VS code debug – is replacing object values with ellipses. How to show object values in debug?

How can I get the debug console to display the actual values of the sorted object?

The result in the VS Code debug console display as below and are non expandable:

[{…}, {…}, {…}, {…}, {…}, {…}]
No debugger available, can not send 'variables'

Here is a simple program outputting a sorted object that I have written in VS Code.

const items = [
    { name: 'Edward', value: 21 },
    { name: 'Sharpe', value: 37 },
    { name: 'And', value: 45 },
    { name: 'The', value: -12 },
    { name: 'Magnetic', value: 13 },
    { name: 'Zeros', value: 37 }
  ];

// sort by value
items.sort(function (a, b) {
    return a.value - b.value;
  });

// console.log(items);

Here is the launch.json file:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
    // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
    // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": []
}

Answer

Important: This solution only works if you are using Node.js.

If you are using Node.js, you can use the built-in util.inspect() function.

First, you have to import it using require().

const util = require("util");

Then, you can call the inspect function. You need to pass in your object as a parameter.

const inspected = util.inspect(obj);
console.log(inspected);

Then, you can easily see the object without it being condensed! For more information, see the util.inspect() documentation.

---

If you are not using Node.js, you can use JSON.stringify(). You can simply use it as so, passing the object as a parameter.

const obj = [
  { name: "Edward", value: 21 },
  { name: "Sharpe", value: 37 },
  { name: "And", value: 45 },
  { name: "The", value: -12 },
  { name: "Magnetic", value: 13 },
  { name: "Zeros", value: 37 }
];

console.log(JSON.stringify(obj));

This should allow you to inspect it properly.