cdir

Synopsis

An interactive representation of an object for the CLI similar to that of console.dir() in webkit.

Motivation

Reading big object dumps is a waste of time. Progressive disclosure helps.

Features

• Searchable/Repeat search
• Handles cyclical references
• Expand and collapse nodes

Usage

Install

Do npm install cdir -g and then require the module in your program like this console.dir = require('cdir').

Navigate

Use console.dir(someobject) somewhere in your program and then hit tab, shift+tab or the arrow keys to cycle through the object's members. You can hit space, return or enter to expand a member.

Search

Search by pressing the / key. This will display a / prompt. If you have already searched for something it will be displayed before the / prompt. For instance if you searched for "foobar" it would appear as (foobar) /.

Line Numbers

You can add comprehensive line numbers by pressing : while not in search mode. These line numbers include collapsed nodes so expanding one will not change numbers of later items.

Quit

Hit ctrl+c or q to quit!

Simple Example

There is a CLI version too if you want to use it. npm install cdir -g.

console.dir = require('../dir');

var stuff = { 
  "name" : "cdir", 
  "description" : "An interactive console.dir() for the terminal.",
  "tags" : [
    "console",
    "debug",
    "debugging",
    "json",
    "interacive",
    "prompt"
  ],
  "foo": function() { 
    return "node tests/test.js"
  }
};

console.dir(stuff);

The output looks something like this.