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What is semantic versioning and how do ^, ~, and exact versions behave?

Q: What is semantic versioning and how do ^, ~, and exact versions behave?

**TL;DR.** **SemVer** is MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH : bump **MAJOR** for breaking changes, **MINOR** for backward-compatible features, **PATCH** for fixes. In ranges, ^1.2.3 allows minor+patch ( <2.0.0 ), ~1.2.3 allows patch only ( <1.3.0 ), and 1.2.3 pins exactly. ^1.2.3 minor + patch 1.2.3 … <2.0.0 npm default ~1.2.3

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MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH and the range operators in package.json.

nodejsnpmsemverversioning

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Ranges and what they accept

{
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^4.19.0",   // 4.19.0 up to <5.0.0
    "left-pad": "~1.3.0",   // 1.3.0 up to <1.4.0
    "react":   "18.2.0"     // exactly 18.2.0
  }
}

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