Dump in Swift

We all know that we use print function to print a message into the Xcode debug console

print("Hello world")

We can use also Dump for same propose but print() simply outputs the class name and dump() outputs the whole class hierarchy.

Suppose you have a class

class Employee {
  let name = “Pawan”
  let department = “iOS”
  let ids = [1, 2, 3]
}

then make an instance of that class

let emp = Employee()

first, let us use print and see how it’s looks

print(emp) //YourProjectName.Employee

let’s start using dump

dump(emp)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: “Pawan”
- department: “iOS”
▿ ids: 3 elements
- 1
- 2
- 3

Syntax of dump

@discardableResult func dump<T>(_ value: T, name: String? = nil, indent: Int = 0, maxDepth: Int = .max, maxItems: Int = .max) -> T

let’s explore all the dump’s parameters

1, name

It helps to print any prefix string before the output

dump(emp, name: "hi")
//Output
hi: YourProjectName.Employee #0
    - name: “Pawan”
    - department: “iOS”
    ▿ ids: 3 elements
      - 1
      - 2
      - 3

2, indent

It helps to provide space before the output

dump(emp, indent: 3)
//Output
   ▿ YourProjectName.Employee #0
     - name: "Pawan"
     - department: "iOS"
     ▿ ids: 3 elements
       - 1
       - 2
       - 3

3, maxDepth

It helps to go in-depth of the output

dump(emp, maxDepth: 0)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0

dump(emp, maxDepth: 1)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
- department: "iOS"
▹ ids: 3 elements

dump(emp, maxDepth: 2)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
- department: "iOS"
▿ ids: 3 elements
- 1
- 2
- 3

3, maxItems

It helps to show max items in the debug console

dump(emp, maxItems: 0)
//No Output here

dump(emp, maxItems: 1)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
(3 children)

dump(emp, maxDepth: 2)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
(2 more children)

dump(emp, maxDepth: 3)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
- department: "iOS"
(1 more child)

dump(emp, maxDepth: 4)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
- department: "iOS"
▿ ids: 3 elements
  (3 more children)

dump(emp, maxDepth: 5)
//Output
YourProjectName.Employee #0
- name: "Pawan"
- department: "iOS"
▿ ids: 3 elements
  - 1
  (2 more children)
and so on...

Please Check my new post on CollectionOfOne in Swift: https://medium.com/p/collectionofone-in-swift-776591e8e8e4

For more visit: https://ioslifee.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading, Happy Coding 💻