W3cubDocs

SyntaxError() constructor

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

The SyntaxError() constructor creates SyntaxError objects.

Syntax

new SyntaxError()
new SyntaxError(message)
new SyntaxError(message, options)
new SyntaxError(message, fileName)
new SyntaxError(message, fileName, lineNumber)

SyntaxError()
SyntaxError(message)
SyntaxError(message, options)
SyntaxError(message, fileName)
SyntaxError(message, fileName, lineNumber)

Note: SyntaxError() can be called with or without new. Both create a new SyntaxError instance.

Parameters

message Optional

Human-readable description of the error

options Optional

An object that has the following properties:

cause Optional: A property indicating the specific cause of the error. When catching and re-throwing an error with a more-specific or useful error message, this property can be used to pass the original error.

fileName Optional Non-standard

The name of the file containing the code that caused the exception

lineNumber Optional Non-standard

The line number of the code that caused the exception

Examples

Catching a SyntaxError

try {
  eval("hoo bar");
} catch (e) {
  console.log(e instanceof SyntaxError); // true
  console.log(e.message);
  console.log(e.name); // "SyntaxError"
  console.log(e.stack); // Stack of the error
}

Creating a SyntaxError

try {
  throw new SyntaxError("Hello");
} catch (e) {
  console.log(e instanceof SyntaxError); // true
  console.log(e.message); // "Hello"
  console.log(e.name); // "SyntaxError"
  console.log(e.stack); // Stack of the error
}

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2026 Language Specification> # sec-nativeerror-constructors>

Browser compatibility

	Desktop					Mobile							Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Opera	Safari	Chrome Android	Firefox for Android	Opera Android	Safari on IOS	Samsung Internet	WebView Android	WebView on iOS	Bun	Deno	Node.js
`SyntaxError`	1	12	1	5	1	18	4	10.1	1	1.0	4.4	1	1.0.0	1.0	0.10.0