

1,268
8
10

score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 27 '21 at 07:21

1

If it's an error in node_modules/whatwg_url/dist/encoding.js folder then uninstall MongoDB by

npm uninstall mongodb

and reinstall it

npm install --save mongodb

answered Aug 27 '21 at 07:21

Muhammad Ali

100
5

Try to install mongoose by npm install mongoose – Muhammad Ali Sep 13 '21 at 18:18
2

Wrt to mongoose: since version v6.x it requires NodeJS >= v12.0.0 – Marc Sep 16 '21 at 14:25

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 06 '22 at 11:34

1

I was also facing the same problem in my project but I fixed this issue by upgrading my node version from 10 to 12. May be this issue now a days can occurred due to lower version of node we are using in our project.

answered Jan 06 '22 at 11:34

Mukesh Burnwal Mike

379
1
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Ivandez · Answer 13 · 2022-01-22T13:15:22.547

1

This looks like a node version error because I solved it by updating from 10 to 16 and after that, I installed dependencies and open a new terminal.

Update node to 14 or higher, I used Node Version Manager (NVM)
Delete node_modules directory, on linux:

rm -rf node_modules
Install dependencies with npm install
Close and open a new terminal
Run app with node or nodemon

Done!

edited Jan 22 '22 at 13:15

answered Jan 22 '22 at 13:09

Ivandez

249
6
13

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jun 09 '22 at 01:20

This might help others.

I was getting the same error and I almost tried all the above solutions, but nothing works for me. Finally, I update the npm version and everything is fine.

When I installed the Next App the npm version was 6.14.4.

I update the version and all errors are fixed you don't need to change anything in the core files just update the version in my case recommended 8.11.0.

npm -v // Check the version

npm install -g npm@latest // Get the latest version

OR

npm install -g npm@8.11.0 // Get the Spacific version

Complete guid here

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Dec 19 '22 at 17:19

1

I encountered this when running automated tests with jest and rendering a component that included import { AgGridColumn, AgGridReact } from "ag-grid-react".

The solution is to mock out that function as follows:

jest.mock('ag-grid-react', () => ({
  __esModule: true,
  AgGridReact: jest.fn((x) => <div>{x.children}</div>),
  AgGridColumn: jest.fn(() => <div />),
}));

answered Dec 19 '22 at 17:19

fredrivett

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How can I use this to render a component in another folder – Joel Apr 01 '23 at 11:16

Raja · Answer 16 · 2022-01-21T19:19:37.007

0

delete your 'node_modules' folder

rm -rf node_modules

then re-install dependencies

npm i

If you are using 'mongoose' greater than v6 you need at least Node.js v12

edited Jan 21 '22 at 19:19

answered Jan 21 '22 at 18:07

Raja

451
5
5

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 31 '22 at 02:56

I was facing the same error, because of having to install old nodejs. This problem can be solved by installing the latest nodejs. To update nodejs to nodejs to 14.x

sudo apt update curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo bash - sudo apt install -y nodejs node -v

score 0 · Answer 18 · edited Oct 24 '22 at 13:34

0

It's a node version problem.
Described by @yhojann-cl here

I have the same problem:
In /usr/bin/node I have 10.x, but 16.x is installed by nvm.

edited Oct 24 '22 at 13:34

James Risner

5,451
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answered Oct 24 '22 at 12:56

Sect0R

31
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Madhu Tomy · Answer 19 · 2022-12-09T13:01:23.740

In my case, I had multiple node versions installed, and current project required a more recent node version. To fix the problem I did the following steps.

To check the current version of node running, in the terminal use the command

node --version

Output in the Terminal :

The following command will list the different node versions already installed in your system.

nvm ls

Output in the Terminal :

To switch to more recent version of the node ie, v16.17.0, use the following command in the terminal

nvm use v16.17.0

Output in the Terminal :

Now confirm the current version of the node by

node --version

Output in Terminal:

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Feb 14 '23 at 14:04

0

I was getitng the same error after adding the mongodb, i resolve it by upgrading to node version

nvm use 16.16.0

answered Feb 14 '23 at 14:04

AbdulBasit

1,269
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score -2 · Answer 21 · answered Jan 10 '22 at 04:22

TextEncoder is native function in javascript, check the version that suit the ability.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/TextEncoder#browser_compatibility

Chrome version >=38, Edge version >=79, Firefox version >=18, Node verison >=11.0.0...

ReferenceError: TextEncoder is not defined

21 Answers21

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