rm-node_modules

A shell script to find and delete all node_modules directories recursively within a given path.

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• About
• Requirements
• Install and Update
  • Installing manually
• Usage
  • Examples
  • Configure default Behavior
• FAQ
  • Why not use a Oneliner?
  • Could you add support for Windows Command Prompt?
• Screenshots
  • Default Output
  • Output with Disk Usage
• License and Author

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About

Working with node.js projects for some time, your disk will be filled with node_modules directories taking up quite some space.

rm-node_modules finds them, lists them and deletes them in a quick and convenient way, while optionally determining the potentially freed disk space.

Requirements

rm-node_modules should work with every Linux or Mac platform where bash is available.
(Although, bash doesn't have to be your default shell.)

If you experience any problems, please create an issue.

Install and Update

To install and/or update the latest version, simply run the following command:

bash <(curl -so- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/simbo/rm-node_modules/master/install)

This will install the latest release of rm-node_modules to $HOME/bin.

Afterwards, you can run the script using rm-node_modules or rmnm.

Installing manually

Download ./rm-node_modules and put it anywhere you want.

Make sure, it's within your $PATH.

Make it executable: chmod +x ./rm-node_modules

And optionally link it with a short alias: ln -s ./rm-node_modules rmnm

Usage

Usage:  rmnm [-yuv] [-d <DIR> | -c <DIR>]

"Search for node_modules directories within given path and delete them."

Options:
  -d <DIR>  directory to search within
            (default: current directory or configured default directory)
  -y        delete without confirmation
  -u        determine disk usage; enable by default when using together with -c
  -c <DIR>  configure default directory to search within
  -v        display version info only

Examples

# run within configured default directory or current working directory
rmnm
# run within current working directory
rmnm -d .
# run with displaying disk usage
rmnm -u
# run with auto-confirming deletion
rmnm -y
# run with auto-confirming deletion and displaying disk usage
rmnm -uy
# run within ~/projects
rmnm -d ~/projects
# run within ~/projects and displaying disk usage
rmnm -u -d ~/projects
# run within ~/projects, display disk usage and auto-confirm deletion
rmnm -uy -d ~/projects

Configure default Behavior

You can optionally configure default behavior, which will be saved to $HOME/.rm-node_modules-defaults.

# usage:
rmnm -c <DIR> [-u]

# set a default base directory and disable determining disk usage by default:
rmnm -c ~/projects

# set a default base directory and enable determining disk usage by default:
rmnm -c ~/projects -u

If no default directory is configured and no directory is given via the -d option, the current working directory will be used.

FAQ

Why not use a Oneliner?

There are oneliners like the following known in the node.js world, which find and delete node_modules directories within the current path:

find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec rm -rf '{}' +

Although, this is a quite simple way to achieve almost the same outcome, there are some downsides:

• You may destroy some of your applications!
  Running a command like this in the wrong place, may break some of your apps (e.g. vscode plugins, chrome apps or the yarn cache).
  rm-node_modules will warn you, when you are using the script for example with your home directory as base directory.

• You won't know beforehand what directories are affected!
  Again, you might delete or destroy things accidentally.
  rm-node_modules will list affected directories and wait for your confirmation before removing them.

Could you add support for Windows Command Prompt?

No.
Get a real shell for f@#k's sake.

Screenshots

Default Output

Output with Disk Usage

License and Author

MIT © Simon Lepel