| # debug | |
| [](https://travis-ci.org/visionmedia/debug) [](https://coveralls.io/github/visionmedia/debug?branch=master) [](https://visionmedia-community-slackin.now.sh/) [](#backers) | |
| [](#sponsors) | |
| A tiny node.js debugging utility modelled after node core's debugging technique. | |
| **Discussion around the V3 API is under way [here](https://github.com/visionmedia/debug/issues/370)** | |
| ## Installation | |
| ```bash | |
| $ npm install debug | |
| ``` | |
| ## Usage | |
| `debug` exposes a function; simply pass this function the name of your module, and it will return a decorated version of `console.error` for you to pass debug statements to. This will allow you to toggle the debug output for different parts of your module as well as the module as a whole. | |
| Example _app.js_: | |
| ```js | |
| var debug = require('debug')('http') | |
| , http = require('http') | |
| , name = 'My App'; | |
| // fake app | |
| debug('booting %s', name); | |
| http.createServer(function(req, res){ | |
| debug(req.method + ' ' + req.url); | |
| res.end('hello\n'); | |
| }).listen(3000, function(){ | |
| debug('listening'); | |
| }); | |
| // fake worker of some kind | |
| require('./worker'); | |
| ``` | |
| Example _worker.js_: | |
| ```js | |
| var debug = require('debug')('worker'); | |
| setInterval(function(){ | |
| debug('doing some work'); | |
| }, 1000); | |
| ``` | |
| The __DEBUG__ environment variable is then used to enable these based on space or comma-delimited names. Here are some examples: | |
|  | |
|  | |
| #### Windows note | |
| On Windows the environment variable is set using the `set` command. | |
| ```cmd | |
| set DEBUG=*,-not_this | |
| ``` | |
| Note that PowerShell uses different syntax to set environment variables. | |
| ```cmd | |
| $env:DEBUG = "*,-not_this" | |
| ``` | |
| Then, run the program to be debugged as usual. | |
| ## Millisecond diff | |
| When actively developing an application it can be useful to see when the time spent between one `debug()` call and the next. Suppose for example you invoke `debug()` before requesting a resource, and after as well, the "+NNNms" will show you how much time was spent between calls. | |
|  | |
| When stdout is not a TTY, `Date#toUTCString()` is used, making it more useful for logging the debug information as shown below: | |
|  | |
| ## Conventions | |
| If you're using this in one or more of your libraries, you _should_ use the name of your library so that developers may toggle debugging as desired without guessing names. If you have more than one debuggers you _should_ prefix them with your library name and use ":" to separate features. For example "bodyParser" from Connect would then be "connect:bodyParser". | |
| ## Wildcards | |
| The `*` character may be used as a wildcard. Suppose for example your library has debuggers named "connect:bodyParser", "connect:compress", "connect:session", instead of listing all three with `DEBUG=connect:bodyParser,connect:compress,connect:session`, you may simply do `DEBUG=connect:*`, or to run everything using this module simply use `DEBUG=*`. | |
| You can also exclude specific debuggers by prefixing them with a "-" character. For example, `DEBUG=*,-connect:*` would include all debuggers except those starting with "connect:". | |
| ## Environment Variables | |
| When running through Node.js, you can set a few environment variables that will | |
| change the behavior of the debug logging: | |
| | Name | Purpose | | |
| |-----------|-------------------------------------------------| | |
| | `DEBUG` | Enables/disables specific debugging namespaces. | | |
| | `DEBUG_COLORS`| Whether or not to use colors in the debug output. | | |
| | `DEBUG_DEPTH` | Object inspection depth. | | |
| | `DEBUG_SHOW_HIDDEN` | Shows hidden properties on inspected objects. | | |
| __Note:__ The environment variables beginning with `DEBUG_` end up being | |
| converted into an Options object that gets used with `%o`/`%O` formatters. | |
| See the Node.js documentation for | |
| [`util.inspect()`](https://nodejs.org/api/util.html#util_util_inspect_object_options) | |
| for the complete list. | |
| ## Formatters | |
| Debug uses [printf-style](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Printf_format_string) formatting. Below are the officially supported formatters: | |
| | Formatter | Representation | | |
| |-----------|----------------| | |
| | `%O` | Pretty-print an Object on multiple lines. | | |
| | `%o` | Pretty-print an Object all on a single line. | | |
| | `%s` | String. | | |
| | `%d` | Number (both integer and float). | | |
| | `%j` | JSON. Replaced with the string '[Circular]' if the argument contains circular references. | | |
| | `%%` | Single percent sign ('%'). This does not consume an argument. | | |
| ### Custom formatters | |
| You can add custom formatters by extending the `debug.formatters` object. For example, if you wanted to add support for rendering a Buffer as hex with `%h`, you could do something like: | |
| ```js | |
| const createDebug = require('debug') | |
| createDebug.formatters.h = (v) => { | |
| return v.toString('hex') | |
| } | |
| // …elsewhere | |
| const debug = createDebug('foo') | |
| debug('this is hex: %h', new Buffer('hello world')) | |
| // foo this is hex: 68656c6c6f20776f726c6421 +0ms | |
| ``` | |
| ## Browser support | |
| You can build a browser-ready script using [browserify](https://github.com/substack/node-browserify), | |
| or just use the [browserify-as-a-service](https://wzrd.in/) [build](https://wzrd.in/standalone/debug@latest), | |
| if you don't want to build it yourself. | |
| Debug's enable state is currently persisted by `localStorage`. | |
| Consider the situation shown below where you have `worker:a` and `worker:b`, | |
| and wish to debug both. You can enable this using `localStorage.debug`: | |
| ```js | |
| localStorage.debug = 'worker:*' | |
| ``` | |
| And then refresh the page. | |
| ```js | |
| a = debug('worker:a'); | |
| b = debug('worker:b'); | |
| setInterval(function(){ | |
| a('doing some work'); | |
| }, 1000); | |
| setInterval(function(){ | |
| b('doing some work'); | |
| }, 1200); | |
| ``` | |
| #### Web Inspector Colors | |
| Colors are also enabled on "Web Inspectors" that understand the `%c` formatting | |
| option. These are WebKit web inspectors, Firefox ([since version | |
| 31](https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/editable-box-model-multiple-selection-sublime-text-keys-much-more-firefox-developer-tools-episode-31/)) | |
| and the Firebug plugin for Firefox (any version). | |
| Colored output looks something like: | |
|  | |
| ## Output streams | |
| By default `debug` will log to stderr, however this can be configured per-namespace by overriding the `log` method: | |
| Example _stdout.js_: | |
| ```js | |
| var debug = require('debug'); | |
| var error = debug('app:error'); | |
| // by default stderr is used | |
| error('goes to stderr!'); | |
| var log = debug('app:log'); | |
| // set this namespace to log via console.log | |
| log.log = console.log.bind(console); // don't forget to bind to console! | |
| log('goes to stdout'); | |
| error('still goes to stderr!'); | |
| // set all output to go via console.info | |
| // overrides all per-namespace log settings | |
| debug.log = console.info.bind(console); | |
| error('now goes to stdout via console.info'); | |
| log('still goes to stdout, but via console.info now'); | |
| ``` | |
| ## Authors | |
| - TJ Holowaychuk | |
| - Nathan Rajlich | |
| - Andrew Rhyne | |
| ## Backers | |
| Support us with a monthly donation and help us continue our activities. [[Become a backer](https://opencollective.com/debug#backer)] | |
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| ## Sponsors | |
| Become a sponsor and get your logo on our README on Github with a link to your site. [[Become a sponsor](https://opencollective.com/debug#sponsor)] | |
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| ## License | |
| (The MIT License) | |
| Copyright (c) 2014-2016 TJ Holowaychuk <[email protected]> | |
| Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining | |
| a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the | |
| 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including | |
| without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, | |
| distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to | |
| permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to | |
| the following conditions: | |
| The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be | |
| included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. | |
| THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, | |
| EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF | |
| MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. | |
| IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY | |
| CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, | |
| TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE | |
| SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. | |