npm outdated error Cannot read property 'length' of undefined - node.js

Question

I try running 'npm outdated' from the console in my node project. But I get this error:
npm ERR! Cannot read property 'length' of undefined
npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in:
npm ERR! C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\npm-cache\_logs\2019-03-31T12_26_30_745Z-debug.log
This is the error in the log:
199 verbose stack TypeError: Cannot read property 'length' of undefined
199 verbose stack at dotindex (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:59:32)
199 verbose stack at C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:11:21
199 verbose stack at Array.forEach (<anonymous>)
199 verbose stack at forEach (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:73:31)
199 verbose stack at C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:10:9
199 verbose stack at Array.reduce (<anonymous>)
199 verbose stack at reduce (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:63:30)
199 verbose stack at module.exports (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\text-table\index.js:9:20)
199 verbose stack at C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\outdated.js:130:16
199 verbose stack at cb (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\slide\lib\async-map.js:47:24)
199 verbose stack at outdated_ (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\outdated.js:221:12)
199 verbose stack at skip (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\outdated.js:343:5)
199 verbose stack at updateDeps (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\outdated.js:446:7)
199 verbose stack at tryCatcher (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\bluebird\js\release\util.js:16:23)
199 verbose stack at Promise.successAdapter [as _fulfillmentHandler0] (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\bluebird\js\release\nodeify.js:23:30)
199 verbose stack at Promise._settlePromise (C:\Users\amita\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\node_modules\bluebird\js\release\promise.js:566:21)
200 verbose cwd C:\Users\amita\Ionic\toratlechima
201 verbose Windows_NT 10.0.17134
202 verbose argv "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe" "C:\\Users\\amita\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\npm\\bin\\npm-cli.js" "outdated"
203 verbose node v10.11.0
204 verbose npm v6.9.0
205 error Cannot read property 'length' of undefined
206 verbose exit [ 1, true ]
This also happens when I try to run it globally.
Anyone encounter this?

Answer 1

Appears to be fixed in the next release, which isn't out yet.
https://github.com/npm/cli/pull/173
You can install the pre-release to fix it.
npm -g i npm#next
Update
NPM 6.9.2 is out
npm install -g npm

Answer 2

There is a bug in the npm, but you can easily fix it:
Go to your npm folder (i.e. /usr/local/lib/node_modules) and find a outdated.js file (i.e. /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm/lib/outdated.js for Mac or C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\npm\lib\outdated.js for Windows)
Find a function makePretty and change
deppath
to
deppath || 'global'
in my case it was line #152
I hope it helps! 🙂

Answer 3

You can also try npm upgrade -g. Worked for me.

Answer 4

Here's how I successfully fixed the error after checking 'global' was in outdated.js file. Without any other requirements like brew etc, (type these commands in the terminal):
sudo npm cache clean -f (force) clear you npm cache
sudo npm install -g n install n (this might take a while)
sudo n stable upgrade to the current stable version
npm upgrade -g upgrade npm
Note that sudo might prompt your password.