TIL: console.table in Node.js (from the archives)

Today I learned that console.table is a thing in Node.js. I'd seen it used in browser dev tools before, but never thought to reach for it in a Node script. Turns out it works great for debugging or formatting simple script output.

What it does

console.table takes an array or object and renders it as a nicely formatted table right in your terminal. For example:

const users = [
  { name: "Alice", role: "admin" },
  { name: "Bob", role: "editor" },
  { name: "Carol", role: "viewer" },
];
 
console.table(users);

This prints a proper table with columns and rows instead of the usual nested object dump you get from console.log. Much easier to scan when you're working with structured data.

When it's useful

• Debugging arrays of objects (API responses, database rows, etc.)
• Quick-and-dirty output formatting for CLI scripts
• Comparing properties across a set of items at a glance

You can also pass a second argument to select which columns to display:

console.table(users, ["name"]);

Check out the MDN docs for the full API.