Difference betweeen npm install and npm install --save?

Question

Including of the word --save means? or What is the Difference betweeen:

npm install and npm install --save?

Answer 1

Base on the npm documentations:

For older versions of NPM:

The npm install <package_name> command just downloads the specified package from NPM cloud, and saves it in node_modules directory in your current directory.

The npm install <package_name> --save command downloads the specified package from NPM cloud, and saves it in node_modules directory in your current directory, and also it adds the installed package into dependencies section of your package.json file.

For NPM versions > 5, there is no difference between these two commands. That is, the first command without --save option downloads the package and adds it into dependencies section of package.json file.