It is better to remove NodeJS and its modules manually because installation leaves a lot of files, links and modules behind and later this creates problems when we reconfigure another version of NodeJS and its modules.

To remove the files, run the following commands:

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm 
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* 
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d
rm -rf ~/.npm
rm -rf ~/.node-gyp
sudo rm -rf /opt/local/bin/node
sudo rm -rf /opt/local/include/node
sudo rm -rf /opt/local/lib/node_modules
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*

I have posted a step by step guide with commands on my blog: AMCOS IT Support For Windows and Linux: To completely uninstall node js from Ubuntu.

Uninstall NodeJS from Ubuntu

• sudo apt-get remove nodejs
• sudo apt-get update

Follow below link to install latest nodeJs in ubuntu

https://tecadmin.net/install-latest-nodejs-npm-on-ubuntu/

Ones you installed successfully, then if you want to check node version use below command.

node -v

Do the exact same thing again. The new binary will be copied over the old one.

• git clone creates a copy of git repository node's source code is in
• cd node/ changes directory to the one you just created with those files
• ./configure checks for dependencies and creates a makefile
• make executes that makefile, which results in compiling the source code into binary executable(s), libraries and any other outputs
• ls -l lists the files in the current directory
• node runs the node binary executable you just compiled from source, to ensure the compilation was successful
• sudo make install copies the files you just created from the current directory to their permanent homes, /usr/local/bin and such

The last step overwrites whatever's already there with what you just built.

To remove node js, npm and node_modules from Ubuntu, you need to remove containers also which are at different locations in Ubuntu. These could be as:

/usr/local/bin/npm, /usr/local/share/man/man1/node, /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d, ~/.npm ~/.node-gyp, /opt/local/bin/node, opt/local/include/node, /opt/local/lib/node_modules

I have posted the procedure to remove NodeJS on my blog: AMCOS IT Support For Windows and Linux: To completely uninstall node js from Ubuntu.

1. First of all you need to run the following command from command terminal as sudo.

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d ~/.npm ~/.node-gyp /opt/local/bin/node opt/local/include/node /opt/local/lib/node_modules
   

2. Remove node or node_modules directories from /usr/local/lib with the help of following command.

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*
   

3. Remove node or node_modules directories from /usr/local/include with the help of following command.

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*
   

4. Remove any node file or dir from /usr/local/bin with the help of following command.

   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*
   

5. Go to home directory and remove any node or node_modules directory, if exists.

Ubuntu has this version of nodejs because it was one of the LTS versions (long term support) and is very stable.

There are a few different ways to install newer versions. I would recommend installing it through nvm so you get access to the latest versions. Plus it helps to do it this way if you will be developing on multiple systems rather than leaving it up to the systems package manager. To do this first remove the current version

sudo apt-get remove nodejs

To ensure it's completely removed you can do sudo apt-get purge nodejs and sudo apt-get autoremove

Now we can prepare to use npm by installing build-essential and libssl-dev

sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev

Now we can download the nvm installation script from the projects Github page

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.33.8/install.sh -o install_nvm.sh

Run the install script with

bash install_nvm.sh

At this point it is easiest to logout, and then log back in to complete the setup of npm.

Now we can use the following commands to install the target nodejs version

nvm ls-remote shows you the available versions

nvm install (versionNumber)

nvm use (versionNumber) You can have multiple versions installed so you can choose which one to use

then verify the version you have chosen to use with

node -v <- Please note that with npm the command is node and NOT nodejs

There is a great write up about all of this on Digital Ocean. For more information visit the link https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-node-js-on-ubuntu-16-04

Install NVM, and the install node using nvm. Here is an example.

1. Install nvm

    ubuntu@ip-172-26-0-227:~$ curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash
    % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  
    Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  
    Speed
    100 16555  100 16555    0     0   198k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  199k
   
     => Compressing and cleaning up git repository
   
     => Appending nvm source string to /home/ubuntu/.bashrc
     => Appending bash_completion source string to /home/ubuntu/.bashrc
     => Close and reopen your terminal to start using nvm or run the following to use it now:
   
    export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # 
    This loads nvm bash_completion
   

2. Source bashrc so nvm can be loaded, or close and re open terminal.

   ubuntu@ip-172-26-0-227:~$ source /home/ubuntu/.bashrc

3. Now, install node version, passing the version..etc.

   ubuntu@ip-172-26-0-227:~$ nvm install  v12.22.10
   Downloading and installing node v12.22.10...
   Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v12.22.10/node-v12.22.10-linux- 
   x64.tar.xz..100.0%
   Computing checksum with sha256sum
   Checksums matched!
   Now using node v12.22.10 (npm v6.14.16)
   Creating default alias: default -> v12.22.10
   

To remove all cached versions except the current version

sudo n prune

Check how much all those versions are taking with du -sh /usr/local/n/versions.

Also,

Remove the installed node and npm (does not affect the cached version). This can be useful to revert to the system version of node (if in a different location), or if you no longer wish to use node and npm, or are switching to a different way of managing them.

sudo n uninstall

To manually remove node js, npm and node_modules from Ubuntu, you need to do the following steps.

1. First of all you need to run the following command from command terminal as sudo.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/share/man/man1/node* /usr/local/lib/dtrace/node.d ~/.npm ~/.node-gyp /opt/local/bin/node opt/local/include/node /opt/local/lib/node_modules

2. Remove node or node_modules directories from /usr/local/lib with the help of following command.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node*

3. Remove node or node_modules directories from /usr/local/include with the help of following command.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/include/node*

5. Remove any node file or dir from /usr/local/bin with the help of following command.

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/node*

4. Go to home directory and remove any node or node_modules directory, if exists.

Now it is done