diff --git a/lib/repl.js b/lib/repl.js
index db5754ec041196..4e9a79548b04cc 100644
--- a/lib/repl.js
+++ b/lib/repl.js
@@ -478,6 +478,19 @@ function REPLServer(prompt,
       evalCmd = evalCmd + '\n';
     }
 
+    // Exponentiation operator
+    if (cmd && cmd.split('').indexOf('*') !== -1) {
+
+      const cmdArray = cmd.split('');
+      const index = cmdArray.indexOf('*');
+
+      if (cmdArray[index + 1]) {
+        self.outputStream.write('SyntaxError: Unexpected token *\n');
+        finish(null);
+        return;
+      }
+    }
+
     debug('eval %j', evalCmd);
     self.eval(evalCmd, self.context, 'repl', finish);