Skip to main content
Deno 2 is finally here 🎉️
Learn more
Module

std/semver/mod.ts

Deno standard library
Go to Latest
The Standard Library has been moved to JSR. See the blog post for details.
import * as mod from "https://deno.land/std@0.180.0/semver/mod.ts";

The semantic version parser.

Adapted directly from semver.

Versions

A "version" is described by the v2.0.0 specification found at https://semver.org.

A leading "=" or "v" character is stripped off and ignored.

Ranges

A version range is a set of comparators which specify versions that satisfy the range.

A comparator is composed of an operator and a version. The set of primitive operators is:

  • < Less than
  • <= Less than or equal to
  • > Greater than
  • >= Greater than or equal to
  • = Equal. If no operator is specified, then equality is assumed, so this operator is optional, but MAY be included.

For example, the comparator >=1.2.7 would match the versions 1.2.7, 1.2.8, 2.5.3, and 1.3.9, but not the versions 1.2.6 or 1.1.0.

Comparators can be joined by whitespace to form a comparator set, which is satisfied by the intersection of all of the comparators it includes.

A range is composed of one or more comparator sets, joined by ||. A version matches a range if and only if every comparator in at least one of the ||-separated comparator sets is satisfied by the version.

For example, the range >=1.2.7 <1.3.0 would match the versions 1.2.7, 1.2.8, and 1.2.99, but not the versions 1.2.6, 1.3.0, or 1.1.0.

The range 1.2.7 || >=1.2.9 <2.0.0 would match the versions 1.2.7, 1.2.9, and 1.4.6, but not the versions 1.2.8 or 2.0.0.

Prerelease Tags

If a version has a prerelease tag (for example, 1.2.3-alpha.3) then it will only be allowed to satisfy comparator sets if at least one comparator with the same [major, minor, patch] tuple also has a prerelease tag.

For example, the range >1.2.3-alpha.3 would be allowed to match the version 1.2.3-alpha.7, but it would not be satisfied by 3.4.5-alpha.9, even though 3.4.5-alpha.9 is technically "greater than" 1.2.3-alpha.3 according to the SemVer sort rules. The version range only accepts prerelease tags on the 1.2.3 version. The version 3.4.5 would satisfy the range, because it does not have a prerelease flag, and 3.4.5 is greater than 1.2.3-alpha.7.

The purpose for this behavior is twofold. First, prerelease versions frequently are updated very quickly, and contain many breaking changes that are (by the author"s design) not yet fit for public consumption. Therefore, by default, they are excluded from range matching semantics.

Second, a user who has opted into using a prerelease version has clearly indicated the intent to use that specific set of alpha/beta/rc versions. By including a prerelease tag in the range, the user is indicating that they are aware of the risk. However, it is still not appropriate to assume that they have opted into taking a similar risk on the next set of prerelease versions.

Note that this behavior can be suppressed (treating all prerelease versions as if they were normal versions, for the purpose of range matching) by setting the includePrerelease flag on the options object to any functions that do range matching.

Prerelease Identifiers

The method .increment takes an additional identifier string argument that will append the value of the string as a prerelease identifier:

semver.increment("1.2.3", "prerelease", "beta");
// "1.2.4-beta.0"

Build Metadata

Build metadata has no affect on comparisons and must be a . delimited alpha-numeric string. When parsing a version it is retained on the build: string[] field of the semver instance. When incrementing there is an additional parameter that can set the build metadata on the semver instance.

To print the full version including build metadata you must call semver.format({ style: "full" }).

For compatibility reasons the .version field will not contain the build metadata, you can only get a full version string by calling the format function.

Advanced Range Syntax

Advanced range syntax desugars to primitive comparators in deterministic ways.

Advanced ranges may be combined in the same way as primitive comparators using white space or ||.

Hyphen Ranges X.Y.Z - A.B.C

Specifies an inclusive set.

  • 1.2.3 - 2.3.4 := >=1.2.3 <=2.3.4

If a partial version is provided as the first version in the inclusive range, then the missing pieces are replaced with zeroes.

  • 1.2 - 2.3.4 := >=1.2.0 <=2.3.4

If a partial version is provided as the second version in the inclusive range, then all versions that start with the supplied parts of the tuple are accepted, but nothing that would be greater than the provided tuple parts.

  • 1.2.3 - 2.3 := >=1.2.3 <2.4.0
  • 1.2.3 - 2 := >=1.2.3 <3.0.0

X-Ranges 1.2.x 1.X 1.2.* *

Any of X, x, or * may be used to "stand in" for one of the numeric values in the [major, minor, patch] tuple.

  • * := >=0.0.0 (Any version satisfies)
  • 1.x := >=1.0.0 <2.0.0 (Matching major version)
  • 1.2.x := >=1.2.0 <1.3.0 (Matching major and minor versions)

A partial version range is treated as an X-Range, so the special character is in fact optional.

  • "" (empty string) := * := >=0.0.0
  • 1 := 1.x.x := >=1.0.0 <2.0.0
  • 1.2 := 1.2.x := >=1.2.0 <1.3.0

Tilde Ranges ~1.2.3 ~1.2 ~1

Allows patch-level changes if a minor version is specified on the comparator. Allows minor-level changes if not.

  • ~1.2.3 := >=1.2.3 <1.(2+1).0 := >=1.2.3 <1.3.0
  • ~1.2 := >=1.2.0 <1.(2+1).0 := >=1.2.0 <1.3.0 (Same as 1.2.x)
  • ~1 := >=1.0.0 <(1+1).0.0 := >=1.0.0 <2.0.0 (Same as 1.x)
  • ~0.2.3 := >=0.2.3 <0.(2+1).0 := >=0.2.3 <0.3.0
  • ~0.2 := >=0.2.0 <0.(2+1).0 := >=0.2.0 <0.3.0 (Same as 0.2.x)
  • ~0 := >=0.0.0 <(0+1).0.0 := >=0.0.0 <1.0.0 (Same as 0.x)
  • ~1.2.3-beta.2 := >=1.2.3-beta.2 <1.3.0 Note that prereleases in the 1.2.3 version will be allowed, if they are greater than or equal to beta.2. So, 1.2.3-beta.4 would be allowed, but 1.2.4-beta.2 would not, because it is a prerelease of a different [major, minor, patch] tuple.

Caret Ranges ^1.2.3 ^0.2.5 ^0.0.4

Allows changes that do not modify the left-most non-zero element in the [major, minor, patch] tuple. In other words, this allows patch and minor updates for versions 1.0.0 and above, patch updates for versions 0.X >=0.1.0, and no updates for versions 0.0.X.

Many authors treat a 0.x version as if the x were the major "breaking-change" indicator.

Caret ranges are ideal when an author may make breaking changes between 0.2.4 and 0.3.0 releases, which is a common practice. However, it presumes that there will not be breaking changes between 0.2.4 and 0.2.5. It allows for changes that are presumed to be additive (but non-breaking), according to commonly observed practices.

  • ^1.2.3 := >=1.2.3 <2.0.0
  • ^0.2.3 := >=0.2.3 <0.3.0
  • ^0.0.3 := >=0.0.3 <0.0.4
  • ^1.2.3-beta.2 := >=1.2.3-beta.2 <2.0.0 Note that prereleases in the 1.2.3 version will be allowed, if they are greater than or equal to beta.2. So, 1.2.3-beta.4 would be allowed, but 1.2.4-beta.2 would not, because it is a prerelease of a different [major, minor, patch] tuple.
  • ^0.0.3-beta := >=0.0.3-beta <0.0.4 Note that prereleases in the 0.0.3 version only will be allowed, if they are greater than or equal to beta. So, 0.0.3-pr.2 would be allowed.

When parsing caret ranges, a missing patch value desugars to the number 0, but will allow flexibility within that value, even if the major and minor versions are both 0.

  • ^1.2.x := >=1.2.0 <2.0.0
  • ^0.0.x := >=0.0.0 <0.1.0
  • ^0.0 := >=0.0.0 <0.1.0

A missing minor and patch values will desugar to zero, but also allow flexibility within those values, even if the major version is zero.

  • ^1.x := >=1.0.0 <2.0.0
  • ^0.x := >=0.0.0 <1.0.0

Range Grammar

Putting all this together, here is a Backus-Naur grammar for ranges, for the benefit of parser authors:

range-set  ::= range ( logical-or range ) *
logical-or ::= ( " " ) * "||" ( " " ) *
range      ::= hyphen | simple ( " " simple ) * | ""
hyphen     ::= partial " - " partial
simple     ::= primitive | partial | tilde | caret
primitive  ::= ( "<" | ">" | ">=" | "<=" | "=" ) partial
partial    ::= xr ( "." xr ( "." xr qualifier ? )? )?
xr         ::= "x" | "X" | "*" | nr
nr         ::= "0" | ["1"-"9"] ( ["0"-"9"] ) *
tilde      ::= "~" partial
caret      ::= "^" partial
qualifier  ::= ( "-" pre )? ( "+" build )?
pre        ::= parts
build      ::= parts
parts      ::= part ( "." part ) *
part       ::= nr | [-0-9A-Za-z]+

Note that, since ranges may be non-contiguous, a version might not be greater than a range, less than a range, or satisfy a range! For example, the range 1.2 <1.2.9 || >2.0.0 would have a hole from 1.2.9 until 2.0.0, so the version 1.2.10 would not be greater than the range (because 2.0.1 satisfies, which is higher), nor less than the range (since 1.2.8 satisfies, which is lower), and it also does not satisfy the range.

If you want to know if a version satisfies or does not satisfy a range, use the satisfies function.

This module is browser compatible.

Examples

Example 1

import * as semver from "https://deno.land/std@0.180.0/semver/mod.ts";

semver.valid("1.2.3"); // "1.2.3"
semver.valid("a.b.c"); // null
semver.satisfies("1.2.3", "1.x || >=2.5.0 || 5.0.0 - 7.2.3"); // true
semver.gt("1.2.3", "9.8.7"); // false
semver.lt("1.2.3", "9.8.7"); // true
semver.minVersion(">=1.0.0"); // "1.0.0"

Functions

Pass in a comparison string, and it'll call the corresponding comparison function. "===" and "!==" do simple string comparison, but are included for completeness. Throws if an invalid comparison string is provided.

Returns 0 if v1 == v2, or 1 if v1 is greater, or -1 if v2 is greater. Sorts in ascending order if passed to Array.sort(),

The same as compare but considers build when two versions are equal. Sorts in ascending order if passed to Array.sort().

Returns difference between two versions by the release type (major, premajor, minor, preminor, patch, prepatch, or prerelease), or null if the versions are the same.

This is true if they're logically equivalent, even if they're not the exact same string.

Greater than comparison

Greater than or equal comparison

Returns true if version is greater than all the versions possible in the range.

Returns the version incremented by the release type (major, minor, patch, or prerelease), or null if it's not valid.

Returns true if the two supplied ranges or comparators intersect.

Less than comparison

Less than or equal comparison

Returns true if version is less than all the versions possible in the range.

Returns the major version number.

Returns the highest version in the list that satisfies the range, or null if none of them do.

Returns the minor version number.

Returns the lowest version in the list that satisfies the range, or null if none of them do.

Returns the lowest version that can possibly match the given range.

This is true if they're not logically equivalent, even if they're the exact same string.

Returns true if the version is outside the bounds of the range in either the high or low direction. The hilo argument must be either the string '>' or '<'. (This is the function called by gtr and ltr.)

Attempt to parse a string as a semantic version, returning either a SemVer object or null.

Returns the patch version number.

Returns an array of prerelease components, or null if none exist.

Returns 0 if v1 == v2, or -1 if v1 is greater, or 1 if v2 is greater. Sorts in descending order if passed to Array.sort(),

Returns true if the version satisfies the range.

Returns the parsed version, or null if it's not valid.

Returns the valid range or null if it's not valid.

Type Aliases

The semantic version parser.