n (node version manager) not working after install - "bash: n: command not found"

Question

I would like to manage node.js versions using the n - node version manager.

I attempted to install n by following the Github docs https://github.com/tj/n and input the following in my terminal:

sudo npm install -g n

After entering my password my terminal returns:

/usr/local/lib/node_modules/node/bin/n -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/node/lib/node_modules/n/bin/n
+ [email protected]

However, after installing n my terminal doesn't recognize the relevant commands and instead states:

bash: n: command not found

My current node version installed is v12.3.0, while my npm is version 6.9.0.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

For npm installed "'commands" to be found, the npm bin folder is added to your PATH environment variable. However, your install location looks deeper than expected so I think you have a setup issue first. What does npm prefix -g show? What OS are you on? What does command -v npm show? — shadowspawn
– shadowspawn, Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 21:41

shadowspawn · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-05 20:51:29Z

10

The commands added using npm global packages are found by the the install location appearing in your PATH environment variable. You appear to have a misconfigured prefix, perhaps due to how node and npm are installed.

This is how things look in a typical setup. The bin folder under the npm prefix is included in PATH so the installed commands are found.

$ npm prefix --global
/usr/local
$ sudo npm install -g n
/usr/local/bin/n -> /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n/bin/n
+ [email protected]
$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
$ command -v n
/usr/local/bin/n
$ n --version
6.0.1

answered Oct 5, 2019 at 20:51

shadowspawn

3,91527 silver badges34 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

So You're A Waffle Man Over a year ago

Useful, thanks. I fixed my issue by updating ~/.npmrc to read "prefix=/usr/local" as mentioned above

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

n (node version manager) not working after install - "bash: n: command not found"

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related