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docs: more detail for command line flags #8708

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37 changes: 23 additions & 14 deletions docs/lib/content/using-npm/config.md
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Expand Up @@ -13,12 +13,21 @@ npm gets its configuration values from the following sources, sorted by priority

#### Command Line Flags

Putting `--foo bar` on the command line sets the `foo` configuration parameter to `"bar"`.
A `--` argument tells the cli parser to stop reading flags.
Using `--flag` without specifying any value will set the value to `true`.
A flag, also known as a switch or command-line option, is a parameter provided to the CLI to act upon.

Example: `--flag1 --flag2` will set both configuration parameters to `true`, while `--flag1 --flag2 bar` will set `flag1` to `true`, and `flag2` to `bar`.
Finally, `--flag1 --flag2 -- bar` will set both configuration parameters to `true`, and the `bar` is taken as a command argument.
_**Note:** In this document `foo` and `bar` are used as placeholders to represent generic examples of parameter names and values. They are not literal parameters._

Using `--` by itself tells the CLI parser to stop interpreting further arguments (such as `foo`) as flags.

Instead, using `--foo` without any further value will set the value of `foo` to `true`.

Alternatively, using `--foo bar` with `bar` as the supplied value will set the value of `--foo` to `bar`.

**Example:**

- Using `--flag1 --flag2` will set both configuration parameters `flag1` and `flag2` to `true` as no further value is provided for either.
- Using `--flag1 --flag2 bar` will set the value of `flag1` to `true`, and the value of `flag2` to `bar`.
- Using `--flag1 --flag2 -- bar` will set the values of both `flag1` and `flag2` to `true`, while `bar` is treated as a regular command argument.

#### Environment Variables

Expand All @@ -35,10 +44,10 @@ Notice that you need to use underscores instead of dashes, so `--allow-same-vers

The four relevant files are:

* per-project configuration file (`/path/to/my/project/.npmrc`)
* per-user configuration file (defaults to `$HOME/.npmrc`; configurable via CLI option `--userconfig` or environment variable `$NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG`)
* global configuration file (defaults to `$PREFIX/etc/npmrc`; configurable via CLI option `--globalconfig` or environment variable `$NPM_CONFIG_GLOBALCONFIG`)
* npm's built-in configuration file (`/path/to/npm/npmrc`)
- per-project configuration file (`/path/to/my/project/.npmrc`)
- per-user configuration file (defaults to `$HOME/.npmrc`; configurable via CLI option `--userconfig` or environment variable `$NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG`)
- global configuration file (defaults to `$PREFIX/etc/npmrc`; configurable via CLI option `--globalconfig` or environment variable `$NPM_CONFIG_GLOBALCONFIG`)
- npm's built-in configuration file (`/path/to/npm/npmrc`)

See [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc) for more details.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -76,8 +85,8 @@ npm ls --global --parseable --long --loglevel info

### See also

* [npm config](/commands/npm-config)
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@wraithgar wraithgar Nov 3, 2025

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All of the other files in docs use * so let's keep it consistent here.

* [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc)
* [npm scripts](/using-npm/scripts)
* [npm folders](/configuring-npm/folders)
* [npm](/commands/npm)
- [npm config](/commands/npm-config)
- [npmrc](/configuring-npm/npmrc)
- [npm scripts](/using-npm/scripts)
- [npm folders](/configuring-npm/folders)
- [npm](/commands/npm)
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