global npm unlinker

npm-unlink.js

// retrieve all global links, and unlink all
// USAGE : 
//         node unlink.js module ==> remove module from node cache
//         node unlink.js ==> remove all modules from cache

var execSync = require('exec-sync');
var readJson = require('read-package-json')

var output = execSync('ls -l /usr/local/lib/node_modules | grep "\\\->"')
var m;

process.argv.forEach(function (val, index, array) {
  switch(index) {
    case 2:
      m = val;
      break;
  }
});


if (String(output).trim().length > 0) {
    console.log("try to unlink " + (m ? m : "all modules") + " globally")
    output.split("\n").forEach(function(val) {
        var dir = String(val.split('->')[1]).trim()

        readJson(dir + '/package.json', console.error, false, function (er, data) {
            if (er) {
                // if we got an error, this mean we should totaly remove link from node_modules, the package may have change name
                console.error("WARNING, file  " + dir + "/package.json, doesn't exist or throw an error (error : " + er.errno + " - " + er.code + ")")
                return
            }

            if (!m || (m === data.name)) {
                var unlink = execSync("npm r " + data.name + " -g", true)

                if (unlink.stderr) {
                    console.log('unable to unlink ' + data.name + ' module in ' + dir + ', does the module exists ?')
                }
                else {
                    console.log('module "' + data.name + '" removed from global cache')
                }
            }

        });
    });
} else {
    console.log('nothing to unlink for ' + (m ? m : "all modules"));
}

package.json

{
  "name": "npm-unlinker",
  "description": "Unlink all dependencies globally",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "dependencies": {
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "exec-sync": "0.1.6",
    "read-package-json": "1.3.1"
  }
}