Upgrading Node.js to latest version

Ubuntu Linux/Mac:

The module n makes version-management easy:

npm install n -g

For the latest stable version:

n stable

For the latest version:

n latest

Windows:

just reinstall node from the .msi in Windows from the node website.

via npm:

npm cache clean -f
npm install -g n
n stable

and also you can specify a desired version:

n 0.8.21

In case it doesn't seem to work, the installation gives you a hint :

If "node --version" shows the old version then start a new shell, or reset the location hash with: hash -r (for bash, zsh, ash, dash, and ksh) [or] rehash (for csh and tcsh)

reference

On Windows download latest "Windows Installer (.msi)" from https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest/ and install same directory , thats all...

After complete the installation above, the NodeJS and NPM will be upgraded to the latest one and then you can cleanup the package as normal as:

npm cache clean
npm update -g

Note

You can always check the version with following command:

C:\node -v
v0.12.4

C:\npm -version
2.10.1

All Platforms (Mac, Linux & Windows) 2022

If you just need to upgrade your old version of Node.js to the latest one and don't need multiple versions, simply over-write your existing executable with the new one.

Download the Latest Node.js from nodejs.org/en/download

This Just Works! ^TM on all platforms and is the easiest/fastest method.
When you run node -v in your terminal you will see the the latest version.

Mac

If you originally installed Node.js using brew then run:

brew upgrade node

Managing Multiple Versions of Node.js:

If you need to run multiple versions of Node.js on your machine e.g. if you have an older project that targets a specific version on AWS Lambda, then NVM (Node Version Manger) is your friend!

Step 1 - Get NVM

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.1/install.sh | bash

If you're curious about the installation command read the source code
... its been reviewed by several node.js security experts

Step 2 - Install the version of node.js you need

Once you've got NVM you can install a specific version of Node.js using the nvm command:

nvm install v16.15.0

Note: you may need to close & re-open your terminal window for nvm command to be available.

You should expect to see something like this in your terminal:

Now using node v16.15.0

You now have the latest Node.js on your machine.
And if you need to temporarily switch to a different/previous version, you can do it with a simple nvm command.

Note: avoid using sudo with Node/NPM as it violates the security principal of least privilege

NVM is considered "better" than N for managing multiple Node.js versions because the verbose commands mean it is much easier to keep track of what you are doing in your Terminal/SSH Log. It is used by the team at NPM the creators/custodians of the Node.js World!