JavaScript Console Methods and their use-cases
What are the best ways to use each of the console methods in JavaScript?
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The web console is used to log and output information associated with the web page, like errors, warnings, CSS, etc. It enables seamless interaction with the web page by executing JavaScript expression. The console method in JavaScript is an object that provides access to the browser debugging console. We can open a console in a web browser by using Ctrl + Shift + K for Windows and Command + Option + K for Mac.
There are many useful console methods, but let’s look at a few in particular and how they can ease our work.
Console.log()
Console.log is the most commonly used console method. It is used to log the output to the console. We can print any data type using log(), be it a string, array, object, boolean, etc.
Console.error()
Console.error is used to output an error message to the console — usually in red with an error symbol at the beginning.
Console.warn()
Console.warn is used to output a warning message to the console — usually in yellow with a warning symbol at the beginning.
Console.clear()
Console.clear() is used to clear the console. In Chrome, the console will be cleared and it will print a “Console was cleared” message to the console. In Firefox, it will clear the console but return no message.
Console.time() and Console.timeEnd()
Console.time() and Console.timeEnd() are used to know the time spent by a function or block of code to execute. The time() and timeEnd() methods can determine the time spent. The code inside can be anything, but their labels must be the same.
In the example code, we used abc as the label for both methods. As we increase the amount of code inside the block defined by the methods, the time increases. The time returned to the console will be in milliseconds and may vary as the page refreshes.
Console.table()
The console.table() method is used to generate a table inside the console. It takes only an array or an object as its input, which will be displayed as a table.
There are many console methods we can use to make our work much easier. If you want to learn more about console methods, check out MDN web docs or Google’s documentation.
Thanks for reading.