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<h1 id="package-spec">package-spec</h1>
<span class="description">Package name specifier</span>
</header>

<section id="table_of_contents">
<h2 id="table-of-contents">Table of contents</h2>
<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>
</section>

<div id="_content"><h3 id="description">Description</h3>
<p>Commands like <code>npm install</code> and the dependency sections in the
<code>package.json</code> use a package name specifier.  This can be many different
things that all refer to a "package".  Examples include a package name,
git url, tarball, or local directory.  These will generally be referred
to as <code>&lt;package-spec&gt;</code> in the help output for the npm commands that use
this package name specifier.</p>
<h3 id="package-name">Package name</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;</code></li>
<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;tag&gt;</code></li>
<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;version&gt;</code></li>
<li><code>[&lt;@scope&gt;/]&lt;pkg&gt;@&lt;version range&gt;</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Refers to a package by name, with or without a scope, and optionally
tag, version, or version range.  This is typically used in combination
with the <a href="../using-npm/config#registry.html">registry</a> config to refer to a
package in a registry.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>npm</code></li>
<li><code>@npmcli/arborist</code></li>
<li><code>@npmcli/arborist@latest</code></li>
<li><code>npm@6.13.1</code></li>
<li><code>npm@^4.0.0</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="aliases">Aliases</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>&lt;alias&gt;@npm:&lt;name&gt;</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Primarily used by commands like <code>npm install</code> and in the dependency
sections in the <code>package.json</code>, this refers to a package by an alias.
The <code>&lt;alias&gt;</code> is the name of the package as it is reified in the
<code>node_modules</code> folder, and the <code>&lt;name&gt;</code> refers to a package name as
found in the configured registry.</p>
<p>See <code>Package name</code> above for more info on referring to a package by
name, and <a href="../using-npm/config#registry.html">registry</a> for configuring which
registry is used when referring to a package by name.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>semver:@npm:@npmcli/semver-with-patch</code></li>
<li><code>semver:@npm:semver@7.2.2</code></li>
<li><code>semver:@npm:semver@legacy</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="folders">Folders</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>&lt;folder&gt;</code></li>
</ul>
<p>This refers to a package on the local filesystem.  Specifically this is
a folder with a <code>package.json</code> file in it.  This <em>should</em> always be
prefixed with a <code>/</code> or <code>./</code> (or your OS equivalent) to reduce confusion.
npm currently will parse a string with more than one <code>/</code> in it as a
folder, but this is legacy behavior that may be removed in a future
version.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>./my-package</code></li>
<li><code>/opt/npm/my-package</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="tarballs">Tarballs</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>&lt;tarball file&gt;</code></li>
<li><code>&lt;tarball url&gt;</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>./my-package.tgz</code></li>
<li><code>https://registry.npmjs.org/semver/-/semver-1.0.0.tgz</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Refers to a package in a tarball format, either on the local filesystem
or remotely via url.  This is the format that packages exist in when
uploaded to a registry.</p>
<h3 id="git-urls">git urls</h3>
<ul>
<li><code>&lt;git:// url&gt;</code></li>
<li><code>&lt;github username&gt;/&lt;github project&gt;</code></li>
</ul>
<p>Refers to a package in a git repo.  This can be a full git url, git
shorthand, or a username/package on GitHub.  You can specify a
git tag, branch, or other git ref by appending <code>#ref</code>.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>https://github.com/npm/cli.git</code></li>
<li><code>git@github.com:npm/cli.git</code></li>
<li><code>git+ssh://git@github.com/npm/cli#v6.0.0</code></li>
<li><code>github:npm/cli#HEAD</code></li>
<li><code>npm/cli#c12ea07</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="see-also">See also</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://npm.im/npm-package-arg">npm-package-arg</a></li>
<li><a href="../using-npm/scope.html">scope</a></li>
<li><a href="../using-npm/config.html">config</a></li>
</ul></div>

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