title: Error: Unable to determine the current character, it is not a string, number, array, or object in react-native for android
body: <p>Whenever I run <strong>react-native run-android</strong> while keeping the emulator running, I get this error. <strong>react-native run-ios</strong> wroks completely fine.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Error: Command failed: ./gradlew app:installDebug -PreactNativeDevServerPort=8081
  :ReactNative:Failed to parse React Native CLI configuration: groovy.json.JsonException: Unable to determine the current character, it is not a string, number, array, or object
  
  The current character read is 'E' with an int value of 69
  Unable to determine the current character, it is not a string, number, array, or object
  line number 1
  index number 0
  Error: Invalid attribute nameLine: 16Column: 18Char: .    at error (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/sax/lib/sax.js:651:10)    at strictFail (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/sax/lib/sax.js:677:7)    at SAXParser.write (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/sax/lib/sax.js:1313:13)    at new XmlDocument (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/xmldoc/lib/xmldoc.js:261:15)    at readManifest (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/build/config/readManifest.js:38:10)    at Object.projectConfig (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/build/config/index.js:59:46)    at Object.get project [as project] (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/tools/config/index.js:114:50)    at /Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/commands/config/config.js:8:452    at Array.forEach (&lt;anonymous&gt;)    at _objectSpread (/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/react-native/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/commands/config/config.js:8:392)
  ^
  
  FAILURE: Build failed with an exception.
  
  * Where:
  Script '/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/native_modules.gradle' line: 201
  
  * What went wrong:
  A problem occurred evaluating script.
  &gt; Failed to parse React Native CLI configuration. Expected running 'npx --quiet --no-install react-native config' command from '/Users/yashatreya/Desktop/Realyze/Realyze' directory to output valid JSON, but it didn't. This may be caused by npx resolving to a legacy global react-native binary. Please make sure to uninstall any global 'react-native' binaries: 'npm uninstall -g react-native react-native-cli' and try again
  
  * Try:
  Run with --stacktrace option to get the stack trace. Run with --info or --debug option to get more log output. Run with --scan to get full insights.
  
  * Get more help at https://help.gradle.org
  
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As indicated in the error message, I tried running <code>npm uninstall -g react-native react-native-cli</code> but it didn’t work.</p>
  
  <p>Info about my environment:</p>
  
  <pre><code>System:
      OS: macOS 10.15
      CPU: (4) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7360U CPU @ 2.30GHz
      Memory: 29.68 MB / 8.00 GB
      Shell: 3.2.57 - /bin/bash
    Binaries:
      Node: 12.13.0 - /usr/local/bin/node
      Yarn: 1.19.1 - /usr/local/bin/yarn
      npm: 6.12.0 - /usr/local/bin/npm
      Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
    SDKs:
      iOS SDK:
        Platforms: iOS 13.0, DriverKit 19.0, macOS 10.15, tvOS 13.0, watchOS 6.0
    IDEs:
      Android Studio: 3.5 AI-191.8026.42.35.5977832
      Xcode: 11.0/11A420a - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
    npmPackages:
      react: 16.9.0 =&gt; 16.9.0 
      react-native: ^0.61.4 =&gt; 0.61.4 
    npmGlobalPackages:
      react-native-cli: 2.0.1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>android/app/build.gradle below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>apply plugin: "com.android.application"
  
  import com.android.build.OutputFile
  project.ext.react = [
      entryFile: "index.js",
      enableHermes: false,  // clean and rebuild if changing
  ]
  
  apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"
  
  def enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture = false
  def enableProguardInReleaseBuilds = false
  
  def jscFlavor = 'org.webkit:android-jsc:+' 
  
  def enableHermes = project.ext.react.get("enableHermes", false);
  
  android {
      compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion
  
      compileOptions {
          sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
          targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
      }
  
      defaultConfig {
          applicationId "com.realyze"
          minSdkVersion 21 
          targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
          versionCode 1
          versionName "1.0"
          multiDexEnabled true
  
      }
      // rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
      splits {
          abi {
              reset()
              enable enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture
              universalApk false  // If true, also generate a universal APK
              include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"
          }
      }
      signingConfigs {
          debug {
              storeFile file('debug.keystore')
              storePassword 'android'
              keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
              keyPassword 'android'
          }
      }
      buildTypes {
          debug {
              signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
          }
          release {
              // Caution! In production, you need to generate your own keystore file.
              // see https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android.
              signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
              minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
              proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
          }
      }
      // applicationVariants are e.g. debug, release
      applicationVariants.all { variant -&gt;
          variant.outputs.each { output -&gt;
              // For each separate APK per architecture, set a unique version code as described here:
              // https://developer.android.com/studio/build/configure-apk-splits.html
              def versionCodes = ["armeabi-v7a": 1, "x86": 2, "arm64-v8a": 3, "x86_64": 4]
              def abi = output.getFilter(OutputFile.ABI)
              if (abi != null) {  // null for the universal-debug, universal-release variants
                  output.versionCodeOverride =
                          versionCodes.get(abi) * 1048576 + defaultConfig.versionCode
              }
  
          }
      }
  }
  
  dependencies {
      implementation project(':react-native-push-notification')
      implementation project(':react-native-sound')
      implementation project(':react-native-audio')
      implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:2.0.1'
      implementation project(':react-native-gesture-handler')
      implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"])
      implementation "com.facebook.react:react-native:+"  // From node_modules
      implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.1.0-rc01'
      implementation 'androidx.swiperefreshlayout:swiperefreshlayout:1.1.0-alpha02'
      implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-analytics:17.2.0'
      implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-auth:19.1.0'
      implementation project(path: ":@react-native-firebase_auth")
      implementation project(path: ":@react-native-firebase_messaging")
      implementation project(path: ":@react-native-firebase_database")
      implementation project(':react-native-datetimepicker')
      implementation project(path: ":@react-native-firebase_firestore")
      implementation project(path: ":@react-native-firebase_functions")
  }
  
      if (enableHermes) {
          def hermesPath = "../../node_modules/hermes-engine/android/";
          debugImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-debug.aar")
          releaseImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-release.aar")
      } else {
          implementation jscFlavor
      }
  // }
  
  // Run this once to be able to run the application with BUCK
  // puts all compile dependencies into folder libs for BUCK to use
  task copyDownloadableDepsToLibs(type: Copy) {
      from configurations.compile
      into 'libs'
  }
  
  apply from: file("../../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/native_modules.gradle"); applyNativeModulesAppBuildGradle(project)
  apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>android/build.gradle below : </p>
  
  <pre><code>
  buildscript {
      ext {
          buildToolsVersion = "28.0.3"
          minSdkVersion = 16
          compileSdkVersion = 28
          targetSdkVersion = 28
      }
      repositories {
          google()
          jcenter()
      }
      dependencies {
          classpath "com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.2"
          classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.2'
      }
  }
  
  allprojects {
      repositories {
          mavenLocal()
          maven {
              // All of React Native (JS, Obj-C sources, Android binaries) is installed from npm
              url("$rootDir/../node_modules/react-native/android")
          }
          maven {
              // Android JSC is installed from npm
              url("$rootDir/../node_modules/jsc-android/dist")
          }
  
          google()
          jcenter()
          maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Initially I was getting this error: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58892712/react-native-build-error-could-not-find-method-implementation-for-arguments">react-native build error: Could not find method implementation() for arguments [jscFlavor] on project &#39;:app&#39; of type org.gradle.api.Project</a> but now I am getting the above.</p>