concordance
Compare, format, diff and serialize any JavaScript value. Built for Node.js 10
and above.
Behavior
Concordance recursively describes JavaScript values, whether they're booleans or
complex object structures. It recurses through all enumerable properties, list
items (e.g. arrays) and iterator entries.
The same algorithm is used when comparing, formatting or diffing values. This
means Concordance's behavior is consistent, no matter how you use it.
Comparison details
- Object wrappers
are compared both as objects and unwrapped values. Thus Concordance always
treats
Object(1)
as different from 1
. -0
is distinct from 0
.NaN
equals NaN
.- The
Argument
values can be compared to a regular array. Error
names and messages are always compared, even if these are not
enumerable properties.Function
values are compared by identity only. Names are always formatted
and serialized.Global
objects are considered equal.Map
keys and Set
items are compared in-order.Object
string properties are compared according to the traversal order.
Symbol properties are compared by identity.Promise
values are compared by identity only.Symbol
values are compared by identity only.- Recursion stops whenever a circular reference is encountered. If the same
cycle is present in the actual and expected values they're considered equal,
but they're unequal otherwise.
Formatting details
Concordance strives to format every aspect of a value that is used for
comparisons. Formatting is optimized for human legibility.
Strings enjoy special formatting:
- When used as keys, line break characters are escaped
- Otherwise, multi-line strings are formatted using backticks, and line break
characters are replaced by control pictures.
Similarly, line breaks in symbol descriptions are escaped.
Diffing details
Concordance tries to minimize diff lines. This is difficult with object values,
which may have similar properties but a different constructor. Multi-line
strings are compared line-by-line.
Serialization details
Concordance can serialize any value for later use. Deserialized values can be
compared to each other or to regular JavaScript values. The deserialized
value should be passed as the actual value to the comparison and diffing
methods. Certain value comparisons behave differently when the actual value
is deserialized:
Argument
values can only be compared to other Argument
values.Function
values are compared by name.Promise
values are compared by their constructor and additional enumerable
properties, but not by identity.Symbol
values are compared by their string serialization. Registered
and well-known symbols
will never equal symbols with similar descriptions.