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console: dir() static method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers.

The console.dir() static method displays a list of the properties of the specified JavaScript object. In browser consoles, the output is presented as a hierarchical listing with disclosure triangles that let you see the contents of child objects.

Unlike other logging methods, console.dir() does not attempt to pretty-print the object. For example, if you pass a DOM element to console.dir(), it will not be displayed like in the element inspector, but will instead show a list of properties.

A screenshot of the Firefox console where console.dir(document.location) is run. We can see the URL of the page, followed by a block of properties. If the property is a function or an object, a disclosure triangle is prepended.

In runtimes like Node and Deno, where console output goes to the terminal and is therefore not interactive, the options parameter provides a way to customize the way the object is presented.

Syntax

console.dir(object)
console.dir(object, options)

Parameters

object

A JavaScript object whose properties should be printed.

options Optional

An object with the following properties, all optional:

colors Non-standard Optional: A boolean value: if true, style the properties of the object according to their type. Defaults to true.
depth Non-standard Optional: A number representing the number of nesting levels to print when an object contains other objects or arrays. The value null means: print all levels. Defaults to 2.
showHidden Non-standard Optional: A boolean value: if true, print the object's non-enumerable and symbol properties. Defaults to false.

Return value

None (undefined).

Specifications

Specification
Console> # dir>

Browser compatibility