alert() return different from console.log()?

Question

Should I be using alert() for debugging; or is there a time to use alert() vs. console.log()?

I see that alert() and console.log() can return different results. I assumed that they were similar functions but just returned in different places.

Back story: my boss likes to see alerts() during development but I can't get the object details in the alert (at least not easily).

But when I run the same request through console.log, I get the object and all of it's parameters.

Yeah, that's how it works. What's the question, exactly? – mkoistinen Oct 11 '10 at 18:44 — mkoistinen, Oct 11 '10 at 18:44
I added more detail to the question. thanks. – orolo Oct 11 '10 at 18:50 — orolo, Oct 11 '10 at 18:50

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 11 '10 at 18:56

Since alert could be shown to users, it tends to be literal-minded (just using toString) so a developer has a lot of control over what's shown to the user. Unlike alert, console is designed for developers, and thus tends to try to interpret a call so as to provide information that a developer would find useful: e.g. "[2, 3, 4]" is a lot more useful to a developer than "[object Object]". Alert should be the same in every browser; console's behavior could vary from browser to browser (including not being supported at all, as in IE).

Not true, alert **will** give different results in different browsers, as the toString value of various objects is **not** the same for different browsers. — David Mulder, Jul 06 '12 at 18:14

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 11 '10 at 18:46

alert() converts the object passed to it into a string using the object's toString() method. Unlike alert(), console.log() is not limited to displaying a simple string and can allow you to interact with the object passed to it, for example letting you inspect its properties.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 06 '12 at 15:30

2

try alert(JSON.stringify(yourObject)); (if your browser have json.stringify....)

answered Jul 06 '12 at 15:30

Michelangelo Giacomelli

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alert() return different from console.log()?

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