Installing the latest version of node using nvm:

Install the latest nvm through its Github repo:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.0/install.sh | bash

source ~/.bashrc

check the latest version of node and select it:

nvm list-remote

Out:

...
       v20.15.0   (LTS: Iron)
       v20.15.1   (LTS: Iron)
       v20.16.0   (Latest LTS: Iron)
        v21.0.0
        v21.1.0
        v21.2.0
        v21.3.0
        v21.4.0
        v21.5.0
        v21.6.0
        v21.6.1
        v21.6.2
        v21.7.0
        v21.7.1
        v21.7.2
        v21.7.3
        v22.0.0
        v22.1.0
        v22.2.0
        v22.3.0
        v22.4.0
        v22.4.1
        v22.5.0
        v22.5.1
        v22.6.0

Install the desired version of node:

nvm install v20.16.0

First remove nodejs using,

sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove nodejs

Then after, if curl is not installed then run the below command

sudo apt-get install curl

Then after run the below 2 commands,

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -

sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

the complete instructions for installing node from that distribution is two commands:

# install the source list, let apt-get install 'find' the nodejs package
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -

# apt-get now knows about nodejs package
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

you'll find that when you follow these instructions, the script will print how to install yarn, and you should do that, also several commands (for adding sources, keys, and then installing the packages from those lists).

Suggested method

I would suggest using the n library, because it doesn't require any OS modification, like so:

sudo npm i -g n
sudo n 20

I recommend using Node Version Manager:

NB: Node Version Manager (nvm) allows you to install multiple node versions and choose between them depending on which software you want to support; that is, manage multiple node versions.

Installing Node Version Manager

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.3/install.sh | bash

Once you have Node Version Manager installed

1. Confirm the available remote versions by running nvm ls-remote
2. Run in your terminal nvm install <version> for example, nvm install 18 to install version 18 of Node
3. List installed versions with nvm list
4. Run nvm use 18 to start using version 18 of Node
5. Note: you can be more explicit, for example: nvm install 14.17.0