What s the difference between tilde and caret in package json

Question

After I upgraded to the latest stable node and npm  I tried npm install moment --save  It saves the entry in the package json with the caret   prefix  Previously  it was a tilde   prefix   Why are these changes made in npm  What is the difference between tilde   and caret    What are the advantages over others

User · Answer

is 1  any   any   latest minor version    is 1 2  any   latest patch   A great read is this blog post on how semver applies to npm and what they re doing to make it match the semver standard http   blog npmjs org post 98131109725 npm-2-0-0

User · Answer

carat   include everything greater than a particular version in the same major range   tilde   include everything greater than a particular version in the same minor range   For example  to specify acceptable version ranges up to 1 0 4  use the following syntax    Patch releases  1 0 or 1 0 x or  1 0 4  Minor releases  1 or 1 x or  1 0 4  Major releases    or x   For more information on semantic versioning syntax  see the npm semver calculator     More from npm documentation About semantic versioning

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You probably have seen the tilde     and caret     in the package json  What is the difference between them  When you do npm install moment --save  It saves the entry in the package json with the caret     prefix  The tilde     In the simplest terms  the tilde     matches the most recent minor version  the middle number    1 2 3 will match all 1 2 x versions but will miss 1 3 0  The caret     The caret      on the other hand  is more relaxed  It will update you to the most recent major version  the first number    1 2 3 will match any 1 x x release including 1 3 0  but will hold off on 2 0 0  Reference  https   medium com  Hardy2151 caret-and-tilde-in-package-json-57f1cbbe347b

User · Answer

semver is separate in to 3 major sections which is broken by dots   major minor patch 1 0 0   These different major  minor and patch are using to identify different releases  tide     and caret     are using to identify which minor and patch version to be used in package versioning     1 0 1  Install 1 0 1 or   latest patch versions   such as 1 0 2  1 0 5  1 0 1  Install 1 0 1 or   latest patch and minor versions   such as 1 0 2  1 1 0  1 1 1

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Tilde   matches minor version  if you have installed a package that has 1 4 2 and after your installation  versions 1 4 3 and 1 4 4 are also available if in your package json it is used as  1 4 2 then npm install in your project after upgrade will install 1 4 4 in your project  But there is 1 5 0 available for that package then it will not be installed by    It is called minor version   Caret   matches major version  if 1 4 2 package is installed in your project and after your installation 1 5 0 is released then   will install major version  It will not allow to install 2 1 0 if you have  1 4 2   Fixed version if you don t want to change version of package on each installation then used fixed version with out any special character e g  1 4 2   Latest Version   If you want to install latest version then only use   in front of package name

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Reasonably close to      1 1 5  1 1 0  lt   accepted  lt  1 2 0      Compatible with      1 1 5  1 1 5  lt   accepted  lt  2 0 0      0 1 3  0 1 3  lt   accepted  lt  0 2 0      0 0 4  0 0 4  lt   accepted  lt  0 1 0

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Tilde      freezes major and minor numbers  It is used when you re ready to accept bug-fixes in your dependency  but don t want any potentially incompatible changes  The tilde matches the most recent minor version  the middle number    1 2 3 will match all 1 2 x versions  but it will miss 1 3 0  Tilde     gives you bug fix releases     Caret      freezes the major number only  It is used when you re closely watching your dependencies and are ready to quickly change your code if minor release will be incompatible  It will update you to the most recent major version  the first number    1 2 3 will match any 1 x x release including 1 3 0  but it will hold off on 2 0 0  Caret     gives you backwards-compatible new functionality as well

User · Answer

Tilde         major version is fixed  minor version is fixed  matches any build   number    express     4 13 3      4 13 3 means it will check for 4 13 x where x is anything and 4 14 0      Caret          major version is fixed  matches any minor version  matches any build   number    supertest     3 0 0     3 0 0 means it will check for 3 x x where x is anything

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Hat matching may be considered  broken  because it wont update  0 1 2 to 0 2 0  When the software is emerging use 0 x y versions and hat matching will only match the last varying digit  y   This is done on purpose  The reason is that while the software is evolving the API changes rapidly  one day you have these methods and the other day you have those methods and the old ones are gone  If you don t want to break the code for people who already are using your library you go and increment the major version  e g  1 0 0 -  2 0 0 -  3 0 0  So  by the time your software is finally 100  done and full-featured it will be like version 11 0 0 and that doesn t look very meaningful  and actually looks confusing  If you were  on the other hand  using 0 1 x -  0 2 x -  0 3 x versions then by the time the software is finally 100  done and full-featured it is released as version 1 0 0 and it means  This release is a long-term service one  you can proceed and use this version of the library in your production code  and the author won t change everything tomorrow  or next month  and he won t abandon the package    The rule is  use 0 x y versioning when your software hasn t yet matured and release it with incrementing the middle digit when your public API changes  therefore people having  0 1 0 won t get 0 2 0 update and it won t break their code   Then  when the software matures  release it under 1 0 0 and increment the leftmost digit each time your public API changes  therefore people having  1 0 0 won t get 2 0 0 update and it won t break their code    Given a version number MAJOR MINOR PATCH  increment the   MAJOR version when you make incompatible API changes  MINOR version when you add functionality in a backwards-compatible manner  and PATCH version when you make backwards-compatible bug fixes

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Related to this question you can review Composer documentation on versions  but here in short    Tilde Version Range     -  1 2 3 is equivalent to   1 2 3  lt 1 3 0 Caret Version Range     -  1 2 3 is equivalent to   1 2 3  lt 2 0 0   So  with Tilde you will get automatic updates of patches but minor and major versions will not be updated  However  if you use Caret you will get patches and minor versions  but you will not get major  breaking changes  versions   Tilde Version is considered  safer  approach  but if you are using reliable dependencies  well-maintained libraries  you should not have any problems with Caret Version  because minor changes should not be breaking changes   You should probably review this stackoverflow post about differences between composer install and composer update

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See the NPM docs and semver docs    version    Approximately equivalent to version     will update you to all future patch versions  without incrementing the minor version   1 2 3 will use releases from 1 2 3 to  lt 1 3 0    version    Compatible with version     will update you to all future minor patch versions  without incrementing the major version   2 3 4 will use releases from 2 3 4 to  lt 3 0 0    See Comments below for exceptions  in particular for pre-one versions  such as  0 2 3

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One liner explanation  The standard versioning system is major minor build  e g  2 4 1   npm checks and fixes the version of a particular package based on these characters         major version is fixed  minor version is fixed  matches any build number   e g     2 4 1 means it will check for 2 4 x where x is anything         major version is fixed  matches any minor version  matches any build number   e g     2 4 1 means it will check for 2 x x where x is anything

User · Answer

Not an answer  per se  but an observation that seems to have been overlooked   The description for carat ranges   see  https   github com npm node-semver caret-ranges-123-025-004     Allows changes that do not modify the left-most non-zero digit in the    major  minor  patch  tuple    Means that  10 2 3 matches 10 2 3  lt   v  lt  20 0 0  I don t think that s what they meant  Pulling in versions 11 x x through 19 x x will break your code   I think they meant left most non-zero number field   There is nothing in SemVer that requires number-fields to be single-digit

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Semver  lt major gt   lt minor gt   lt patch gt -beta  lt beta gt     1 2 3-beta 2   Use npm semver calculator for testing  Although the explanations for    include everything greater than a particular version in the same major range  and    include everything greater than a particular version in the same minor range  aren t a 100  correct  the calculator seems to work fine  Alternatively  use SemVer Check instead  which doesn t require you to pick a package and also offers explanations   Allow or disallow changes  Pin version  1 2 3  Use    like head   Allows updates at the second non-zero level from the left   0 2 3 means 0 2 3  lt   v  lt  0 3  Use    like tail   Generally freeze right-most level or set zero if omitted   1 means 1 0 0  lt   v  lt  2 0 0  1 2 means 1 2 0  lt   v  lt  1 3 0   1 2 4 means 1 2 4  lt   v  lt  1 3 0  Ommit right-most level  0 2 means 0 2  lt   v  lt  1  Differs from   because   Starting omitted level version is always 0 You can set starting major version without specifying sublevels     All  hopefully  possibilities Set starting major-level and allow updates upward    or  quot  empty string    any version 1                         v  gt   1  Freeze major-level  0  0             0 0  lt   v  lt  1 0 2               0 2  lt   v  lt  1             Can t do that with   or     1  1   1         1  lt   v  lt  2  1 2              1 2  lt   v  lt  2  1 2 3            1 2 3  lt   v  lt  2  1 2 3-beta 4     1 2 3-beta 4  lt   v  lt  2  Freeze minor-level  0 0  0 0         0  lt   v  lt  0 1  0 2              0 2  lt   v  lt  0 3  1 2              1 2  lt   v  lt  1 3  0 2 3   0 2 3    0 2 3  lt   v  lt  0 3  1 2 3            1 2 3  lt   v  lt  1 3  Freeze patch-level  1 2 3-beta 4     1 2 3-beta 4  lt   v  lt  1 2 4  only beta or pr allowed   0 0 3-beta       0 0 3-beta 0  lt   v  lt  0 0 4 or 0 0 3-pr 0  lt   v  lt  0 0 4  only beta or pr allowed   0 0 3-beta 4     0 0 3-beta 4  lt   v  lt  0 0 4 or 0 0 3-pr 4  lt   v  lt  0 0 4  only beta or pr allowed   Disallow updates 1 2 3             1 2 3  0 0 3  0 0 3     0 0 3  Notice  Missing major  minor  patch or specifying beta without number  is the same as any for the missing level  Notice  When you install a package which has 0 as major level  the update will only install new beta pr level version  That s because npm sets   as default in package json and when installed version is like 0 1 3  it freezes all major minor patch levels   https   docs npmjs com misc semver https   docs npmjs com files package json dependencies

User · Answer

I would like to add the official npmjs documentation as well which describes all methods for version specificity including the ones referred to in the question -   https   docs npmjs com files package json  https   docs npmjs com misc semver x-ranges-12x-1x-12-    version  Approximately equivalent to version  See npm semver - Tilde Ranges  amp  semver  7   version  Compatible with version  See npm semver - Caret Ranges  amp  semver  7  version Must match version exactly  gt version Must be greater than version  gt  version etc  lt version  lt  version 1 2 x 1 2 0  1 2 1  etc   but not 1 3 0 http   sometarballurl  this may be the URL of a tarball which will be downloaded and installed locally   Matches any version latest Obtains latest release   The above list is not exhaustive  Other version specifiers include GitHub urls and GitHub user repo s  local paths and packages with specific npm tags

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specfices to minor version releases   specifies to major version releases  For example if package version is 4 5 2  on Update  4 5 2 will install latest 4 5 x version  MINOR VERSION   4 5 2 will install latest 4 x x version  MAJOR VERSION

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The version number is in syntax which designates each section with different meaning  syntax is broken into three sections separated by a dot   major minor patch 1 0 2  Major  minor and patch represent the different releases of a package   npm uses the tilde     and caret     to designate which patch and minor versions to use respectively   So if you see  1 0 2 it means to install version 1 0 2 or the latest patch version such as 1 0 4  If you see  1 0 2 it means to install version 1 0 2 or the latest minor or patch version such as 1 1 0

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fixes major and minor numbers  It is used when you re ready to accept bug-fixes in your dependency  but don t want any potentially incompatible changes     fixes the major number only  It is used when you re closely watching your dependencies and are ready to quickly change your code if minor release will be incompatible   In addition to that    is not supported by old npm versions  and should be used with caution   So    is a good default  but it s not perfect  I suggest to carefully pick and configure the semver operator that is most useful to you

User · Answer

npm allows installing newer version of a package than the one specified  Using tilde     gives you bug fix releases and caret     gives you backwards-compatible new functionality as well    The problem is old versions usually don t receive bug fixes that much  so npm uses caret     as the default for --save     According to   Semver explained - why there s a caret     in my package json     Note that the rules apply to versions above 1 0 0 and not every project follows semantic versioning  For versions 0 x x the caret allows only patch updates  i e   it behaves the same as the tilde  See  Caret Ranges   Here s a visual explanation of the concepts         Source   Semantic Versioning Cheatsheet

[node.js] What's the difference between tilde(~) and caret(^) in package.json?

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