{"id":1526,"date":"2015-12-30T08:20:45","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T08:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nikola-breznjak.com\/blog\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2015-12-30T08:25:11","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T08:25:11","slug":"check-outdated-packages-via-npm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nikola-breznjak.com\/blog\/javascript\/nodejs\/check-outdated-packages-via-npm\/","title":{"rendered":"How to check for outdated packages via npm"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post I’ll show you the modules which help in finding the outdated packages via npm. This is an excerpt from the book Deploying Node.js by Sandro Pasquali<\/a>. I was a technical reviewer for this book and you can read my review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This command will list globally installed<\/strong> packages:<\/p>\n

npm root -g<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
This following command will give a full list of other dependencies in a tree list:<\/p>\n
npm list --global<\/pre>\n
There are also some aliases to this command like ls<\/em>, la<\/em>. You can learn more about it from the official documentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
This command will list outdated<\/strong>\u00a0packages:<\/p>\n
npm outdated<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
A very useful global tool for performing these sorts of checks is npm-check<\/a>, which delivers more detailed information. \u00a0You can install it with npm install npm-check<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0and run it simply by\u00a0running npm-check<\/span>. It tells you what modules are out of date and provides a link to the package’s documentation so you can decide if you want the update.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
To remove packages that are installed but no longer listed in package.json<\/strong>\u00a0file you can use the command npm prune<\/span>. Note that this is simply a technique for cleaning up the node_modules folder within an individual<\/strong> package\u2019s folder; it is not a smart, global tool for removing unused packages across the entire tree.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The dependency-check module<\/a> is a great tool for finding unnecessary packages. Once you install it you run it like this:<\/p>\n
dependency-check package.json --unused<\/pre>\n
and, if some\u00a0modules aren’t used you’ll get a message like:<\/p>\n
Fail! Modules in package.json not used in code: express<\/pre>\n
The entry point to your application has to be listed in package.json, as dependency-check needs to know the root of your application.<\/em><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The npm dedupe<\/a>\u00a0module attempts to reduce the number of redundant package installs, \u201cflattening\u201d the tree, and therefore reducing install time.<\/p>\n
\n
How to check for #outdated<\/a> #packages<\/a> via #npm<\/a> #nodejs<\/a> #node<\/a>.js https:\/\/t.co\/bNJ8aiGBmm<\/a><\/p>\n
— Nikola Bre\u017enjak (@HitmanHR) December 30, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n