util: add util.inspect compact option #17576

BridgeAR · 2017-12-09T16:35:39Z

I personally really dislike the formatting used in util.inspect and this should
improve the situation a lot. I am also working on a feature that requires a
more structural util.inspect output. In general, I do not argue about it being
perfect, so if anyone has some further input, I am all ears.

commit - util: add util.inspect structured option

The current default formatting is not ideal and this improves
the situation by formatting the output more intuitiv.

1) All object keys are now indented by 2 characters instead of
   something 2 and sometimes 3 characters.
2) Each object key will now use a individual line instead of
   sharing a line potentially with multiple object keys.
3) Long strings will now be split into multiple lines in case
   they exceed the "lineBreak" option length (including the
   current indentation).
4) Opening braces are now directly behind a object property
   instead of using a new line.

commit - util: rename util.inspect argument

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description
was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to
value and also updating the description.

commit - util: fix custom inspect description

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is
deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description
to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the
more detailed description.

CI https://ci.nodejs.org/job/node-test-pull-request/12008/

Checklist

make -j4 test (UNIX), or vcbuild test (Windows) passes
tests and/or benchmarks are included
documentation is changed or added
commit message follows commit guidelines

Affected core subsystem(s)

util

BridgeAR · 2017-12-09T18:59:45Z

I pushed another commit that changes the base order of the inspected object.

Trott · 2017-12-10T05:01:40Z

Two small typos in the first commit message: something 2 -> sometimes 2 and a individual -> an individual. I normally don't flag typos in commit messages but that first one had me puzzled for a few moments longer than I want to admit.

The current default formatting is not ideal and this improves the situation by formatting the output more intuitiv. 1) All object keys are now indented by 2 characters instead of sometimes 2 and sometimes 3 characters. 2) Each object key will now use an individual line instead of sharing a line potentially with multiple object keys. 3) Long strings will now be split into multiple lines in case they exceed the "lineBreak" option length (including the current indentation). 4) Opening braces are now directly behind a object property instead of using a new line.

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to value and also updating the description.

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the more detailed description.

In case the structured option is used, it will now print "[Function: foo] {\n property: 'data'\n}" instead of "{ [Function: foo]\n property: 'data'\n}"

BridgeAR · 2017-12-10T20:16:08Z

I updated the commit message accordingly.

addaleax · 2017-12-11T19:19:57Z

@BridgeAR I’m a fan of this feature, but not so sure about the name – “structured” doesn’t say that much, I think… it’s hard to come up with something better. I’ve thought about “long”, which also seems to have potential for confusion but is more to the point, I think. Maybe onePropertyPerLine? It’s verbose but very unambiguous.

BridgeAR · 2017-12-11T20:31:02Z

@addaleax yeah, the name is probably not ideal. What do you think about beautify? 😄
I am not a fan of very long option names and onePropertyPerLine would actually not describe everything that is changed.

addaleax · 2017-12-11T21:26:41Z

@BridgeAR Me neither, but I’d rather have something that actually tells you what’s happening

And beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder ;)

Trott · 2017-12-11T23:18:12Z

Maybe make an option called compact and have it default to true? Then, if you want this feature (what is called structured in this PR currently), set compact to false?

BridgeAR · 2017-12-11T23:24:23Z

@Trott that would also work but it somehow sounds "less good". And I personally prefer the new formatting a lot over the current one. If it is abot me I would just replace it ^^. But even though the output is considered to be changed from time to time, I guess that would be to harsh.

Trott · 2017-12-11T23:42:32Z

@BridgeAR OK, but I do think we need a better term than structured. I gave my suggestion. :-D

BridgeAR · 2017-12-12T11:55:52Z

So I thought about it again and what do you think about readerFriendly?

addaleax · 2017-12-12T13:24:02Z

I think readerFriendly doesn’t say anything about the format, and is pretty subjective?

I actually like compact.

BridgeAR · 2017-12-12T13:50:53Z

I agree that compact itself sounds nice but that is exactly the problem I have with it. Because compact = false sounds like you deactivate something positive. Otherwise I would would have already changed the name to it.

jasnell · 2017-12-12T23:47:52Z

test/parallel/test-util-inspect.js

@@ -1213,3 +1213,129 @@ assert.doesNotThrow(() => util.inspect(process));
  assert.strictEqual(util.inspect(new NotStringClass()),
                     'NotStringClass {}');
 }
+
+{


It looks like none of the examples here test objects with a custom inspect method. Can you add some coverage in for that?

BridgeAR · 2017-12-17T05:11:52Z

I changed the name to compact and I also updated the RegExp to handle line breaks better.

addaleax · 2017-12-17T05:15:53Z

lib/util.js

+      const averageLineLength = Math.ceil(value.length / Math.ceil(value.length / minLineLength));
+      const divisor = Math.max(averageLineLength, MIN_LINE_LENGTH);
+      var res = '';
+      if (readableRegExps[divisor] === undefined)


Can you add {} for multi-line if bodies? :)

MylesBorins · 2018-01-09T23:34:04Z

This does not land cleanly on v9.x. Would someone be willing to backport?

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the more detailed description. PR-URL: nodejs#17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to value and also updating the description. PR-URL: nodejs#17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

The current default formatting is not ideal and this improves the situation by formatting the output more intuitiv. 1) All object keys are now indented by 2 characters instead of sometimes 2 and sometimes 3 characters. 2) Each object key will now use an individual line instead of sharing a line potentially with multiple object keys. 3) Long strings will now be split into multiple lines in case they exceed the "lineBreak" option length (including the current indentation). 4) Opening braces are now directly behind a object property instead of using a new line. 5) Switch inspect "base" order. In case the compact option is set to `false`, inspect will now print "[Function: foo] {\n property: 'data'\n}" instead of "{ [Function: foo]\n property: 'data'\n}". PR-URL: nodejs#17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

BridgeAR · 2018-03-08T16:22:34Z

Backport opened in #19230

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the more detailed description. Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to value and also updating the description. Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

The current default formatting is not ideal and this improves the situation by formatting the output more intuitiv. 1) All object keys are now indented by 2 characters instead of sometimes 2 and sometimes 3 characters. 2) Each object key will now use an individual line instead of sharing a line potentially with multiple object keys. 3) Long strings will now be split into multiple lines in case they exceed the "lineBreak" option length (including the current indentation). 4) Opening braces are now directly behind a object property instead of using a new line. 5) Switch inspect "base" order. In case the compact option is set to `false`, inspect will now print "[Function: foo] {\n property: 'data'\n}" instead of "{ [Function: foo]\n property: 'data'\n}". Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the more detailed description. Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to value and also updating the description. Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

The current default formatting is not ideal and this improves the situation by formatting the output more intuitiv. 1) All object keys are now indented by 2 characters instead of sometimes 2 and sometimes 3 characters. 2) Each object key will now use an individual line instead of sharing a line potentially with multiple object keys. 3) Long strings will now be split into multiple lines in case they exceed the "lineBreak" option length (including the current indentation). 4) Opening braces are now directly behind a object property instead of using a new line. 5) Switch inspect "base" order. In case the compact option is set to `false`, inspect will now print "[Function: foo] {\n property: 'data'\n}" instead of "{ [Function: foo]\n property: 'data'\n}". Backport-PR-URL: #19230 PR-URL: #17576 Reviewed-By: Anna Henningsen <anna@addaleax.net>

Notable changes: * assert: - From now on all error messages produced by `assert` in strict mode will produce a error diff. (Ruben Bridgewater) #17615 - From now on it is possible to use a validation object in throws instead of the other possibilities. (Ruben Bridgewater) #17584 * crypto: - allow passing null as IV unless required (Tobias Nießen) #18644 * fs: - support as and as+ flags in stringToFlags() (Sarat Addepalli) #18801 * tls: - expose Finished messages in TLSSocket (Anton Salikhmetov) #19102 * tty: - Add getColorDepth function to determine if terminal supports colors (Ruben Bridgewater) #17615 * util: - add util.inspect compact option (Ruben Bridgewater) #17576 * **Added new collaborators** - [watson](https://github.com/watson) Thomas Watson PR-URL: #19428

MylesBorins · 2018-07-31T18:25:58Z

Requested backport to 8.x in #19230

nodejs-github-bot added the util Issues and PRs related to the built-in util module. label Dec 9, 2017

BridgeAR force-pushed the util-structured branch 2 times, most recently from 8c65749 to b44a6f8 Compare December 9, 2017 17:55

BridgeAR added the semver-minor PRs that contain new features and should be released in the next minor version. label Dec 10, 2017

BridgeAR mentioned this pull request Dec 10, 2017

doc: clarify util.inspect usage intent #17375

Closed

2 tasks

BridgeAR added 4 commits December 10, 2017 18:15

util: rename util.inspect argument

ecf019e

util.inspect can actually receive any property and the description was wrong so far. This fixes it by renaming the argument to value and also updating the description.

util: fix custom inspect description

843a5d5

Using a custom inspect function on the inspected object is deprecated. Remove the reference from the option description to make sure the user will read about the deprecation in the more detailed description.

util: switch inspect "base" order

cd5be74

In case the structured option is used, it will now print "[Function: foo] {\n property: 'data'\n}" instead of "{ [Function: foo]\n property: 'data'\n}"

BridgeAR force-pushed the util-structured branch from 0f8cae2 to cd5be74 Compare December 10, 2017 20:15

BridgeAR mentioned this pull request Dec 11, 2017

assert: add error diffs #17615

Closed

4 tasks

jasnell reviewed Dec 12, 2017

View reviewed changes

BridgeAR added the notable-change PRs with changes that should be highlighted in changelogs. label Dec 15, 2017

BridgeAR added 2 commits December 17, 2017 03:02

squash - change to "compact", add more tests, fix \n issue

e2792d5

squash - add another test

e31fd8a

addaleax approved these changes Dec 17, 2017

View reviewed changes

squash - address comment

684b992

BridgeAR closed this Dec 21, 2017

addaleax removed the author ready PRs that have at least one approval, no pending requests for changes, and a CI started. label Dec 29, 2017

MylesBorins added the backport-requested-v9.x label Jan 9, 2018

BridgeAR mentioned this pull request Mar 8, 2018

[9.x backport] assert & util PRs #19230

Closed

4 tasks

targos mentioned this pull request Mar 18, 2018

v9.9.0 proposal #19428

Merged

targos added backported-to-v9.x and removed backport-requested-v9.x labels Mar 24, 2018

MylesBorins added the backport-requested-v8.x label Jul 31, 2018

BridgeAR deleted the util-structured branch April 1, 2019 23:37

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util: add util.inspect compact option #17576

util: add util.inspect compact option #17576

BridgeAR commented Dec 9, 2017 •

edited

BridgeAR commented Dec 9, 2017

Trott commented Dec 10, 2017

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BridgeAR Dec 17, 2017

MylesBorins commented Jan 9, 2018

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MylesBorins commented Jul 31, 2018

util: add util.inspect compact option #17576

util: add util.inspect compact option #17576

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BridgeAR commented Dec 9, 2017 • edited

Checklist

Affected core subsystem(s)

BridgeAR commented Dec 9, 2017

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