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How do I use npm to show the latest version of a module? I am expecting something like npm --latest express to print out v3.0.0.

Jesse
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Trantor Liu
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8 Answers8

619

You can use:

npm view {pkg} version

(so npm view express version will return now 3.0.0rc3).

jsejcksn
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CD..
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305

If you're looking for the current and the latest versions of all your installed packages, you can also use:

npm outdated

adius
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    I've looked at the whole post at least 5 times when I need to get the latest version of packages and I had never seen this, but it seems easier than running a number of other commands to check if you have libraries out of date – Ruan Mendes Oct 07 '16 at 13:18
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    to learn what the columns mean: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32689865/npm-wanted-vs-latest – adamdport May 09 '17 at 14:11
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    a nice video explains how `outdated` and `update` work from NPM https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/updating-local-packages – XY L Sep 10 '18 at 05:21
  • THIS IS THE MOST USEFUL! I wish `npm update` would just run this too - so I can at least see the latest versions. When you only run these commands once a month or so it's hard to remember all the options. – Simon_Weaver Apr 03 '19 at 01:38
  • Except never mind - no it isn't. It shows me a completely blank column for latest, where I know some things have newer major versions :-/ – Simon_Weaver Apr 03 '19 at 01:40
  • Given how many users have found this answer helpful. Would it make sense to append this answer to the selected one? – mrOak Nov 01 '21 at 23:03
  • this *seems* to just show outdated packages in a project, how to show outdated globally installed packages? – user1063287 Dec 01 '21 at 04:25
101

As of October 2014:

npm view illustration

For latest remote version:

npm view <module_name> version

Note, version is singular.

If you'd like to see all available (remote) versions, then do:

npm view <module_name> versions

Note, versions is plural. This will give you the full listing of versions to choose from.

To get the version you actually have locally you could use:

npm list --depth=0 | grep <module_name>

Note, even with package.json declaring your versions, the installed version might actually differ slightly - for instance if tilda was used in the version declaration

Should work across NPM versions 1.3.x, 1.4.x, 2.x and 3.x

arcseldon
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    How would you get the last entry in `npm view versions`? – Raine Revere Dec 08 '14 at 03:10
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    `npm view versions` command is very useful. + we can install a specific version of a package using `npm install @` – efkan Dec 19 '14 at 12:20
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    The last command, it's such an ugly and a challenging thing to remember. I wonder why they have not come up with a shorthand for that? for the local version or same as the other two, but with a `-L` (lowercase optional)? – Val Feb 29 '16 at 11:59
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You can see all the version of a module with npm view. eg: To list all versions of bootstrap including beta.

npm view bootstrap versions

But if the version list is very big it will truncate. An --json option will print all version including beta versions as well.

npm view bootstrap versions --json

If you want to list only the stable versions not the beta then use singular version

npm view bootstrap@* versions

Or 

npm view bootstrap@* versions --json

And, if you want to see only latest version then here you go.

npm view bootstrap version
perror
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Rajkeshwar Prasad
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10

The npm view <pkg> version prints the last version by release date. That might very well be an hotfix release for a older stable branch at times.

The solution is to list all versions and fetch the last one by version number

$ npm view <pkg> versions --json | jq -r '.[-1]'

Or with awk instead of jq:

$ npm view <pkg> versions --json  | awk '/"$/{print gensub("[ \"]", "", "G")}'
Andrea Ratto
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    I was in this exact case, and this answer was the most helpful to me! Thank you so much! Btw, you have a typo in the second example, you are missing the word `versions` before `--json` – slax57 Sep 19 '22 at 08:05
5

There is also another easy way to check the latest version without going to NPM if you are using VS Code.

In package.json file check for the module you want to know the latest version. Remove the current version already present there and do CTRL + space or CMD + space(mac).The VS code will show the latest versions

image shows the latest versions of modules in vscode

Sksaif Uddin
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4

This npm-check-updates package will help you to update and check the latest available package.

  • $ ncu Checking package.json
  • $ ncu -u Update all packages.
  • $ ncu -g Check global packages.

For more details check this link

https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-check-updates

George John
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0

I just want to see the commithub current version and I find the way! Let's take a look together

npm list commithub version -g

This gives this output

/Users/hasan.tezcan/.nvm/versions/node/v14.18.0/lib
└── commithub@0.0.1

But I just want to see the version in output

npm list --depth=0 commithub -g | awk '/commithub@/{gsub(/.*@/, "", $NF); print $NF}'

After that I can able to see only version that is amazing

0.0.1
Hasan Tezcan
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