---
title: npm-diff
section: 1
description: The registry diff command
---

### Synopsis

```bash
npm diff [...<paths>]
npm diff --diff=<pkg-name> [...<paths>]
npm diff --diff=<version-a> [--diff=<version-b>] [...<paths>]
npm diff --diff=<spec-a> [--diff=<spec-b>] [...<paths>]
npm diff [--diff-ignore-all-space] [--diff-name-only] [...<paths>]
```

### Description

Similar to its `git diff` counterpart, this command will print diff patches
of files for packages published to the npm registry.

* `npm diff --diff=<spec-a> --diff=<spec-b>`

    Compares two package versions using their registry specifiers, e.g:
    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@^2.0.0`. It's also possible to
    compare across forks of any package,
    e.g: `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg-fork@1.0.0`.

    Any valid spec can be used, so that it's also possible to compare
    directories or git repositories,
    e.g: `npm diff --diff=pkg@latest --diff=./packages/pkg`

    Here's an example comparing two different versions of a package named
    `abbrev` from the registry:

    ```bash
    npm diff --diff=abbrev@1.1.0 --diff=abbrev@1.1.1
    ```

    On success, output looks like:

    ```bash
    diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
    index v1.1.0..v1.1.1 100644
    --- a/package.json
    +++ b/package.json
    @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
     {
       "name": "abbrev",
    -  "version": "1.1.0",
    +  "version": "1.1.1",
       "description": "Like ruby's abbrev module, but in js",
       "author": "Isaac Z. Schlueter <i@izs.me>",
       "main": "abbrev.js",
    ```

    Given the flexible nature of npm specs, you can also target local
    directories or git repos just like when using `npm install`:

    ```bash
    npm diff --diff=https://github.com/npm/libnpmdiff --diff=./local-path
    ```

    In the example above we can compare the contents from the package installed
    from the git repo at `github.com/npm/libnpmdiff` with the contents of the
    `./local-path` that contains a valid package, such as a modified copy of
    the original.

* `npm diff` (in a package directory, no arguments):

    If the package is published to the registry, `npm diff` will fetch the
    tarball version tagged as `latest` (this value can be configured using the
    `tag` option) and proceed to compare the contents of files present in that
    tarball, with the current files in your local file system.

    This workflow provides a handy way for package authors to see what
    package-tracked files have been changed in comparison with the latest
    published version of that package.

* `npm diff --diff=<pkg-name>` (in a package directory):

    When using a single package name (with no version or tag specifier) as an
    argument, `npm diff` will work in a similar way to
    [`npm-outdated`](npm-outdated) and reach for the registry to figure out
    what current published version of the package named `<pkg-name>`
    will satisfy its dependent declared semver-range. Once that specific
    version is known `npm diff` will print diff patches comparing the
    current version of `<pkg-name>` found in the local file system with
    that specific version returned by the registry.

    Given a package named `abbrev` that is currently installed:

    ```bash
    npm diff --diff=abbrev
    ```

    That will request from the registry its most up to date version and
    will print a diff output comparing the currently installed version to this
    newer one if the version numbers are not the same.

* `npm diff --diff=<spec-a>` (in a package directory):

    Similar to using only a single package name, it's also possible to declare
    a full registry specifier version if you wish to compare the local version
    of an installed package with the specific version/tag/semver-range provided
    in `<spec-a>`.

    An example: assuming `pkg@1.0.0` is installed in the current `node_modules`
    folder, running:

    ```bash
    npm diff --diff=pkg@2.0.0
    ```

    It will effectively be an alias to
    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@2.0.0`.

* `npm diff --diff=<semver-a> [--diff=<semver-b>]` (in a package directory):

    Using `npm diff` along with semver-valid version numbers is a shorthand
    to compare different versions of the current package.

    It needs to be run from a package directory, such that for a package named
    `pkg` running `npm diff --diff=1.0.0 --diff=1.0.1` is the same as running
    `npm diff --diff=pkg@1.0.0 --diff=pkg@1.0.1`.

    If only a single argument `<version-a>` is provided, then the current local
    file system is going to be compared against that version.

    Here's an example comparing two specific versions (published to the
    configured registry) of the current project directory:

    ```bash
    npm diff --diff=1.0.0 --diff=1.1.0
    ```

Note that tag names are not valid `--diff` argument values, if you wish to
compare to a published tag, you must use the `pkg@tagname` syntax.

#### Filtering files

It's possible to also specify positional arguments using file names or globs
pattern matching in order to limit the result of diff patches to only a subset
of files for a given package, e.g:

  ```bash
  npm diff --diff=pkg@2 ./lib/ CHANGELOG.md
  ```

In the example above the diff output is only going to print contents of files
located within the folder `./lib/` and changed lines of code within the
`CHANGELOG.md` file.

### Configuration

<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS START -->
<!-- automatically generated, do not edit manually -->
#### `diff`

* Default:
* Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Define arguments to compare in `npm diff`.

#### `diff-name-only`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Prints only filenames when using `npm diff`.

#### `diff-unified`

* Default: 3
* Type: Number

The number of lines of context to print in `npm diff`.

#### `diff-ignore-all-space`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Ignore whitespace when comparing lines in `npm diff`.

#### `diff-no-prefix`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Do not show any source or destination prefix in `npm diff` output.

Note: this causes `npm diff` to ignore the `--diff-src-prefix` and
`--diff-dst-prefix` configs.

#### `diff-src-prefix`

* Default: "a/"
* Type: String

Source prefix to be used in `npm diff` output.

#### `diff-dst-prefix`

* Default: "b/"
* Type: String

Destination prefix to be used in `npm diff` output.

#### `diff-text`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Treat all files as text in `npm diff`.

#### `global`

* Default: false
* Type: Boolean

Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the `prefix`
folder instead of the current working directory. See
[folders](/configuring-npm/folders) for more on the differences in behavior.

* packages are installed into the `{prefix}/lib/node_modules` folder, instead
  of the current working directory.
* bin files are linked to `{prefix}/bin`
* man pages are linked to `{prefix}/share/man`

#### `tag`

* Default: "latest"
* Type: String

If you ask npm to install a package and don't tell it a specific version,
then it will install the specified tag.

Also the tag that is added to the package@version specified by the `npm tag`
command, if no explicit tag is given.

When used by the `npm diff` command, this is the tag used to fetch the
tarball that will be compared with the local files by default.

<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS END -->
## See Also

* [npm outdated](/commands/npm-outdated)
* [npm install](/commands/npm-install)
* [npm config](/commands/npm-config)
* [npm registry](/using-npm/registry)
