55 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
55 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: npm
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---
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## npm
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npm is a package manager and is used to install and manage dependencies.
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npm is central to the vibrant JavaScript (and specifically the Node.js) community, by making module and code reusability across projects very simple.
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Currently, npm has upwards of 500,000 available packages.
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npm is useful not only for server-side projects. Most popular front-end libraries like Bootstrap and Font Awesome are available too.
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**Note:**
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* npm comes out of the box with Node.js so it's necessary to install Node.js first
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* npm has no full form because of its usage beyond Node.js specific projects. It was formerly called Node Package Manager.
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### npm Usage
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npm is commonly used from the command line. The commands given below are arguably the most important ones to get you started:
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```
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npm init
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```
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Running this command in your project's root directory initializes it for use with npm by creating a `package.json` file. You will be prompted for the
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project's name, description, author's name and more. This information is then used to populate the `package.json` file, which will also hold the
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information about the project's dependencies and requirements. You can alter that information manually later.
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```
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npm install [name-of-package]
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```
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This installs a package and all its dependencies automatically, and saves it in the `package.json` file. If you are installing a development dependency,
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you may want to use the `--save-dev` or `-D` switch. npm will then save the package as a development dependency.
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Packages are installed locally in the `node_modules` directory in your project's root directory. Sometimes you may want to have a package available across
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different projects. This is done with the `--global` or `-g` switch. This is often useful for development tools and command line utilities.
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```
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npm install
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```
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Running npm install in a project's root directory without a specific package name, installs all the dependencies required for that project. Those are
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calculated according to the project's `package.json` file, therefore it is necessary to make sure that the project's root folder contains it. This demonstrates the power of npm, where a single command can fetch tens or hundreds of
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dependencies automatically for you, and is useful when you `git clone` a repository, for example (also, due to this feature local repositories can sometimes take a lot of disk space).
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#### More Information:
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* Node.js website: <a href='https://nodejs.org' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>nodejs</a>
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* The official website of npm, you can read about npm as well as search for the different available packages: <a href='https://www.npmjs.com' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>npmjs</a>
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* Read more about npm: <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_(software)' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Wikipedia</a>
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* A Beginner's Guide to npm: <a href='https://www.sitepoint.com/beginners-guide-node-package-manager/' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>sitepoint</a>
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* If you want a comprehensive video series, check this out: <a href='https://youtu.be/6fj0cpmMiVg' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>youtube</a>
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* And here's the official series from npm: <a href='https://youtu.be/pa4dc480Apo' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>youtube</a>
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