npm-ls - List installed packages Synopsis npm ls [[<@scope>/]<pkg> ...] alias: list Description This command will print to stdout all the versions of packages that are installed, as well as their dependencies when --all is specified, in a tree structure. Note: to get a "bottoms up" view of why a given package is included in the tree at all, use npm help explain. Positional arguments are name@version-range identifiers, which will limit the results to only the paths to the packages named. Note that nested packages will also show the paths to the specified packages. For example, running npm ls promzard in npm's source tree will show: npm@8.8.0 /path/to/npm init-package-json@0.0.4 promzard@0.1.5 It will print out extraneous, missing, and invalid packages. If a project specifies git urls for dependencies these are shown in parentheses after the name@version to make it easier for users to rec- ognize potential forks of a project. The tree shown is the logical dependency tree, based on package depen- dencies, not the physical layout of your node_modules folder. When run as ll or la, it shows extended information by default. Note: Design Changes Pending The npm ls command's output and behavior made a ton of sense when npm created a node_modules folder that naively nested every dependency. In such a case, the logical dependency graph and physical tree of packages on disk would be roughly identical. With the advent of automatic install-time deduplication of dependencies in npm v3, the ls output was modified to display the logical dependency graph as a tree structure, since this was more useful to most users. However, without using npm ls -l, it became impossible show where a package was actually installed much of the time! With the advent of automatic installation of peerDependencies in npm v7, this gets even more curious, as peerDependencies are logically "underneath" their dependents in the dependency graph, but are always physically at or above their location on disk. Also, in the years since npm got an ls command (in version 0.0.2!), dependency graphs have gotten much larger as a general rule. There- fore, in order to avoid dumping an excessive amount of content to the terminal, npm ls now only shows the top level dependencies, unless --all is provided. A thorough re-examination of the use cases, intention, behavior, and output of this command, is currently underway. Expect significant changes to at least the default human-readable npm ls output in npm v8. Configuration all o Default: false o Type: Boolean When running npm outdated and npm ls, setting --all will show all out- dated or installed packages, rather than only those directly depended upon by the current project. json o Default: false o Type: Boolean Whether or not to output JSON data, rather than the normal output. o In npm pkg set it enables parsing set values with JSON.parse() before saving them to your package.json. Not supported by all npm commands. long o Default: false o Type: Boolean Show extended information in ls, search, and help-search. parseable o Default: false o Type: Boolean Output parseable results from commands that write to standard output. For npm search, this will be tab-separated table format. global o Default: false o Type: Boolean Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the pre- fix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help fold- ers for more on the differences in behavior. o packages are installed into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder, instead of the current working directory. o bin files are linked to {prefix}/bin o man pages are linked to {prefix}/share/man depth o Default: Infinity if --all is set, otherwise 1 o Type: null or Number The depth to go when recursing packages for npm ls. If not set, npm ls will show only the immediate dependencies of the root project. If --all is set, then npm will show all dependencies by default. omit o Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'pro- duction', otherwise empty. o Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times) Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk. Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the pack- age-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file. They are just not physically installed on disk. If a package type appears in both the --include and --omit lists, then it will be included. If the resulting omit list includes 'dev', then the NODE_ENV environ- ment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle scripts. link o Default: false o Type: Boolean Used with npm ls, limiting output to only those packages that are linked. package-lock-only o Default: false o Type: Boolean If set to true, the current operation will only use the pack- age-lock.json, ignoring node_modules. For update this means only the package-lock.json will be updated, instead of checking node_modules and downloading dependencies. For list this means the output will be based on the tree described by the package-lock.json, rather than the contents of node_modules. unicode o Default: false on windows, true on mac/unix systems with a unicode locale, as defined by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment vari- ables. o Type: Boolean When set to true, npm uses unicode characters in the tree output. When false, it uses ascii characters instead of unicode glyphs. workspace o Default: o Type: String (can be set multiple times) Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option. Valid values for the workspace config are either: o Workspace names o Path to a workspace directory o Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder) When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project. This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. workspaces o Default: null o Type: null or Boolean Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured workspaces. Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly: o Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the workspace config. This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. include-workspace-root o Default: false o Type: Boolean Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command. When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config, or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project. This value is not exported to the environment for child processes. install-links o Default: false o Type: Boolean When set file: protocol dependencies that exist outside of the project root will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces. See Also o npm help explain o npm help config o npm help npmrc o npm help folders o npm help explain o npm help install o npm help link o npm help prune o npm help outdated o npm help update
Please see following description for synopsis
NPM-LS(1) NPM-LS(1)
NAME
npm-ls - List installed packages
Synopsis
npm ls [[<@scope>/]<pkg> ...]
alias: list
Description
This command will print to stdout all the versions of packages that are
installed, as well as their dependencies when --all is specified, in a
tree structure.
Note: to get a "bottoms up" view of why a given package is included in
the tree at all, use npm help explain.
Positional arguments are name@version-range identifiers, which will
limit the results to only the paths to the packages named. Note that
nested packages will also show the paths to the specified packages.
For example, running npm ls promzard in npm's source tree will show:
npm@8.8.0 /path/to/npm
init-package-json@0.0.4
promzard@0.1.5
It will print out extraneous, missing, and invalid packages.
If a project specifies git urls for dependencies these are shown in
parentheses after the name@version to make it easier for users to rec-
ognize potential forks of a project.
The tree shown is the logical dependency tree, based on package depen-
dencies, not the physical layout of your node_modules folder.
When run as ll or la, it shows extended information by default.
Note: Design Changes Pending
The npm ls command's output and behavior made a ton of sense when npm
created a node_modules folder that naively nested every dependency. In
such a case, the logical dependency graph and physical tree of packages
on disk would be roughly identical.
With the advent of automatic install-time deduplication of dependencies
in npm v3, the ls output was modified to display the logical dependency
graph as a tree structure, since this was more useful to most users.
However, without using npm ls -l, it became impossible show where a
package was actually installed much of the time!
With the advent of automatic installation of peerDependencies in npm
v7, this gets even more curious, as peerDependencies are logically
"underneath" their dependents in the dependency graph, but are always
physically at or above their location on disk.
Also, in the years since npm got an ls command (in version 0.0.2!),
dependency graphs have gotten much larger as a general rule. There-
fore, in order to avoid dumping an excessive amount of content to the
terminal, npm ls now only shows the top level dependencies, unless
--all is provided.
A thorough re-examination of the use cases, intention, behavior, and
output of this command, is currently underway. Expect significant
changes to at least the default human-readable npm ls output in npm v8.
Configuration
all
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
When running npm outdated and npm ls, setting --all will show all out-
dated or installed packages, rather than only those directly depended
upon by the current project.
json
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Whether or not to output JSON data, rather than the normal output.
o In npm pkg set it enables parsing set values with JSON.parse() before
saving them to your package.json.
Not supported by all npm commands.
long
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Show extended information in ls, search, and help-search.
parseable
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Output parseable results from commands that write to standard output.
For npm search, this will be tab-separated table format.
global
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the pre-
fix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help fold-
ers for more on the differences in behavior.
o packages are installed into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder,
instead of the current working directory.
o bin files are linked to {prefix}/bin
o man pages are linked to {prefix}/share/man
depth
o Default: Infinity if --all is set, otherwise 1
o Type: null or Number
The depth to go when recursing packages for npm ls.
If not set, npm ls will show only the immediate dependencies of the
root project. If --all is set, then npm will show all dependencies by
default.
omit
o Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'pro-
duction', otherwise empty.
o Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)
Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.
Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the pack-
age-lock.json or npm-shrinkwrap.json file. They are just not physically
installed on disk.
If a package type appears in both the --include and --omit lists, then
it will be included.
If the resulting omit list includes 'dev', then the NODE_ENV environ-
ment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle scripts.
link
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Used with npm ls, limiting output to only those packages that are
linked.
package-lock-only
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
If set to true, the current operation will only use the pack-
age-lock.json, ignoring node_modules.
For update this means only the package-lock.json will be updated,
instead of checking node_modules and downloading dependencies.
For list this means the output will be based on the tree described by
the package-lock.json, rather than the contents of node_modules.
unicode
o Default: false on windows, true on mac/unix systems with a unicode
locale, as defined by the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG environment vari-
ables.
o Type: Boolean
When set to true, npm uses unicode characters in the tree output. When
false, it uses ascii characters instead of unicode glyphs.
workspace
o Default:
o Type: String (can be set multiple times)
Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of
the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces
defined by this configuration option.
Valid values for the workspace config are either:
o Workspace names
o Path to a workspace directory
o Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all
workspaces within that folder)
When set for the npm init command, this may be set to the folder of a
workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up
as a brand new workspace within the project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
workspaces
o Default: null
o Type: null or Boolean
Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured
workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to
ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
o Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update,
etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder. - Commands
that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the
root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in the
workspace config.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
include-workspace-root
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config,
or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate
only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
install-links
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
When set file: protocol dependencies that exist outside of the project
root will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of
creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces.
See Also
o npm help explain
o npm help config
o npm help npmrc
o npm help folders
o npm help explain
o npm help install
o npm help link
o npm help prune
o npm help outdated
o npm help update
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | runtime/nodejs/nodejs-18 |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Pass-thru volatile |
+---------------+--------------------------+
NOTES
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from https://github.com/nodejs/node/ar-
chive/v18.1.0.zip.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at https://github.com/nodejs/node.
April 2022 NPM-LS(1)