---
name: "npm-ls"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "npm"
version: "9.2.0~ds1-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/npm-ls"
---

# npm-ls(1)

## NAME

**npm-ls**

## Synopsis

\<!-- AUTOGENERATED USAGE DESCRIPTIONS --\>

## Description

This command will print to stdout all the versions of packages that are\
 installed, as well as their dependencies when **--all** is specified, in a\
 tree structure.

Note: to get a "bottoms up" view of why a given package is included in the\
 tree at all, use **npm explain**.

Positional arguments are **name@version-range** identifiers, which will limit\
 the results to only the paths to the packages named.  Note that nested\
 packages will *also* show the paths to the specified packages.  For\
 example, running **npm ls promzard** in npm's source tree will show:

```
npm@@VERSION@ /path/to/npm
└─┬ init-package-json@0.0.4
  └── promzard@0.1.5
```

It will print out extraneous, missing, and invalid packages.

If a project specifies git urls for dependencies these are shown\
 in parentheses after the **name@version** to make it easier for users to\
 recognize potential forks of a project.

The tree shown is the logical dependency tree, based on package\
 dependencies, not the physical layout of your **node\_modules** folder.

When run as **ll** or **la**, it shows extended information by default.

## Note: Design Changes Pending

The **npm ls** command's output and behavior made a *ton* of sense when npm\
 created a **node\_modules** folder that naively nested every dependency.  In\
 such a case, the logical dependency graph and physical tree of packages on\
 disk would be roughly identical.

With the advent of automatic install-time deduplication of dependencies in\
 npm v3, the **ls** output was modified to display the logical dependency\
 graph as a tree structure, since this was more useful to most users.\
 However, without using **npm ls -l**, it became impossible to show *where* a\
 package was actually installed much of the time!

With the advent of automatic installation of **peerDependencies** in npm v7,\
 this gets even more curious, as **peerDependencies** are logically\
 "underneath" their dependents in the dependency graph, but are always\
 physically at or above their location on disk.

Also, in the years since npm got an **ls** command (in version 0.0.2!),\
 dependency graphs have gotten much larger as a general rule.  Therefore, in\
 order to avoid dumping an excessive amount of content to the terminal, **npm ls** now only shows the *top* level dependencies, unless **--all** is\
 provided.

A thorough re-examination of the use cases, intention, behavior, and output\
 of this command, is currently underway.  Expect significant changes to at\
 least the default human-readable **npm ls** output in npm v8.

## Configuration

\<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS --\>

## See Also

- •

  package spec

- •

  npm explain

- •

  npm config

- •

  npmrc

- •

  npm folders

- •

  npm explain

- •

  npm install

- •

  npm link

- •

  npm prune

- •

  npm outdated

- •

  npm update