Semantic version comparator

Because semver compares numbers, not text. Sorted as strings, "1.10.0" comes before "1.9.0" — the classic bug this tool exists to avoid. The comparison here parses each component as an integer.

Anything from 0.2.3 up to but not including 0.3.0. A caret allows changes that do not alter the left-most non-zero digit, so for a 0.x version it is effectively a patch range — 0.2.x and 0.3.x are different, and npm treats them as incompatible.

Because prereleases are excluded from every range unless the range itself names a prerelease on the same version tuple. It is a deliberate rule: a range like >=1.0.0 should not suddenly install 2.0.0-beta.1.

No. 1.0.0+build.5 and 1.0.0+build.6 have equal precedence — the “+” part is ignored when ordering, though the strings differ. The page says so when it sees build metadata, instead of leaving you wondering why they compare equal.