Description
The npm query
commmand exposes a new dependency selector syntax (informed by & respecting many aspects of the CSS Selectors 4 Spec) which:
- Standardizes the shape of, & querying of, dependency graphs with a robust object model, metadata & selector syntax
- Leverages existing, known language syntax & operators from CSS to make disparate package information broadly accessible
- Unlocks the ability to answer complex, multi-faceted questions about dependencies, their relationships & associative metadata
- Consolidates redundant logic of similar query commands in
npm
(ex. npm fund
, npm ls
, npm outdated
, npm audit
...)
Dependency Selector Syntax v1.0.0
Overview:
- there is no "type" or "tag" selectors (ex.
div, h1, a
) as a dependency/target is the only type of Node
that can be queried
- the term "dependencies" is in reference to any
Node
found in a tree
returned by Arborist
Combinators
>
direct descendant/child
any descendant/child
~
sibling
Selectors
*
universal selector
#<name>
dependency selector (equivalent to [name="..."]
)
#<name>@<version>
(equivalent to [name=<name>]:semver(<version>)
)
,
selector list delimiter
.
dependency type selector
:
pseudo selector
Dependency Type Selectors
.prod
dependency found in the dependencies
section of package.json
, or is a child of said dependency
.dev
dependency found in the devDependencies
section of package.json
, or is a child of said dependency
.optional
dependency found in the optionalDependencies
section of package.json
, or has "optional": true
set in its entry in the peerDependenciesMeta
section of package.json
, or a child of said dependency
.peer
dependency found in the peerDependencies
section of package.json
.workspace
dependency found in the workspaces
section of package.json
.bundled
dependency found in the bundleDependencies
section of package.json
, or is a child of said dependency
Pseudo Selectors
:not(<selector>)
:has(<selector>)
:is(<selector list>)
:root
matches the root node/dependency
:scope
matches node/dependency it was queried against
:empty
when a dependency has no dependencies
:private
when a dependency is private
:link
when a dependency is linked (for instance, workspaces or packages manually linked
:deduped
when a dependency has been deduped (note that this does not always mean the dependency has been hoisted to the root of node_modules)
:overridden
when a dependency has been overridden
:extraneous
when a dependency exists but is not defined as a dependency of any node
:invalid
when a dependency version is out of its ancestors specified range
:missing
when a dependency is not found on disk
:semver(<spec>)
matching a valid node-semver
spec
:path(<path>)
glob matching based on dependencies path relative to the project
:type(<type>)
based on currently recognized types
The attribute selector evaluates the key/value pairs in package.json
if they are String
s.
[]
attribute selector (ie. existence of attribute)
[attribute=value]
attribute value is equivalant...
[attribute~=value]
attribute value contains word...
[attribute*=value]
attribute value contains string...
[attribute|=value]
attribute value is equal to or starts with...
[attribute^=value]
attribute value starts with...
[attribute$=value]
attribute value ends with...
Array
& Object
Attribute Selectors
The generic :attr()
pseudo selector standardizes a pattern which can be used for attribute selection of Object
s, Array
s or Arrays
of Object
s accessible via Arborist
's Node.package
metadata. This allows for iterative attribute selection beyond top-level String
evaluation. The last argument passed to :attr()
must be an attribute
selector or a nested :attr()
. See examples below:
Objects
/* return dependencies that have a `scripts.test` containing `"tap"` */
*:attr(scripts, [test~=tap])
Nested Objects
Nested objects are expressed as sequential arguments to :attr()
.
/* return dependencies that have a testling config for opera browsers */
*:attr(testling, browsers, [~=opera])
Arrays
Array
s specifically uses a special/reserved .
character in place of a typical attribute name. Arrays
also support exact value
matching when a String
is passed to the selector.
Example of an Array
Attribute Selection:
/* removes the distinction between properties & arrays */
/* ie. we'd have to check the property & iterate to match selection */
*:attr([keywords^=react])
*:attr(contributors, :attr([name~=Jordan]))
Example of an Array
matching directly to a value:
/* return dependencies that have the exact keyword "react" */
/* this is equivalent to `*:keywords([value="react"])` */
*:attr([keywords=react])
Example of an Array
of Object
s:
/* returns */
*:attr(contributors, [email=ruyadorno@github.com])
Groups
Dependency groups are defined by the package relationships to their ancestors (ie. the dependency types that are defined in package.json
). This approach is user-centric as the ecosystem has been taught to think about dependencies in these groups first-and-foremost. Dependencies are allowed to be included in multiple groups (ex. a prod
dependency may also be a dev
dependency (in that it's also required by another dev
dependency) & may also be bundled
- a selector for that type of dependency would look like: *.prod.dev.bundled
).
.prod
.dev
.optional
.peer
.bundled
.workspace
Please note that currently workspace
deps are always prod
dependencies. Additionally the .root
dependency is also considered a prod
dependency.
Programmatic Usage
Arborist
's Node
Class has a .querySelectorAll()
method
- this method will return a filtered, flattened dependency Arborist
Node
list based on a valid query selector
const Arborist = require('@npmcli/arborist')
const arb = new Arborist({})
// root-level
arb.loadActual().then(async (tree) => {
// query all production dependencies
const results = await tree.querySelectorAll('.prod')
console.log(results)
})
// iterative
arb.loadActual().then(async (tree) => {
// query for the deduped version of react
const results = await tree.querySelectorAll('#react:not(:deduped)')
// query the deduped react for git deps
const deps = await results[0].querySelectorAll(':type(git)')
console.log(deps)
})
See Also