1---
2title: npm-diff
3section: 1
4description: The registry diff command
5---
6
7### Synopsis
8
9```bash
10npm diff [...<paths>]
11```
12
13### Description
14
15Similar to its `git diff` counterpart, this command will print diff patches
16of files for packages published to the npm registry.
17
18* `npm diff --diff=<spec-a> --diff=<spec-b>`
19
20    Compares two package versions using their registry specifiers, e.g:
21    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@^2.0.0`. It's also possible to
22    compare across forks of any package,
23    e.g: `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg-fork@1.0.0`.
24
25    Any valid spec can be used, so that it's also possible to compare
26    directories or git repositories,
27    e.g: `npm diff --diff=pkg@latest --diff=./packages/pkg`
28
29    Here's an example comparing two different versions of a package named
30    `abbrev` from the registry:
31
32    ```bash
33    npm diff --diff=abbrev@1.1.0 --diff=abbrev@1.1.1
34    ```
35
36    On success, output looks like:
37
38    ```bash
39    diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
40    index v1.1.0..v1.1.1 100644
41    --- a/package.json
42    +++ b/package.json
43    @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
44     {
45       "name": "abbrev",
46    -  "version": "1.1.0",
47    +  "version": "1.1.1",
48       "description": "Like ruby's abbrev module, but in js",
49       "author": "Isaac Z. Schlueter <i@izs.me>",
50       "main": "abbrev.js",
51    ```
52
53    Given the flexible nature of npm specs, you can also target local
54    directories or git repos just like when using `npm install`:
55
56    ```bash
57    npm diff --diff=https://github.com/npm/libnpmdiff --diff=./local-path
58    ```
59
60    In the example above we can compare the contents from the package installed
61    from the git repo at `github.com/npm/libnpmdiff` with the contents of the
62    `./local-path` that contains a valid package, such as a modified copy of
63    the original.
64
65* `npm diff` (in a package directory, no arguments):
66
67    If the package is published to the registry, `npm diff` will fetch the
68    tarball version tagged as `latest` (this value can be configured using the
69    `tag` option) and proceed to compare the contents of files present in that
70    tarball, with the current files in your local file system.
71
72    This workflow provides a handy way for package authors to see what
73    package-tracked files have been changed in comparison with the latest
74    published version of that package.
75
76* `npm diff --diff=<pkg-name>` (in a package directory):
77
78    When using a single package name (with no version or tag specifier) as an
79    argument, `npm diff` will work in a similar way to
80    [`npm-outdated`](npm-outdated) and reach for the registry to figure out
81    what current published version of the package named `<pkg-name>`
82    will satisfy its dependent declared semver-range. Once that specific
83    version is known `npm diff` will print diff patches comparing the
84    current version of `<pkg-name>` found in the local file system with
85    that specific version returned by the registry.
86
87    Given a package named `abbrev` that is currently installed:
88
89    ```bash
90    npm diff --diff=abbrev
91    ```
92
93    That will request from the registry its most up to date version and
94    will print a diff output comparing the currently installed version to this
95    newer one if the version numbers are not the same.
96
97* `npm diff --diff=<spec-a>` (in a package directory):
98
99    Similar to using only a single package name, it's also possible to declare
100    a full registry specifier version if you wish to compare the local version
101    of an installed package with the specific version/tag/semver-range provided
102    in `<spec-a>`.
103
104    An example: assuming `pkg@1.0.0` is installed in the current `node_modules`
105    folder, running:
106
107    ```bash
108    npm diff --diff=pkg@2.0.0
109    ```
110
111    It will effectively be an alias to
112    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@2.0.0`.
113
114* `npm diff --diff=<semver-a> [--diff=<semver-b>]` (in a package directory):
115
116    Using `npm diff` along with semver-valid version numbers is a shorthand
117    to compare different versions of the current package.
118
119    It needs to be run from a package directory, such that for a package named
120    `pkg` running `npm diff --diff=1.0.0 --diff=1.0.1` is the same as running
121    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@1.0.1`.
122
123    If only a single argument `<version-a>` is provided, then the current local
124    file system is going to be compared against that version.
125
126    Here's an example comparing two specific versions (published to the
127    configured registry) of the current project directory:
128
129    ```bash
130    npm diff --diff=1.0.0 --diff=1.1.0
131    ```
132
133Note that tag names are not valid `--diff` argument values, if you wish to
134compare to a published tag, you must use the `pkg@tagname` syntax.
135
136#### Filtering files
137
138It's possible to also specify positional arguments using file names or globs
139pattern matching in order to limit the result of diff patches to only a subset
140of files for a given package, e.g:
141
142  ```bash
143  npm diff --diff=pkg@2 ./lib/ CHANGELOG.md
144  ```
145
146In the example above the diff output is only going to print contents of files
147located within the folder `./lib/` and changed lines of code within the
148`CHANGELOG.md` file.
149
150### Configuration
151
152#### `diff`
153
154* Default:
155* Type: String (can be set multiple times)
156
157Define arguments to compare in `npm diff`.
158
159
160
161#### `diff-name-only`
162
163* Default: false
164* Type: Boolean
165
166Prints only filenames when using `npm diff`.
167
168
169
170#### `diff-unified`
171
172* Default: 3
173* Type: Number
174
175The number of lines of context to print in `npm diff`.
176
177
178
179#### `diff-ignore-all-space`
180
181* Default: false
182* Type: Boolean
183
184Ignore whitespace when comparing lines in `npm diff`.
185
186
187
188#### `diff-no-prefix`
189
190* Default: false
191* Type: Boolean
192
193Do not show any source or destination prefix in `npm diff` output.
194
195Note: this causes `npm diff` to ignore the `--diff-src-prefix` and
196`--diff-dst-prefix` configs.
197
198
199
200#### `diff-src-prefix`
201
202* Default: "a/"
203* Type: String
204
205Source prefix to be used in `npm diff` output.
206
207
208
209#### `diff-dst-prefix`
210
211* Default: "b/"
212* Type: String
213
214Destination prefix to be used in `npm diff` output.
215
216
217
218#### `diff-text`
219
220* Default: false
221* Type: Boolean
222
223Treat all files as text in `npm diff`.
224
225
226
227#### `global`
228
229* Default: false
230* Type: Boolean
231
232Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the `prefix`
233folder instead of the current working directory. See
234[folders](/configuring-npm/folders) for more on the differences in behavior.
235
236* packages are installed into the `{prefix}/lib/node_modules` folder, instead
237  of the current working directory.
238* bin files are linked to `{prefix}/bin`
239* man pages are linked to `{prefix}/share/man`
240
241
242
243#### `tag`
244
245* Default: "latest"
246* Type: String
247
248If you ask npm to install a package and don't tell it a specific version,
249then it will install the specified tag.
250
251Also the tag that is added to the package@version specified by the `npm tag`
252command, if no explicit tag is given.
253
254When used by the `npm diff` command, this is the tag used to fetch the
255tarball that will be compared with the local files by default.
256
257
258
259#### `workspace`
260
261* Default:
262* Type: String (can be set multiple times)
263
264Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the
265current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by
266this configuration option.
267
268Valid values for the `workspace` config are either:
269
270* Workspace names
271* Path to a workspace directory
272* Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all
273  workspaces within that folder)
274
275When set for the `npm init` command, this may be set to the folder of a
276workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a
277brand new workspace within the project.
278
279This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
280
281#### `workspaces`
282
283* Default: null
284* Type: null or Boolean
285
286Set to true to run the command in the context of **all** configured
287workspaces.
288
289Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like `install` to
290ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
291
292- Commands that operate on the `node_modules` tree (install, update, etc.)
293will link workspaces into the `node_modules` folder. - Commands that do
294other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project,
295_unless_ one or more workspaces are specified in the `workspace` config.
296
297This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
298
299#### `include-workspace-root`
300
301* Default: false
302* Type: Boolean
303
304Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
305
306When false, specifying individual workspaces via the `workspace` config, or
307all workspaces via the `workspaces` flag, will cause npm to operate only on
308the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
309
310This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
311## See Also
312
313* [npm outdated](/commands/npm-outdated)
314* [npm install](/commands/npm-install)
315* [npm config](/commands/npm-config)
316* [npm registry](/using-npm/registry)
317