Difference between tilde ( ~ ) and caret ( ^ ) in package.json

Last Updated : 14 Aug, 2024

In package.json, the tilde (~) and caret (^) symbols are used to specify the version range for dependencies, controlling how updates are handled when you run npm install or yarn install. Tilde allows only the patch version upgrades avoiding the minor updates while caret allows updates to patch as well as minor versions.

Table of Content

Tilde (~) notation
Caret (^) notation
Difference between tilde (~) and caret (^) in package.json
Conclusion

When we open our package.json file and search for the dependency property and in there we find the packages that are listed as a nested object of the dependency property package-name:package-version. Now look at the package version, we find some numbers separated by three dots.

NPM versions follow a three-number format, separated by dots. The leftmost number signifies the major release, the second one represents the minor release, and the third number denotes the patch release of the package.

Syntax: The syntax of the npm version looks like the following.

// package-name:  Major.Minor.Patch

"express": "~4.16.3" // tilde for patch updates
"express": "^4.16.3" //  caret for flexible updates

Tilde (~) notation

The tilde (~) notation is employed to match the latest patch version while freezing the major and minor versions. This notation is useful for automatically accepting bug fixes, considering that patch updates primarily address bugs.

Example: The ~1.2.0 will update all the future patch updates. We have to write just ~1.2.0 and all the next patch update dependencies. For example, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.5...............1.2.x.

Note: Patch updates are very small security changes in a package that is why the ~version is approximately equivalent to the version.

Use ~ when you want to avoid minor version updates but still receive patch updates for bug fixes.

Caret (^) notation

It automatically updates both minor and patch updates.

Example: The ^1.2.4 will update all the future Minor and patch updates, for example, ^1.2.4 will automatically change the dependency to 1.x.x if any update occurs.

Using caret notation it is important to look at our code regularly if it is compatible with the newest version or not.

Use ^ when you want to allow minor updates that may add features but avoid major updates that could introduce breaking changes.