What is sort-package-json?
The sort-package-json npm package is a utility that automatically sorts the properties in package.json files according to a standard convention. This helps in maintaining consistency and readability in package.json files across different projects.
What are sort-package-json's main functionalities?
Sorting package.json
This feature sorts the keys in a package.json object. It takes an unsorted package.json object as input and returns a string with the keys sorted in a standard order.
const sortPackageJson = require('sort-package-json');
const sortedContent = sortPackageJson(JSON.stringify(packageJsonObject));
CLI Usage
sort-package-json can be used directly from the command line to sort the package.json file in the current directory. This is useful for quick formatting without writing any JavaScript code.
npx sort-package-json
API Usage
The package provides an API that can be used in Node.js scripts. This example reads a package.json file, sorts it, and then writes the sorted JSON back to the file.
const fs = require('fs');
const sortPackageJson = require('sort-package-json');
const packageJson = fs.readFileSync('package.json', 'utf8');
const sortedPackageJson = sortPackageJson(packageJson);
fs.writeFileSync('package.json', sortedPackageJson);
Other packages similar to sort-package-json
prettier-package-json
prettier-package-json is a package that formats package.json files. It sorts the keys and formats the JSON structure. It is similar to sort-package-json but also includes formatting capabilities that adhere to Prettier's styling rules.
fixpack
fixpack is a package that not only sorts the keys in package.json but also validates and fixes missing or incorrect fields. It is more opinionated than sort-package-json and includes additional checks for common issues in package.json files.
Sort Package.json
Pass it a JSON string, it'll return a new JSON string, sorted by the keys typically found in a package.json
Pass it an object, it'll return an object sorted by the keys typically found in a package.json
JSON.stringify(sortPackageJson({
dependencies: {},
version: '1.0.0',
keywords: ['thing'],
name: 'foo',
}), null, 2)
Install Permanently
API
npm install --save sort-package-json
CLI
npm install --global sort-package-json
CLI Usage:
$ cd my-project
$ cat package.json
{
"dependencies": {},
"version": "1.0.0",
"keywords": [
"thing"
],
"name": "foo"
}
$ npm i -g sort-package-json
$ sort-package-json
/my-project/package.json is sorted!
$ cat package.json
{
"name": "foo",
"version": "1.0.0",
"keywords": [
"thing"
],
"dependencies": {}
}
sort-package-json
also supports arguments - so you can give it a bunch of package.json file(s) to sort.
$ sort-package-json packages/*/package.json
$ sort-package-json my-package/package.json other-package/package.json
Run (with npm@5.2+)
npx sort-package-json
Visual Studio Code Extension
https://github.com/unional/vscode-sort-package-json
ESLint Rule with Autofix
https://github.com/kellyselden/eslint-plugin-json-files#supported-rules
Supported Libraries
Automatically Sort
The package.json file can be sorted automatically before commiting, install husky
and lint-staged
and add the following to the package.json file:
{
"husky": {
"hooks": {
"pre-commit": "lint-staged"
}
},
"lint-staged": {
"package.json": [
"sort-package-json",
"git add"
]
}
}
PFAQ: Potential Frequently Asked Questions
How does it sort?
It sorts using sort-object-keys
. It sorts using the well-known keys of a package.json. For the full list it's just easier to read the code. It sorts sub-keys too - sometimes by a well-known order, other times alphabetically. The initial order was derived from the package.json docs with a few extras added for good measure.
It doesn't sort X?
Cool. Send a PR! It might get denied if it is a specific vendor key of an unpopular project (e.g. "my-super-unknown-project"
). We sort keys like "browserify" because it is a project with millions of users. If your project has, say, over 100 users, then we'll add it. Sound fair?
Isn't this just like Project X?
Could be. I wanted this one because at the time of writing, nothing is:
- Zero config
- Able to be used in a library
- Quiet (i.e. not spitting out annoying log messages, when used in a library mode)
What?! Why would you want to do this?!
Well, it's nice to have the keys of a package.json in a well sorted order. Almost everyone would agree having "name" at the top of a package.json is sensible (rather than sorted alphabetically or somewhere silly like the bottom), so why not the rest of the package.json?