diff --git a/lib/index.js b/lib/index.js
index 7762f77..580d8f1 100644
--- a/lib/index.js
+++ b/lib/index.js
@@ -370,21 +370,27 @@ const recursivelyCollectAllDependencies = (options) => {
  *  order to making `--direct` work with newer versions of npm, we need to filter out all non-dependencies from
  *  the json result.
  */
-const removeUnwantedDependencies = (json, args) => {
-    if (args.direct === 0) {
-        const allDependencies = Object.keys(json.dependencies);
-        let wantedDependencies = [];
-
-        if (args.production && !args.development) {
-            const devDependencies = Object.keys(json.devDependencies);
-            wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json._dependencies).filter(
-                (directDependency) => !devDependencies.includes(directDependency),
-            );
-        } else if (!args.production && args.development) {
-            wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json.devDependencies);
-        } else {
-            wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json._dependencies);
+const deleteNonDirectDependencies = (json, options) => {
+    const allDependencies = Object.keys(json.dependencies);
+    let wantedDependencies = [];
+
+    if (options.production && !options.development) {
+        const devDependencies = Object.keys(json.devDependencies);
+        wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json._dependencies).filter(
+            (directDependency) => !devDependencies.includes(directDependency),
+        );
+    } else if (!options.production && options.development) {
+        wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json.devDependencies);
+    } else {
+        wantedDependencies = Object.keys(json._dependencies);
+    }
+
+    allDependencies.forEach((currentDependency) => {
+        if (!wantedDependencies.includes(currentDependency)) {
+            delete json.dependencies[currentDependency];
         }
+    });
+};
 
         allDependencies.forEach((currentDependency) => {
             if (!wantedDependencies.includes(currentDependency)) {
@@ -458,7 +464,9 @@ exports.init = function init(initArgs, callback) {
     }
 
     read(args.start, opts, (err, json) => {
-        removeUnwantedDependencies(json, args);
+        if (optionsForReadingInstalledPackages.depth === 0) {
+            deleteNonDirectDependencies(json, args);
+        }
 
         const data = recursivelyCollectAllDependencies({
             _args: args,