![Npm Dependency Version Syntax Npm Dependency Version Syntax](https://miro.medium.com/max/3592/1*lMPXHZp2yP4BfLXLJcGJgw.png)
Adding dependencies to a package.json file from the command line. To add dependencies and devDependencies to a package.json file from the command line, you can install them in the root directory of your package using the -save-prod flag for dependencies (the default behavior of npm install) or the -save-dev flag for devDependencies. Npm calculates the dependencies and installs the latest available version of those as well. Let’s say you install cowsay, a cool command line tool that lets you make a cow say things. When you npm install cowsay, this entry is added to the package.json file:.
Package management
- This fast, production ready, zero dependency loader is all you need to support ECMAScript modules in Node 6+. See the release post and video for details! New projects. Run npm init esm or yarn create esm. ? Use the -y flag to answer “yes” to all prompts. Existing projects. Run npm i esm or yarn add esm. Getting started.
- This tutorial concludes the series on npm's cli command. In the previous tutorial we showed you how to npm-version as well as the npm update commands. This tutorial will cover how you can view the info of a registry as well as the display your npm username. The npm-view will help you view information about a registry.
Command | Description |
---|---|
npm i | Alias for npm install |
npm install | Install everything in package.json |
npm install --production | Install everything in package.json, except devDependecies |
npm install lodash | Install a package |
npm install --save-dev lodash | Install as devDependency |
npm install --save-exact lodash | Install with exact |
--save
is the default as of npm@5. Previously, using npm install
without --save
doesn’t update package.json.Install names
Command | Description |
---|---|
npm i sax | NPM package |
npm i sax@latest | Specify tag latest |
npm i [email protected] | Specify version 3.0.0 |
npm i sax@'>=1 <2.0' | Specify version range |
npm i @org/sax | Scoped NPM package |
npm i user/repo | GitHub |
npm i user/repo#master | GitHub |
npm i github:user/repo | GitHub |
npm i gitlab:user/repo | GitLab |
npm i /path/to/repo | Absolute path |
npm i ./archive.tgz | Tarball |
npm i https://site.com/archive.tgz | Tarball via HTTP |
Listing
Command | Description |
---|---|
npm list | Lists the installed versions of all dependencies in this software |
npm list -g --depth 0 | Lists the installed versions of all globally installed packages |
npm view | Lists the latest versions of all dependencies in this software |
npm outdated | Lists only the dependencies in this software which are outdated |
![Dependency Dependency](https://static.npmjs.com/338e4905a2684ca96e08c7780fc68412.png)
Updating
Command | Description |
---|---|
npm update | Update production packages |
npm update --dev | Update dev packages |
npm update -g | Update global packages |
npm update lodash | Update a package |
Misc features
Today I was listening to the NodeUp episode 70, which is all about the npm command line client. And there is tons of useful information in this episode. It is all about where npm is at the moment and what the plans are for the future. Especially the recent changes inside of the command line client are a heavy discussed topic and I highly recommend to listen to this episode, when you are dealing with npm on a daily basis.
One thing that is mentioned and really gets me excited is the change regarding the functionality to run scripts via npm which was introduced in the latest major version of npm – [email protected].
So let us reassess how to run scripts via npm, have a look at what has changed in version 2.0.0 and check why this is such a big deal.
Running scripts via npm
Npm Dependency Version Syntax Free
The configuration file for any project based on node and npm is the
package.json
. This file includes meta information like name, version and author of the depending project, but also defines all dependencies, which need to be installed via calling npm install
. If you are not familiar with this file, there is an excellent interactive cheat sheet out there and you may want to check it out.One thing to notice is that you can also run scripts and execute commands via npm. To do so you can define an optional object as the
scripts
property inside of the package.json
and define your wished commands. @substack wrote a great article about how to use this functionality extensively.There is not much magic about this.
And then you can use
npm run
to kick it off – pretty straight forward.This functionality had one downside so far. It was not able to pass arguments to the
npm run
command. And that is why you had to hardcode the arguments, which made the whole thing less flexible and harder to use. The only solution for having similar commands with different arguments was to define specific named scripts inside of the package.json
including different arguments.Passing arguments to npm run
Since version 2.0.0 it is now possible to pass arguments to the scripts defined in the
package.json
. And this is a big improvement on flexibility and makes the whole thing much more powerful. The package.json
above including two scripts running the echo
command can be combined into one and can accept the wished arguments.The syntax to pass arguments to the defined scripts is as follows. You have to use
npm run
and then devided by two dashes(--
) you can pass any arguments you like to the command.Npm Package Dependency Version Syntax
Setting up Grunt and gulp without the global dependency
Using the
echo
command might not seem really useful, but we will come to a much more useful example now. I am doing mostly frontend development and that is why in almost every project that I work on either Grunt or gulp is included. Grunt and gulp are task runners, that come with huge plugin registries to help automate any task you can think of.When you check the getting started guide of both projects you will find the instruction to install them globally. Kasak serial on dd national cast.
This is absolutely fine when you are working alone and these tools are only supposed to be executed on your machine. But when you work together with other colleagues on a project or your process includes a continuous integration system, then every global dependency can be quite troublesome. It simply moves the entry barrier a bit higher and increases the complexity to get everything up and running.
So let us have a look how to avoid that. First step is to install the needed modules in our project and not globally anymore.
By calling
npm install
npm will install the module and depending, if it has the bin
property defined, it will create a .bin
folder inside of the node_modules
folder. This means that this folder will include all defined command line interfaces of your installed modules. In this case the .bin
folder includes the binaries gulp
and grunt
.If you want to use either Grunt or gulp via the
npm run
command now, you can set them up inside of your package.json
.And then you can easily run your defined tasks with npm.
But wait, it comes even better!
To make it a bit nicer npm provides a nifty feature, when setting up custom scripts. It puts
./node_modules/.bin
in the PATH
environment, when it executes the script.This means, we can make the
package.json
a bit cleaner.For me this is pure awesomeness!
It means not only dropping a global dependency but rather simplifying the whole work and setup flow.
Getting everything up and running is not
- installing node (which will install npm also)
- installing dependencies
- installing global dependencies
- and run e.g. Grunt
anymore.
It becomes
- installing node
- installing dependencies
- and run everything via npm scripts
only.
If you want to play around with this I set up an example repository, which includes Grunt and gulp ready to use without any global installation.
Sum up
For me it is clear, that I will drop any project required global dependency that can be installed via npm in the future, because having less global dependencies just means less troubles and quicker setup.
And that is it for now and if you have any comments or ideas on that, please let me know. I hope you enjoyed it. :)