How To Completely Uninstall Node.js And NPM In Ubuntu?

Removing Node.js Using Package Manager

To remove Node.js using the package manager, open a terminal and run this command:

sudo apt-get remove nodejs

This command removes the Node.js package from your system. To check the removal, use the which command:

which node

If Node.js is removed, this command should not return any output.

node --version

Uninstalling NPM

To remove NPM and its packages, use this command:

sudo apt-get remove npm

After removing NPM, delete its config files by running:

rm -rf ~/.npm

Cleaning Up Remaining Files

To find and remove any leftover directories, check these locations:

1. /usr/local/lib/node_modules
2. /usr/local/include/node
3. /usr/local/bin/node

You can remove these directories using the rm command:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node

To delete any remaining Node.js and NPM-related files, use this command:

sudo find / -name "*node*" -delete

This command searches for and removes any files or directories with "node" in their name. Be careful when using this command, as it may remove files you want to keep.

Checking for Residual Components

After following the uninstallation steps, check if Node.js and NPM are removed from your Ubuntu system. Here's how to check for remaining components:

1. Use the which command to check for remaining executables:

which node
which npm

If these commands don't return output, the executables are no longer in your system's PATH.

2. Check for remaining packages:

dpkg -l | grep node
dpkg -l | grep npm

These commands list installed packages with "node" or "npm" in their names. No results mean the packages are removed.

3. Look for leftover directories:

ls -l /usr/local/lib/node*
ls -l /usr/local/include/node*
ls -l /usr/local/bin/node*

If these commands return "No such file or directory" messages, the directories are removed.

4. Check for global npm packages:

npm list -g --depth=0

This command should return an error if NPM is uninstalled.

5. Verify Node.js version:

node -v

This should return a "command not found" error if Node.js is removed.

By performing these checks, you can make sure Node.js and NPM are gone from your Ubuntu system. If you find remaining components, you may need to remove them manually using the right commands.

ls -la ~ | grep "\.npm"
ls -la ~ | grep "\.node"

rm -rf ~/.npm
rm -rf ~/.node