NPM Basic Commands

Find node version

node -v

Intialition commands

Initialization the npm with questions

npm init

Initialization the npm with no questions

npm init -y

Install npm package globally

npm install <package-name > -g, --save

Install npm package as dependency

npm install <package-name > -S, --save

Install npm package as development dependency

npm install <package-name > -D, --save-dev

Install npm package as optional dependency

npm install <package-name > -O, --save-optional

Query/Listing commands

List the global packages

npm list -g --depth 0

List the outdated global packages

npm outdated -g --depth=0

Update the packages in package.json

Safe version and package-lock.json

  • Packages with ^ minor version can be upgraded safely. Example 17.0.0 can be upgrade to 17.5.1
  • Packages with ~ patch version can be upgraded safely. Example 17.0.0 can be upgrade to 17.0.2
  • If node_modules folder exists and packages are already install then npm install won’t upgrade any thing
  • If node_modules folder doesn’t exist i.e. packages are not installed and there exists a package-lock.json file then npm install will install the exact version specified in the package.json file
  • If node_modules folder doesn’t exist i.e. packages are not installed and these is no package-lock.json file then npm install will install the latest safe version. It won’t upgrade the package.json with the latest safe version number but the node_modules folder would be upgrade to latest safe version.

Upgrade using npm

  • Command to check the out of date dependencies

npm outdated

  • Command to update all packages to safe version

npm update

  • Command to update individual packages to safe version

npm update "react" "react-dom"

  • Command to update packages to major version (not safe version)

npm install <packagename1>@latest <packagename2>@latest

Upgrade using the tool(npm-check-updates)

  • Command to display the updates

npx npm-check-updates

  • Command to update dependencies in package.json. Take a backup of package.json and package-lock.json before running this command

npx npm-check-updates -u

  • Command to install

npm install