JavaScript var_dump

Dumps a string representation of variable to output

function var_dump () {
    // Dumps a string representation of variable to output  
    // 
    // version: 1109.2015
    // discuss at: http://phpjs.org/functions/var_dump    // +   original by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
    // +   improved by: Zahlii
    // +   improved by: Brett Zamir (http://brett-zamir.me)
    // -    depends on: echo
    // %        note 1: For returning a string, use var_export() with the second argument set to true    // *     example 1: var_dump(1);
    // *     returns 1: 'int(1)'
    var output = '',
        pad_char = ' ',
        pad_val = 4,        lgth = 0,
        i = 0,
        d = this.window.document;
    var _getFuncName = function (fn) {
        var name = (/\W*function\s+([\w\$]+)\s*\(/).exec(fn);        if (!name) {
            return '(Anonymous)';
        }
        return name[1];
    }; 
    var _repeat_char = function (len, pad_char) {
        var str = '';
        for (var i = 0; i < len; i++) {
            str += pad_char;        }
        return str;
    };
    var _getInnerVal = function (val, thick_pad) {
        var ret = '';        if (val === null) {
            ret = 'NULL';
        } else if (typeof val === 'boolean') {
            ret = 'bool(' + val + ')';
        } else if (typeof val === 'string') {            ret = 'string(' + val.length + ') "' + val + '"';
        } else if (typeof val === 'number') {
            if (parseFloat(val) == parseInt(val, 10)) {
                ret = 'int(' + val + ')';
            } else {                ret = 'float(' + val + ')';
            }
        }
        // The remaining are not PHP behavior because these values only exist in this exact form in JavaScript
        else if (typeof val === 'undefined') {            ret = 'undefined';
        } else if (typeof val === 'function') {
            var funcLines = val.toString().split('\n');
            ret = '';
            for (var i = 0, fll = funcLines.length; i < fll; i++) {                ret += (i !== 0 ? '\n' + thick_pad : '') + funcLines[i];
            }
        } else if (val instanceof Date) {
            ret = 'Date(' + val + ')';
        } else if (val instanceof RegExp) {            ret = 'RegExp(' + val + ')';
        } else if (val.nodeName) { // Different than PHP's DOMElement
            switch (val.nodeType) {
            case 1:
                if (typeof val.namespaceURI === 'undefined' || val.namespaceURI === 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml') { // Undefined namespace could be plain XML, but namespaceURI not widely supported                    ret = 'HTMLElement("' + val.nodeName + '")';
                } else {
                    ret = 'XML Element("' + val.nodeName + '")';
                }
                break;            case 2:
                ret = 'ATTRIBUTE_NODE(' + val.nodeName + ')';
                break;
            case 3:
                ret = 'TEXT_NODE(' + val.nodeValue + ')';                break;
            case 4:
                ret = 'CDATA_SECTION_NODE(' + val.nodeValue + ')';
                break;
            case 5:                ret = 'ENTITY_REFERENCE_NODE';
                break;
            case 6:
                ret = 'ENTITY_NODE';
                break;            case 7:
                ret = 'PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION_NODE(' + val.nodeName + ':' + val.nodeValue + ')';
                break;
            case 8:
                ret = 'COMMENT_NODE(' + val.nodeValue + ')';                break;
            case 9:
                ret = 'DOCUMENT_NODE';
                break;
            case 10:                ret = 'DOCUMENT_TYPE_NODE';
                break;
            case 11:
                ret = 'DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT_NODE';
                break;            case 12:
                ret = 'NOTATION_NODE';
                break;
            }
        }        return ret;
    };
 
    var _formatArray = function (obj, cur_depth, pad_val, pad_char) {
        var someProp = '';        if (cur_depth > 0) {
            cur_depth++;
        }
 
        var base_pad = _repeat_char(pad_val * (cur_depth - 1), pad_char);        var thick_pad = _repeat_char(pad_val * (cur_depth + 1), pad_char);
        var str = '';
        var val = '';
 
        if (typeof obj === 'object' && obj !== null) {            if (obj.constructor && _getFuncName(obj.constructor) === 'PHPJS_Resource') {
                return obj.var_dump();
            }
            lgth = 0;
            for (someProp in obj) {                lgth++;
            }
            str += 'array(' + lgth + ') {\n';
            for (var key in obj) {
                var objVal = obj[key];                if (typeof objVal === 'object' && objVal !== null && !(objVal instanceof Date) && !(objVal instanceof RegExp) && !objVal.nodeName) {
                    str += thick_pad + '[' + key + '] =>\n' + thick_pad + _formatArray(objVal, cur_depth + 1, pad_val, pad_char);
                } else {
                    val = _getInnerVal(objVal, thick_pad);
                    str += thick_pad + '[' + key + '] =>\n' + thick_pad + val + '\n';                }
            }
            str += base_pad + '}\n';
        } else {
            str = _getInnerVal(obj, thick_pad);        }
        return str;
    };
 
    output = _formatArray(arguments[0], 0, pad_val, pad_char);    for (i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
        output += '\n' + _formatArray(arguments[i], 0, pad_val, pad_char);
    }
 
    if (d.body) {        this.echo(output);
    } else {
        try {
            d = XULDocument; // We're in XUL, so appending as plain text won't work
            this.echo('<pre xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" style="white-space:pre;">' + output + '</pre>');        } catch (e) {
            this.echo(output); // Outputting as plain text may work in some plain XML
        }
    }
}

external links: original PHP docs | raw js source

Examples

Running

1	var_dump(1);

Should return

'int(1)'

Dependencies

In order to use this function, you also need:

echo

Open syntax issues

php.js uses JsLint to help us keep our code consistent and prevent some common bugs.

Eventually we want all code to pass or at least take into consideration most fixes suggested by JsLint, following this JsLint configuration we’ve decided on.

Authors

Thanks to the following developers, you get to have var_dump goodness in JavaScript.

Brett Zamir ( original improved )
Zahlii ( improved )

Comments

Add Comment

Name

Website

Title

Content

Use:

[CODE]
your_stuff('here');
[/CODE]

for proper code formatting
By submitting code here you are allowing us to use it in php.js hence dual licensing it under the MIT and GPL licenses

ekim
20 Apr '11

Can it dump RA or curse defined as :

RA=[]; RA[1]=RA;
curse={re:RA}; curse.s=curse;

?

If so, can the output be posted to see how it's represented?

Brett Zamir
10 Mar '10

Thanks, Zahlii! I've committed some changes to http://github.com/kvz/phpjs/raw/master/functions/var/var_dump.js . I removed a global, added support for RegExp, cleaned up the function appearance a little and added more support for other DOM node types, and cleaned up. If you want to get a string returned, use var_export() (as in PHP) with the second argument set to true. We don't currently support output buffering.

Zahlii
6 Mar '10

I changed that .js a bit.
Now it is able to:

* var_dump functions
* var_dump Date(s) as String

function var_dump () {
    var output = "", pad_char = " ", pad_val = 4, lgth = 0, i = 0, d = this.window.document;
    var getFuncName = function (fn) {
        var name = (/\W*function\s+([\w\$]+)\s*\(/).exec(fn);
        if (!name) {
            return '(Anonymous)';
        }
        return name[1];
    };
    var repeat_char = function (len, pad_char) {
        var str = "";
        for (var i=0; i < len; i++) {
            str += pad_char;
        }
        return str;
    };
    var getScalarVal = function (val) {
        var ret = '';
        if (val === null) {
            ret = 'NULL';
        }
        else if (typeof val === 'boolean') {
            ret = 'bool('+val+')';
        }
        else if (typeof val === 'string') {
            ret = 'string('+val.length+') "'+val+'"';
        }
        else if (typeof val === 'number') {
            if (parseFloat(val) == parseInt(val, 10)) {
                ret = 'int('+val+')';
            }
            else {
                ret = 'float('+val+')';
            }
        }
        else if (val === undefined) {
            ret = 'UNDEFINED'; // Not PHP behavior, but neither is undefined as value
        }
        else if (typeof val === 'function') {
            ret = 'FUNCTION'; // Not PHP behavior, but neither is function as value
			ret = val.toString().split("\n");
			txt = "";
			for(var j in ret) {
				txt+= (j !=0 ? thick_pad : '')+ret[j]+"\n";
			}
			ret = txt;
        }
		else if(val instanceof Date) {
			val = val.toString();
			ret = 'string('+val.length+') "'+val+'"'
		}
		else if(val.nodeName) {
			ret = 'HTMLElement("'+val.nodeName.toLowerCase()+'")';
		}
        return ret;
    };
    var formatArray = function (obj, cur_depth, pad_val, pad_char) {
        var someProp = '';
        if (cur_depth > 0) {
            cur_depth++;
        }
        base_pad = repeat_char(pad_val*(cur_depth-1), pad_char);
        thick_pad = repeat_char(pad_val*(cur_depth+1), pad_char);
        var str = "";
        var val='';
        if (typeof obj === 'object' && obj !== null) {
            if (obj.constructor && getFuncName(obj.constructor) === 'PHPJS_Resource') {
                return obj.var_dump();
            }
            lgth = 0;
            for (someProp in obj) {
                lgth++;
            }
            str += "array("+lgth+") {\n";
            for (var key in obj) {
                if (typeof obj[key] === 'object' && obj[key] !== null && !(obj[key] instanceof Date) && !obj[key].nodeName) {
                    str += thick_pad + "["+key+"] =>\n"+thick_pad+formatArray(obj[key], cur_depth+1, pad_val, pad_char);
                } else {
                    val = getScalarVal(obj[key]);
                    str += thick_pad + "["+key+"] =>\n"+  thick_pad +val + "\n";
                }
            }
            str += base_pad + "}\n";
        } else {
            str = getScalarVal(obj);
        }
        return str;
    };
    output = formatArray(arguments[0], 0, pad_val, pad_char);
    for (i=1; i < arguments.length; i++) {
        output += '\n'+formatArray(arguments[i], 0, pad_val, pad_char);
    }
	return output;
}

Brett Zamir
24 Feb '10

@Ben: Can you give the example code you used to test?

Ben
23 Feb '10

Doesn't seem to work in Chrome, only worked in Firefox :(

joelwallis
3 Aug '09

Very good idea!

Contribute a New function

JavaScript var_dump

Examples

Dependencies

Open syntax issues

Authors

More functions

Support us