fix(view): dont unwrap arrays in json mode

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)

[lukekarrys]

The view command alters the data by default to unwrap single item arrays
when in human readable mode (the default). This change makes it so those
arrays are not altered when the --json flag is set.

Fixes#3611

# Before
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npm view tiny-tarball versions --json
"1.0.0"# After
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions
1.0.0
❯ npmlocal view tiny-tarball versions --json
[
"1.0.0"
]

[npm-cli-bot]

no statistically significant performance changes detected

timing results

app-large	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	35.938 ±1.02	10.448 ±0.06	11.486 ±0.04	1.552 ±0.00	1.519 ±0.00	1.266 ±0.01	8.016 ±0.03	1.290 ±0.02	0.138 ±0.00	0.165 ±0.01	13.049 ±0.13	4.171 ±2.96
#7506	39.301 ±0.37	10.557 ±0.05	11.589 ±0.07	1.538 ±0.04	1.524 ±0.01	1.260 ±0.00	8.147 ±0.07	1.277 ±0.01	0.137 ±0.00	0.163 ±0.00	14.469 ±0.14	2.112 ±0.02

app-medium	clean	lock-only	cache-only	modules-only	no-lock	no-cache	no-modules	no-clean	show-version	run-script	cache-only peer-deps	no-clean audit
npm@latest	30.000 ±0.97	7.860 ±0.02	8.758 ±0.00	1.488 ±0.02	1.502 ±0.00	1.396 ±0.00	5.801 ±0.01	1.326 ±0.01	0.139 ±0.00	0.169 ±0.00	9.375 ±0.20	2.988 ±1.46
#7506	29.355 ±0.96	7.845 ±0.04	8.810 ±0.04	1.492 ±0.02	1.487 ±0.00	1.395 ±0.02	5.777 ±0.01	1.288 ±0.03	0.135 ±0.00	0.164 ±0.00	9.640 ±0.05	1.947 ±0.00

[wraithgar]

This feels like one of those incorrect behaviors folks have undoubtedly come to rely on, and this would be a breaking change.

[lukekarrys]

I'm not so sure, because currently this behavior is impossible to predict unless you know the data being returned. In the case of versions it will only unwrap the array if the package has only one version. It will properly keep it as an array for packages with multiple versions. So I think it's unlikely people are relying on this as they would still need to handle when versions returns an array.

# before
❯ npm view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]
# after
❯ npmlocal view abbrev versions --json
[
"1.0.3",
"1.0.4",
"1.0.5",
"1.0.6",
"1.0.7",
"1.0.9",
"1.1.0",
"1.1.1",
"2.0.0"
]

[ljharb]

If they did the smart thing and always wrapped the field in [].concat() then this wouldn’t break them, at least :-)