How to Delete ALL node_modules folders on your machine and Free up HD space!
Originally published on the Trilon Blog on Aug 7, 2019.
Whenever we work on a new project we need to run npm install
, but how often do we think about the toll this takes on our hard-drive?
A single node_modules
folder can take up anywhere from 200+ megabytes of space.
Now take a look at your github/
folder, or wherever else you're storing the majority of your projects, and you can start to see where some of your free hard-drive space has gone!
I recently tweeted about this, as it’s something I use every few months and wanted to share with others who might have ran into the same situation themselves!
List all node_modules found in a Directory:
First, let’s take a look at ALL the node_modules we have in a directory, before we actually start deleting them!
NOTE: Make sure you cd into a specific directory where most of your projects are. ie:
documents
ordocuments/github
.
Mac / Linux:
This command will also show us how much space the folder is occupying as well!
$ cd documents
$ find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune | xargs du -chs--- Example output ---255M ./Github/Trilon.io/node_modules
482M ./Github/Some_Demo/node_modules
707M total
Windows:
$ cd documents
$ FOR /d /r . %d in (node_modules) DO @IF EXIST "%d" echo %d"
This list will give you a good idea of just the sheer amount of projects you have installed on your machine!
Delete all node_modules found in a Directory:
NOTE: Use caution here, and make sure that you are in a directory where you’re comfortable removing all the instances of node_modules, run the script above to see a full list of them all before deleting.
This script is actually very similar to the one above, but we’re going to be utilizing rm -rf
to completely delete them.
WARNING: This process is irreversible!
Mac / Linux:
$ cd documents
$ find . -name "node_modules" -type d -prune -exec rm -rf '{}' +
Windows:
$ cd documents
$ FOR /d /r . %d in (node_modules) DO @IF EXIST "%d" rm -rf "%d"
There we have it!
For me personally, this typically clears out about 40–60GB from my hard-drive, but your mileage may vary!
In Conclusion
- Make sure to list all node_modules in a given directory BEFORE deleting them.
- Make sure to be cautious as this process is irreversible!
- Remember to
npm install
on the projects you need to work on again. - Enjoy the free space! :)
Trilon — Next-level Application Consulting
Trilon.io is a software consulting firm aimed to help get teams & applications up to speed by working with some of the leading industry experts in JavaScript, NodeJS, NestJS Framework & ASP.NET.
Contact us:
hello@trilon.io
Website:
Trilon.io
Originally published at https://trilon.io on August 7, 2019.