express: command not found , has worked before? - node.js

Question

I'm working on a OSX 10.10.4, I have worked with node.js and express before on this computer.
But now when I want to start a new application, the computer won't recognize the command express anymore.
I've tried installing it with all these commands:
- npm install express
- npm install -g express
- npm install express -g
- sudo npm install -g express
- sudo npm install express -g
- npm install express-generator
- npm install -g express-generator
- npm install express-generator -g
- sudo npm install -g express-generator
- sudo install express-generator -g
- sudo npm install -g express-generator#3
- sudo npm install -g express-generator#4
But it still doesn't recognize the command express
This is the output when I install without the -g
npm install express
express#4.13.3 node_modules/express
├── escape-html#1.0.2
├── merge-descriptors#1.0.0
├── cookie#0.1.3
├── array-flatten#1.1.1
├── utils-merge#1.0.0
├── cookie-signature#1.0.6
├── methods#1.1.1
├── fresh#0.3.0
├── range-parser#1.0.2
├── vary#1.0.1
├── path-to-regexp#0.1.7
├── content-type#1.0.1
├── etag#1.7.0
├── parseurl#1.3.0
├── content-disposition#0.5.0
├── serve-static#1.10.0
├── depd#1.0.1
├── qs#4.0.0
├── finalhandler#0.4.0 (unpipe#1.0.0)
├── on-finished#2.3.0 (ee-first#1.1.1)
├── debug#2.2.0 (ms#0.7.1)
├── proxy-addr#1.0.8 (forwarded#0.1.0, ipaddr.js#1.0.1)
├── type-is#1.6.6 (media-typer#0.3.0, mime-types#2.1.4)
├── accepts#1.2.12 (negotiator#0.5.3, mime-types#2.1.4)
└── send#0.13.0 (destroy#1.0.3, statuses#1.2.1, ms#0.7.1, mime#1.3.4, http-errors#1.3.1)
and when I install with the -g
sudo npm install -g express-generator
Password:
/Users/Maiteh/.node/bin/express -> /Users/Maiteh/.node/lib/node_modules/express-generator/bin/express
express-generator#4.13.1 /Users/Maiteh/.node/lib/node_modules/express-generator
├── sorted-object#1.0.0
├── commander#2.7.1 (graceful-readlink#1.0.1)
└── mkdirp#0.5.1 (minimist#0.0.8)
I have tried some other stuff like the PATH and nodejs-legacy, but none of them work.
With the sudo apt-get install nodejs-legacy the computer doesn't find the command apt-get.

Answer 1

The reason I got express:command not found after I installed was because my $PATH didn't know where express was.
To anyone wanting to install the express command line tools I did this
sudo npm install express-generator -g
which resulted in
/usr/local/share/npm/bin/express -> /usr/local/share/npm/lib/node_modules/express-generator/bin/express
express-generator#4.13.1 /usr/local/share/npm/lib/node_modules/express-generator
├── sorted-object#1.0.0
├── commander#2.7.1 (graceful-readlink#1.0.1)
└── mkdirp#0.5.1 (minimist#0.0.8)
when I tried express --version I got a command not found
Open your bash_profile from terminal with open ~/.bash_profile
After that add the path you got after you installed express, in my case it was
/usr/local/share/npm/lib/node_modules/express-generator/bin/express
Add this to your bash_profile
export PATH=/usr/local/share/npm/lib/node_modules/express-generator/bin:$PATH
Save the file and go back to terminal. Enter hash -r and then quit terminal and start it again.
Now if you try express --version for example you should see that the command line tools are working.

Answer 2

There's kind of a mishmash of problems you're describing here, so I'll try to address them one at a time.
Express is a popular framework for node.js. The typical way to add it to your project is to do npm install --save express and then it will save it into your package.json file and install it into node_modules. Adding -g to that command would attempt to install it globally, but that's not how express is used. Express is used on a per-project basis. See their website for details.
In the big list of commands you've run, you mention express-generator. Express-generator is a tool that lets you quickly build out some boilerplate to make starting an express project a bit easier. Since express-generator is meant to be run globally and not inside a project, you DO install it with the -g flag. See their website for details on use and installation.
You're trying to install some more node stuff with the apt-get command. That command is used for package management on Linux (typically Ubuntu/Debian) machines. Mac OS X doesn't come with it (and you absolutely don't need it). Any instructions that mention running apt-get are not targeted towards Mac users.
Essentially, I don't think you have a problem, the logs you show are exactly what I'd expect to see. Generate a boilerplate project with express-generator and you should be all set to start working on your express project. Good luck!