NAME

Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging - List of modules and tips when dumping data structures for debugging

VERSION

This document describes version 0.002 of Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging (from Perl distribution Acme-CPANModules-DumpingDataForDebugging), released on 2023-10-29.

DESCRIPTION

This list catalogs some of the modules you can you to dump your data structures for debugging purposes, so the modules will be judged mostly by the appropriateness of its output for human viewing (instead of other criteria like speed, footprint, etc).

ACME::CPANMODULES ENTRIES

Data::Dumper

Author: NWCLARK

Everybody knows this module and it's core so sometimes it's the only appropriate choice. However, the default setting is not really optimized for viewing by human. I suggest you tweak these before dumping your data:

Set $Data::Dumper::Useqq to 1.

By default, Data::Dumper quotes strings using single-quotes and does not quote things like "\n" and "\b" making it difficult to spot special characters.

Data::Dump

Author: GARU

A data dumper that produces nicer Perl code output, with features like vertical alignment of "=>" when dumping hashes, compacting sequences like 1,2,3,4,5,6 to 1..6, compacting repeating characters in string like "ccccccccccccccccccccc" to ("c" x 21), and so on.

It tries harder to produce Perl code that generates the original data structure, particularly with circular references. But with interlinked references like trees, Data::Dumper might be more helpful in showing you which references get mentioned where. For example this data:

$tree = {children=>[{children=>[{}]}, {children=>[]}]};
$tree->{children}[0]{parent}=$tree;
$tree->{children}[1]{parent}=$tree;
$tree->{children}[0]{children}[0]{parent} = $tree->{children}[0];

Data::Dump will produce:

do {
   my $a = {
     children => [
      { children => [{ parent => 'fix' }], parent => 'fix' },
      { children => [], parent => 'fix' },
    ],
  };
  $a->{children}[0]{children}[0]{parent} = $a->{children}[0];
  $a->{children}[0]{parent} = $a;
  $a->{children}[1]{parent} = $a;
  $a;
}

while Data::Dumper will produce:

$VAR1 = {
          'children' => [
                          {
                            'children' => [
                                            {
                                              'parent' => $VAR1->{'children'}[0]
                                            }
                                          ],
                            'parent' => $VAR1
                          },
                          {
                            'parent' => $VAR1,
                            'children' => []
                          }
                        ]
        };

Data::Dump::Color

Author: PERLANCAR

A modification to Data::Dump which adds color (and color theme) support, as well as other visual aids like depth and array index/hash pair count indicator. It's usually my go-to module for debugging.

Data::Dumper::Compact

Author: MSTROUT

A relatively recent module by MSTROUT. I will need to use this more to see if I really like the output, but so far I do.

XXX

Author: INGY

A nice little dumper module from the creator of YAML. Obviously, it uses YAML output by default but it's configurable to dump in other formats. For example:

PERL_XXX_DUMPER=Data::Dump::Color

It's main selling point is that the dumper function returns the original arguments so the dumping can be done in various places in code, making it more convenient. More (if not all) dumpers should do this too.

Data::Printer

Author: GARU

Favorites among many Perl programmers, it sports colors, array index indicator, as well as nice object dumper showing methods and inheritance information. It's also very customizable. It uses its own format though, and my preference for dumping is the Perl format (with additional informations/hints as comments) so I've never used it in my daily coding activities. I probably should though.

JSON::Color

Author: PERLANCAR

JSON is a limited format; it cannot represent many things that Perl supports e.g. globs, circular references, or even ASCII NUL. But if you are working only with JSON-able data, this JSON dumping module adds color output.

YAML::Tiny::Color

Author: SHARYANTO

FAQ

What is an Acme::CPANModules::* module?

An Acme::CPANModules::* module, like this module, contains just a list of module names that share a common characteristics. It is a way to categorize modules and document CPAN. See Acme::CPANModules for more details.

What are ways to use this Acme::CPANModules module?

Aside from reading this Acme::CPANModules module's POD documentation, you can install all the listed modules (entries) using cpanm-cpanmodules script (from App::cpanm::cpanmodules distribution):

% cpanm-cpanmodules -n DumpingDataForDebugging

Alternatively you can use the cpanmodules CLI (from App::cpanmodules distribution):

% cpanmodules ls-entries DumpingDataForDebugging | cpanm -n

or Acme::CM::Get:

% perl -MAcme::CM::Get=DumpingDataForDebugging -E'say $_->{module} for @{ $LIST->{entries} }' | cpanm -n

or directly:

% perl -MAcme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging -E'say $_->{module} for @{ $Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging::LIST->{entries} }' | cpanm -n

This Acme::CPANModules module also helps lcpan produce a more meaningful result for lcpan related-mods command when it comes to finding related modules for the modules listed in this Acme::CPANModules module. See App::lcpan::Cmd::related_mods for more details on how "related modules" are found.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/Acme-CPANModules-DumpingDataForDebugging.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-Acme-CPANModules-DumpingDataForDebugging.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

% prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Acme-CPANModules-DumpingDataForDebugging

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

To install Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Acme::CPANModules::DumpingDataForDebugging

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

	Global
`s`	Focus search bar
`?`	Bring up this help dialog

	GitHub
`g` `p`	Go to pull requests
`g` `i`	go to github issues (only if github is preferred repository)

	POD
`g` `a`	Go to author
`g` `c`	Go to changes
`g` `i`	Go to issues
`g` `d`	Go to dist
`g` `r`	Go to repository/SCM
`g` `s`	Go to source
`g` `b`	Go to file browse

	Search terms
module: (e.g. module:Plugin)
distribution: (e.g. distribution:Dancer auth)
author: (e.g. author:SONGMU Redis)
version: (e.g. version:1.00)