npm-update
Update packagesTable of contents
Synopsis
npm update [-g] [<pkg>...]
aliases: up, upgrade
Description
This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version
(specified by the tag config), respecting semver.
It will also install missing packages. As with all commands that install
packages, the --dev flag will cause devDependencies to be processed
as well.
If the -g flag is specified, this command will update globally installed
packages.
If no package name is specified, all packages in the specified location (global or local) will be updated.
Example
For the examples below, assume that the current package is app and it depends
on dependencies, dep1 (dep2, .. etc.). The published versions of dep1
are:
{
"dist-tags": { "latest": "1.2.2" },
"versions": [
"1.2.2",
"1.2.1",
"1.2.0",
"1.1.2",
"1.1.1",
"1.0.0",
"0.4.1",
"0.4.0",
"0.2.0"
]
}
Caret Dependencies
If app’s package.json contains:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^1.1.1"
}
Then npm update will install dep1@1.2.2, because 1.2.2 is latest and
1.2.2 satisfies ^1.1.1.
Tilde Dependencies
However, if app’s package.json contains:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "~1.1.1"
}
In this case, running npm update will install dep1@1.1.2. Even though the
latest tag points to 1.2.2, this version do not satisfy ~1.1.1, which is
equivalent to >=1.1.1 <1.2.0. So the highest-sorting version that satisfies
~1.1.1 is used, which is 1.1.2.
Caret Dependencies below 1.0.0
Suppose app has a caret dependency on a version below 1.0.0, for example:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^0.2.0"
}
npm update will install dep1@0.2.0, because there are no other
versions which satisfy ^0.2.0.
If the dependence were on ^0.4.0:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^0.4.0"
}
Then npm update will install dep1@0.4.1, because that is the highest-sorting
version that satisfies ^0.4.0 (>= 0.4.0 <0.5.0)
Updating Globally-Installed Packages
npm update -g will apply the update action to each globally installed
package that is outdated – that is, has a version that is different from
wanted.
Note: Globally installed packages are treated as if they are installed with a
caret semver range specified. So if you require to update to latest you may
need to run npm install -g [<pkg>...]
NOTE: If a package has been upgraded to a version newer than latest, it will
be downgraded.