Skip to main content

Inspect

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-10

Overview​

inspect is a utility module that generates human-readable string representations of Lua tables. It handles circular references, metatables, and displays both array and dictionary parts of tables in a structured format. This component is typically used for debugging, logging, or development-time inspection of complex data structures.

Usage example​

local inspect = require("inspect")
local my_table = { name = "Wes", inventory = {"apple", "match"}, meta = { version = 1 } }
print(inspect(my_table))
-- Output:
-- {
--   "apple",
--   "match",
--   name = "Wes",
--   meta = {
--     version = 1
--   }
-- }

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: None identified
Tags: None identified

Properties​

No public properties

Main functions​

inspect(table, depth)​

  • Description: Returns a formatted, human-readable string representation of the given Lua table. Handles circular references, metatables, and type-specific display formatting.
  • Parameters:
    table (table) – The table to inspect.
    depth (number, optional) – Maximum nesting depth to recurse into; omit or pass nil for unlimited depth.
  • Returns: (string) A string representation of the table.
  • Error states: Handles errors gracefully via pcall if a __tostring metamethod throws; no exceptions thrown by this function.

Events & listeners​

None identified