93 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
93 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: Package spec
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section: 7
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description: Package name specifier
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---
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### Description
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Commands like `npm install` and the dependency sections in the `package.json` use a package name specifier.
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This can be many different things that all refer to a "package". Examples include a package name, git url, tarball, or local directory.
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These will generally be referred to as `<package-spec>` in the help output for the npm commands that use this package name specifier.
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### Package name
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* `[<@scope>/]<pkg>`
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* `[<@scope>/]<pkg>@<tag>`
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* `[<@scope>/]<pkg>@<version>`
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* `[<@scope>/]<pkg>@<version range>`
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Refers to a package by name, with or without a scope, and optionally tag, version, or version range.
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This is typically used in combination with the [registry](/using-npm/config#registry) config to refer to a package in a registry.
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Examples:
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* `npm`
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* `@npmcli/arborist`
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* `@npmcli/arborist@latest`
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* `npm@6.13.1`
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* `npm@^4.0.0`
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### Aliases
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* `<alias>@npm:<name>`
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Primarily used by commands like `npm install` and in the dependency sections in the `package.json`, this refers to a package by an alias.
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The `<alias>` is the name of the package as it is reified in the `node_modules` folder, and the `<name>` refers to a package name as found in the configured registry.
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See `Package name` above for more info on referring to a package by name, and [registry](/using-npm/config#registry) for configuring which registry is used when referring to a package by name.
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Examples:
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* `semver@npm:@npmcli/semver-with-patch`
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* `semver@npm:semver@7.2.2`
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* `semver@npm:semver@legacy`
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### Folders
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* `<folder>`
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This refers to a package on the local filesystem.
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Specifically this is a folder with a `package.json` file in it.
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This *should* always be prefixed with a `/` or `./` (or your OS equivalent) to reduce confusion.
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npm currently will parse a string with more than one `/` in it as a folder, but this is legacy behavior that may be removed in a future version.
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Examples:
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* `./my-package`
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* `/opt/npm/my-package`
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### Tarballs
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* `<tarball file>`
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* `<tarball url>`
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Examples:
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* `./my-package.tgz`
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* `https://registry.npmjs.org/semver/-/semver-1.0.0.tgz`
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Refers to a package in a tarball format, either on the local filesystem or remotely via url.
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This is the format that packages exist in when uploaded to a registry.
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### git urls
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* `<git:// url>`
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* `<github username>/<github project>`
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Refers to a package in a git repo.
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This can be a full git url, git shorthand, or a username/package on GitHub.
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You can specify a git tag, branch, or other git ref by appending `#ref`.
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Examples:
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* `https://github.com/npm/cli.git`
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* `git@github.com:npm/cli.git`
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* `git+ssh://git@github.com/npm/cli#v6.0.0`
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* `github:npm/cli#HEAD`
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* `npm/cli#c12ea07`
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### See also
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* [npm-package-arg](https://npm.im/npm-package-arg)
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* [scope](/using-npm/scope)
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* [config](/using-npm/config)
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