Solution for Ubuntu 18.04=>

1. Visit 'usr/lib/node_modules'.
2. Delete 'n', 'npm','npm-clean','npm-install-peers'. That means delete all the node & npm related folders.
3. Install the npm again.

Would be helpful if you shared if it's Windows or Linux, but the error seems to occur on Windows. Possible solution:

1. Go to C:\Users(your username)\AppData\Roaming
2. Delete the npm folder (possibly back it up) and if there is one npm cache folder.
3. Run `npm cache clear --force` (--force is now required to clean cache)

After that, npm install should work fine.

Ciao, this problem could be connected to graceful-fs package. You could try to reinstall it:

npm install graceful-fs --save-dev

Solution for ubuntu =>

1. Completely remove nodejs and npm from your system.

sudo apt-get remove nodejs
sudo apt-get remove npm

2. Install node from this reference (https://computingforgeeks.com/install-node-js-14-on-ubuntu-debian-linux/) - This will inturn install latest npm .

I had this problem while trying to run npx.

I found that nvm had been removed from the PATH.

I added it back to my .zshrc file and it worked.

For linux users:

1. uninstall NPM, to do it go to /usr/local/lib/node_modules and do:

sudo rm -r n npm npx

2. Once uninstalled, re-instal it:

npm install

3. Even after doing this, in a specific project when trying to install a specific npm package, you may get the following error:

bash: /usr/local/bin/npm: No such file or directory

If so, in the terminal just run:

hash -r

4. Now you can retry installation of your wanted npm package.

Feb 2021 fix:

npm install

And then commit the changes to package-lock.json. That should update all your dependencies, thus fixing this issue.

More info: https://help.heroku.com/ZV7S7D6T/why-is-my-node-build-is-suddenly-displaying-npm-err-cb-apply-is-not-a-function (this happened to me on heroku)

I had the same issue with Nodist. After changing my Node version, my npm version was actually incompatible with it. So if you're using Nodist, make sure to run nodist npm {scope} match after switching Node versions, where scope is either global, local or env.

I have tried a lot of solutions from different posts and google pages and nothing worked for me.

I ended up cleaning all traces of node, nodejs, and npm. May need some manual force remove after the purge call. And then installed using nvm.

https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-install-node-js-on-ubuntu-20-04/#installing-nodejs-and-npm-using-nvm

And it resolved the issue for me. It got the nodejs v 15.4.0 and the compatible version of npm 7.0.15 ( before using apt-get it was installing npm 6.9.0)

In my case it was indeed the graceful-fs package. Running

npm i -g --force graceful-fs 

fixed the issue. I also ran nodist npm {scope} match before but I'm unsure if it was neccessary.

solution for ubuntu 18.04

sudo apt-get remove nodejs
sudo apt-get remove npm
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/node
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/npm
sudo apt-get install nodejs
sudo apt-get install npm

And try node and npm version

node -v
npm -v

If it says there is no such node/npm after you already install, then

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/node /usr/local/bin/node
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/npm /usr/local/bin/npm

Try if the command works

npm -v
node -v

In case when you want to update npm/node stable version

sudo npm install n -g
sudo n stable

solution for Windows:

in my case i didn't want to delete all the npm directory inside "C:/users/me/AppData/Roaming/" because i had there many global modules that is already exist and installed.

what worked inspired by @user14360499 above:

1. go inside "C:\Users\me\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules"
2. delete the 'npm' dir
3. npm install my project, and keep working as usually

Mac/Macbook users

Since this question is fairly active and a top google result for this issue (I know the OP is using Linux) and we have every other OS covered in this list. Here is how to fix it on a Mac.

On a Mac you do not have the AppData\Roaming folder, so simply run npm root -g and then navigate to the hidden directory and delete the node_modules there. If using nvm you'll need to rerun nvm use x.x.x (where x.x.x is your version).

for the mac OS remove the node version and reinstalling was work for me. I used n npm version manager.

On windows, using nvm, i just installed a newer nodejs version (before 14.17.0, now 14.18.2)

So many solutions just made me even more puzzled. I downloaded and installed the newest LTS NodeJS and it worked just fine. https://nodejs.org/en/

I was getting this error when running npx sb init. For some reason, the command worked localy but not in CI. I tried most of the solutions from here. But only the following worked.

I replaced npx sb init with yarn global add @storybook/cli && yarn exec sb init as suggested here: https://github.com/yarnpkg/yarn/issues/3937#issuecomment-751289438

(NVM, Node.js 14, Yarn 1)

Had the same error (macOS Big Sur) when i tried to use npx.

How i fixed it (using nvm) when i run:

nvm ls

nvm ls output

Fix:

nvm alias default node
nvm install 'lts/*'

nvm install output

For me , the solution was to delete the node modules and bower components folder of the project.

On macOS BigSur, I had this problem when executing:

npx install-peerdeps --dev eslint-config-airbnb

To fix, I ran

brew update

after which I was prompted to run

brew upgrade

Running the two commands fixed the issue.

In my case (Mac) it was because I had npx installed alongside n (alternative to nvm).

$ which npx
/usr/local/bin/npx

I removed this exectutable and now:

$ which npx
/Users/MY_USER/n/bin/npx

and it works now.

Had the same error was simply in the wrong folder -.- (not a typescript project)