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132npm command-line interface
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139<h1 id="package-spec">package-spec</h1>
140<span class="description">Package name specifier</span>
141</header>
142
143<section id="table_of_contents">
144<h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents</h2>
145<div id="_table_of_contents"><ul><li><a href="#description">Description</a></li><li><a href="#package-name">Package name</a></li><li><a href="#aliases">Aliases</a></li><li><a href="#folders">Folders</a></li><li><a href="#tarballs">Tarballs</a></li><li><a href="#git-urls">git urls</a></li><li><a href="#see-also">See also</a></li></ul></div>
146</section>
147
148<div id="_content"><h3 id="description">Description</h3>
149<p>Commands like <code>npm install</code> and the dependency sections in the
150<code>package.json</code> use a package name specifier.  This can be many different
151things that all refer to a "package".  Examples include a package name,
152git url, tarball, or local directory.  These will generally be referred
153to as <code>&lt;package-spec&gt;</code> in the help output for the npm commands that use
154this package name specifier.</p>
155<h3 id="package-name">Package name</h3>
156<ul>
157<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;</code></li>
158<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;tag&gt;</code></li>
159<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;version&gt;</code></li>
160<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;version range&gt;</code></li>
161</ul>
162<p>Refers to a package by name, with or without a scope, and optionally
163tag, version, or version range.  This is typically used in combination
164with the <a href="../using-npm/config#registry.html">registry</a> config to refer to a
165package in a registry.</p>
166<p>Examples:</p>
167<ul>
168<li><code>npm</code></li>
169<li><code>@npmcli/arborist</code></li>
170<li><code>@npmcli/arborist@latest</code></li>
171<li><code>npm@6.13.1</code></li>
172<li><code>npm@^4.0.0</code></li>
173</ul>
174<h3 id="aliases">Aliases</h3>
175<ul>
176<li><code>&lt;alias&gt;@npm:&lt;name&gt;</code></li>
177</ul>
178<p>Primarily used by commands like <code>npm install</code> and in the dependency
179sections in the <code>package.json</code>, this refers to a package by an alias.
180The <code>&lt;alias&gt;</code> is the name of the package as it is reified in the
181<code>node_modules</code> folder, and the <code>&lt;name&gt;</code> refers to a package name as
182found in the configured registry.</p>
183<p>See <code>Package name</code> above for more info on referring to a package by
184name, and <a href="../using-npm/config#registry.html">registry</a> for configuring which
185registry is used when referring to a package by name.</p>
186<p>Examples:</p>
187<ul>
188<li><code>semver:@npm:@npmcli/semver-with-patch</code></li>
189<li><code>semver:@npm:semver@7.2.2</code></li>
190<li><code>semver:@npm:semver@legacy</code></li>
191</ul>
192<h3 id="folders">Folders</h3>
193<ul>
194<li><code>&lt;folder&gt;</code></li>
195</ul>
196<p>This refers to a package on the local filesystem.  Specifically this is
197a folder with a <code>package.json</code> file in it.  This <em>should</em> always be
198prefixed with a <code>/</code> or <code>./</code> (or your OS equivalent) to reduce confusion.
199npm currently will parse a string with more than one <code>/</code> in it as a
200folder, but this is legacy behavior that may be removed in a future
201version.</p>
202<p>Examples:</p>
203<ul>
204<li><code>./my-package</code></li>
205<li><code>/opt/npm/my-package</code></li>
206</ul>
207<h3 id="tarballs">Tarballs</h3>
208<ul>
209<li><code>&lt;tarball file&gt;</code></li>
210<li><code>&lt;tarball url&gt;</code></li>
211</ul>
212<p>Examples:</p>
213<ul>
214<li><code>./my-package.tgz</code></li>
215<li><code>https://registry.npmjs.org/semver/-/semver-1.0.0.tgz</code></li>
216</ul>
217<p>Refers to a package in a tarball format, either on the local filesystem
218or remotely via url.  This is the format that packages exist in when
219uploaded to a registry.</p>
220<h3 id="git-urls">git urls</h3>
221<ul>
222<li><code>&lt;git:// url&gt;</code></li>
223<li><code>&lt;github username&gt;/&lt;github project&gt;</code></li>
224</ul>
225<p>Refers to a package in a git repo.  This can be a full git url, git
226shorthand, or a username/package on GitHub.  You can specify a
227git tag, branch, or other git ref by appending <code>#ref</code>.</p>
228<p>Examples:</p>
229<ul>
230<li><code>https://github.com/npm/cli.git</code></li>
231<li><code>git@github.com:npm/cli.git</code></li>
232<li><code>git+ssh://git@github.com/npm/cli#v6.0.0</code></li>
233<li><code>github:npm/cli#HEAD</code></li>
234<li><code>npm/cli#c12ea07</code></li>
235</ul>
236<h3 id="see-also">See also</h3>
237<ul>
238<li><a href="https://npm.im/npm-package-arg">npm-package-arg</a></li>
239<li><a href="../using-npm/scope.html">scope</a></li>
240<li><a href="../using-npm/config.html">config</a></li>
241</ul></div>
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