Print array to console elegantly

Question

How would I get the following object:

[ 'hello everyone!', { testing: 1 }, 'another:', { state: 1 } ]

To print as the following:

hello everyone! { 
    testing: 1 
} another: { 
    state: 1 
}

The objects in the array can be heavily nested.

I use this right now, but feels like it's heavy:

const messages = [ 'hello everyone!', { testing: 1 }, 'another:', { state: 1 } ];
let string = '';
messages.forEach(element => {
    string += ' ';
    if (typeof element === 'string') {
        string += element;
    } else {
        string += util.inspect(element, { showHidden: false, depth: null, compact: false });
    }
});
console.log(string);

Bonus for elegant code.

Possible duplicate of [How can I pretty-print JSON using JavaScript?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4810841/how-can-i-pretty-print-json-using-javascript) — VLAZ, Sep 05 '19 at 11:27
^ The author doesn't want array brackets to be visible, so it is different. — dziraf, Sep 05 '19 at 11:32

devDan · Answer 1 · 2019-09-05T11:33:38.563

2

You could use JSON.stringify()

console.log(JSON.stringify(yourData));

This should help see the data better in the terminal. Not elegant or anything but simple at least. Admittedly doesn't give the nesting but shows the full object and should maintain to do so with deeper nesting.

As mentioned in the comments by Gavin this also has a pretty-printing argument to help achieve the nesting.

console.log(JSON.stringify(yourData, null, 2));

Which would give you

edited Sep 05 '19 at 11:33

answered Sep 05 '19 at 11:21

devDan

5,969
3
21
40

1

+1 to this. Also note stringify's third parameter allows to specify whitespace for pretty-printing https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/JSON/stringify – Gavin Sep 05 '19 at 11:25
^ The author doesn't want array brackets to be visible, so it is different. – dziraf Sep 05 '19 at 11:32
are you sure? because I see brackets, just not on the same line – devDan Sep 05 '19 at 11:35
In author's example there are no commas, no double quotes and no external array `[]` brackets in the output. – dziraf Sep 05 '19 at 11:41
ahh okay i see mb – devDan Sep 05 '19 at 11:46
Unfortunetly this adds `"` around the JSON object and includes the array brackets and inclues commas which I'm trying to avoid! – basickarl Sep 05 '19 at 12:56
Updated with my example, but it feels heavy. – basickarl Sep 05 '19 at 13:41

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 05 '19 at 11:26

0

You can try this one. SO Reference

console.log(JSON.stringify([ 'hello everyone!', { testing: 1 }, 'another:', { state: 1 } ], null, 2))

answered Sep 05 '19 at 11:26

Zohaib Aslam

50
8

Print array to console elegantly

2 Answers2