+ +

npm-update

Update a package

SYNOPSIS

npm update [-g] [<name> [<name> ...]]
+
+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.

As of npm@2.6.1, the npm update will only inspect top-level packages. +Prior versions of npm would also recursively inspect all dependencies. +To get the old behavior, use npm --depth 9999 update.

EXAMPLES

IMPORTANT VERSION NOTE: these examples assume npm@2.6.1 or later. For +older versions of npm, you must specify --depth 0 to get the behavior +described below.

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 does 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)

Recording Updates with `--save`

When you want to update a package and save the new version as +the minimum required dependency in package.json, you can use +npm update --save. For example if package.json contains

"dependencies": {
+  "dep1": "^1.1.1"
+}
+

Then npm update --save will install dep1@1.2.2 (i.e., latest), +and package.json will be modified:

"dependencies": {
+  "dep1": "^1.2.2"
+}
+

Note that npm will only write an updated version to package.json +if it installs a new package.

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 +latest.

NOTE: If a package has been upgraded to a version newer than latest, it will +be downgraded.