~ Tilde:
~freezes major and minor numbers.- It is used when you’re ready to accept bug-fixes in your dependency, but don’t want any potentially incompatible changes.
- The tilde matches the most recent minor version (the middle number).
- ~1.2.3 will match all 1.2.x versions, but it will miss 1.3.0.
- Tilde (~) gives you bug fix releases
^ Caret:
^freezes the major number only.- It is used when you’re closely watching your dependencies and are ready to quickly change your code if minor release will be incompatible.
- It will update you to the most recent major version (the first number).
- ^1.2.3 will match any 1.x.x release including 1.3.0, but it will hold off on 2.0.0.
- Caret (^) gives you backwards-compatible new functionality as well.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
~version | “Approximately equivalent to version” For example: ~1.1.5: 1.1.0 <= accepted < 1.2.0Pattern: ~ is 1.2.[any] (latest patch) |
^version | “Compatible with version” For example: ^1.1.5: 1.1.5 <= accepted < 2.0.0 ^0.1.3: 0.1.3 <= accepted < 0.2.0 ^0.0.4: 0.0.4 <= accepted < 0.1.0Pattern: ^ is 1.[any].[any] (latest minor version) |
version | Must match version exactly |
>version | Must be greater than version |
>=version | etc |
<version | |
<=version | |
1.2.x | 1.2.0, 1.2.1, etc., but not 1.3.0 |
* | Matches any version |
latest | Obtains latest release |