I see the symbol ^ a lot when a version is declared in a flutter pubspec file. how is:
http: ^0.13.3 different from http: 0.13.3 or even this http: '0.13.3'
what does ^ mean when declaring a version of a library in flutter
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2 Answers
pub.dev packages use SemVer or semantic versioning.
The ^ character means “compatible with”
So taking the example
How is http: ^0.13.3 different from http: 0.13.3 or even this http: '0.13.3'
Would mean >=0.13.3 <1.0.0
You can an explanation of all modifiers at Semver cheatsheet
There are major, minor, and patch represent the different releases of a package.
npm uses the tilde (~) and caret (^) to designate which patch and minor versions to use respectively.
So if you see ~1.0.2 it means to install version 1.0.2 or the latest patch version such as 1.0.4. If you see ^1.0.2 it means to install version 1.0.2 or the latest minor or patch version such as 1.1.0.
But if in your npm package.json file you’re referencing a package that hasn’t reached version 1.0 yet, using the caret symbol will only grab the patch version.
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