Javascript console.log(object) vs. concatenating string

javascript, node.js, pretty-print, string-concatenation

Solution

The `+ x` coerces the object `x` into a string, which is just `[object Object]`:

http://jsfiddle.net/Ze32g/

The pretty printing is a very nice and probably very complex underlying code that someone implemented as part of the `console` object and the `log` method.

Try this:

console.log("hmm: ", x);

Problem

I'm running this in node.js: ``` > x = { 'foo' : 'bar' } { foo: 'bar' } > console.log(x) { foo: 'bar' } undefined > console.log("hmm: " + x) hmm: [object Object] undefined ``` What I don't understand is why `console.log(x)` "pretty-prints" the object, whereas string concatenation "ugly-prints" it. And more importantly, what's the best way to make it print `hmm: { foo: 'bar' }`?

Original source