Unexpected token '.' in if (prelude[i + 1]?.[0] !== '#'

[anafaggiano]

👓 What did you see?

I got an unexpected token error when trying to run cucumber.js

✅ What did you expect to see?

For cucumber.js to run without errors

📦 Which tool/library version are you using?

cucumber: 9.1.1 node: 16.17.1 npm: 8.19.2

🔬 How could we reproduce it?

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Install cucumber version 9.1.1
2. Create a feature file
3. Configure cucumber as follows:

   
   let common = [
   'features/**.feature',                                                 // Specify feature files
   '--require dist/features/step_definitions/**.steps.js',     // Load step definitions
   '--format progress-bar',                                    // Load custom formatter
   '--publish-quiet',                                          // Don't show results publishing suggestions
   ].join(' ');

module.exports = { default: common, };

4. Run command ./node_modules/.bin/cucumber-js (or wherever your cucumber is) -p default
5. See error 

if (prelude[i + 1]?.[0] !== '#') ^ SyntaxError: Unexpected token '.'

### 📚 Any additional context?

Downgrading to version 8.6.0 fixes it for me

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[davidjgoss]

The error suggests a too-old version of Node.js, maybe 12.x. Can you run in debug mode and post the full output?

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This issue was closed because it has been stalled for 5 days with no activity.