How to view and handle hidden data in variables in javascript

Question

How do I view and extract data inside a variable, populated from another piece of code, that may contain hidden escape characters or data in Javascript (JQuery stuff is fine too)?

For example lets say I have an Ajax call such as this, where data is printed from a back-end script written in Lua:

success: function(data)
{
    dataItems = data.split(",");
}

Lets say I'm expecting a four letter string in each of the dataItems array. If I use Chrome or Firefox putting a breakpoint on dataItems I see each array containing a four letter string and I'm happy because it looks right and I can now process it. However if I do a print(dataItems[1].length) for example I notice it has a length of 5, and my debugger shows dataItems[1]="abcd", obviously there is something hidden inside it that doesn't show easily as part of the arrays variable. Is there a better way to catch and view these hidden pieces of information preferably in a browser debugger? How does one go about removing this undesired data once it is recognized.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-03 20:41:33Z

1

I think it's surrounded with empty spaces. Try:

console.log(dataItems[1].trim().length);

edited Apr 3, 2014 at 20:41

answered Apr 3, 2014 at 20:25

user2616876

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Nimjox Over a year ago

This does work! Is there a better way to identify this in the common browsers debuggers?

user2616876 Over a year ago

It's an empty space, you won't see that. What I normally do is try highlighting(selecting) the text in the console. :)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to view and handle hidden data in variables in javascript

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related