Console undefined issue in IE8

Question

I understand that IE only treats console as an object if the debug window is open. If the debug window is not open, it treats console as undefined.

Which is why I decided to add an if check like this :

        if(console)
            console.log('removing child');

My understanding is that if console is undefined it will skip the console.log. However in IE8 the if(console) line passes and I get an undefined exception like before at console.log. This is weird.

Is there a way around this? and how do you code console in your code so that it runs on all three browsers?

console not support in IE8,remove it work in FF,chrome,safari,iE9 — Nilesh patel, Jun 14 '13 at 08:56
@JamesDonnelly You should read the question again. It's not about the console not being defined in IE but console.log not defined in IE8. — Jo David, Jun 14 '13 at 08:58

Jo David · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-14T09:08:19.023

9

You could add the following to the if clause:

if (console && console.log) {
    console.log('removing child');
}

Or write a log wrapper around the console.log function like this.

window.log = function () {
    if (this.console && this.console.log) {
        this.console.log(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments));
    }
}

Use it like this:

log("This method is bulletproof", window, arguments");

And here is a jsfiddle for this: http://jsfiddle.net/joquery/4Ugvg/

edited Jun 14 '13 at 09:08

answered Jun 14 '13 at 08:54

Jo David

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This should log an Array, why don't you apply the sliced arguments to `console.log` ? – Moritz Roessler Jun 14 '13 at 09:45
+1 I get the problem for IE8 and help me fast ! – Mike Castro Demaria Jan 19 '14 at 22:33

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 08:56

4

You could set console.log to an empty function

if(typeof console === "undefined") {
    console = {
        log : function () {}
    }
}

This way you have to bother only once.l

answered Jun 14 '13 at 08:56

Moritz Roessler

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:00

1

Just check if the console exists

window.console && console.log('foo');

answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:00

Emil A.

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 08:54

Try using a condition like this instead, as if console is not supported it will throw undefined not false;

if(typeof console !== "undefined") {
console.log('removing child');
}

However to prevent having to wrap all your console log statemnts I would just put this snippet in your code. This will stop IE throwing any error

if(typeof console === "undefined") {
    console = {
        log: function() { },
        debug: function() { },
        ...
    };
}

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

0

You need to check what the type of console is, and also what the type of console.log is. You might want to check this link:

What happened to console.log in IE8?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

Community

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answered Jun 14 '13 at 08:54

donnywals

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:05

0

Check more information on the same: http://patik.com/blog/complete-cross-browser-console-log/

answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:05

user1390282

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1

Console undefined issue in IE8

6 Answers6

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