Question

I’m using node.js’s util.inspect call to dump a JavaScript associative array to the log. The associative array in question includes member properties that are functions. An example is:

var pendingscreen = {};
pendingscreen['timeoutfunction'] = function(){ sendmsg(); };
pendingscreen['timeout'] = setTimeout(pendingscreen['timeoutfunction'], 1000);
console.log(util.inspect(pendingscreen));

When I run this, I get this error:

TypeError: Function.prototype.toString is not generic
    at Client.toString (native)
    at String.STRING_ADD_LEFT (native)
    at isRegExp (util.js:287:14)
    at format (util.js:184:11)
    at util.js:216:19
    at Array.map (native)
    at format (util.js:193:23)
    at util.js:216:19
    at Array.map (native)
    at format (util.js:193:23)

Is there any way to inspect the members of an associative array where some of the members could be functions?

Answer 1

util.inspect should handle this just fine. However there is a bug in the node.js version you are using which can cause this error.

This is fixed in newer version (>=0.4.11).